- Description
- Praise
- About the Author
- Reader Reviews
"Afterwards, Helen wished she had obeyed Mama and stayed safely in the parlour."
The story of a young girl caught between the Easter Rising, the outbreak of World War 1 and a divided Ireland.
Belfast in 1916.
Fourteen-year-old Helen is shaped by her mixed background – rural, Catholic Irish values from mum Kathleen; urban, Protestant Ulster ones from dad James.
Her parents are relaxed in their politics but others in the family circle are more extreme – Aunt Violet is a die-hard anti-Home Ruler, more British than the king, while Uncle Sean is staunchly nationalist.
These are the parents of Helen’s older cousins: Sandy, who joined the army straight from school and has already seen action in France, and Michael, who runs away from home to enlist. But before he leaves for France, Michael is deployed to Dublin to help quell the Rising, where he’s expected to open fire on his fellow Irishmen. Who and what are they fighting for?
‘History is rarely clean and simple; the beauty of this book is that it embraces that complexity.’ – Dr Patrick Geoghegan, Professor of History at Trinity College Dublin
Sheena Wilkinson is one of the most acclaimed Irish writers for young people. Since the publication of the multi-award-winning Taking Flight in 2010, she has published several novels, including Grounded, which won the 2013 Children’s Books Ireland Book of the Year award. Her first historical novel, Name upon Name, set during the 1916 Easter Rising, was chosen as Waterford City’s ‘One Community, One Book’ title; Star by Star, set at the time of the momentous 1918 General Election, when women in Ireland voted for the first time, won the 2018 Children’s Books Ireland Honour Award for Fiction and was selected as a Booktrust ‘Future Classic’. Sheena lives in County Down, where she spends her time writing, singing, and walking in the forest thinking up more stories.
Description
"Afterwards, Helen wished she had obeyed Mama and stayed safely in the parlour."
The story of a young girl caught between the Easter Rising, the outbreak of World War 1 and a divided Ireland.
Belfast in 1916.
Fourteen-year-old Helen is shaped by her mixed background – rural, Catholic Irish values from mum Kathleen; urban, Protestant Ulster ones from dad James.
Her parents are relaxed in their politics but others in the family circle are more extreme – Aunt Violet is a die-hard anti-Home Ruler, more British than the king, while Uncle Sean is staunchly nationalist.
These are the parents of Helen’s older cousins: Sandy, who joined the army straight from school and has already seen action in France, and Michael, who runs away from home to enlist. But before he leaves for France, Michael is deployed to Dublin to help quell the Rising, where he’s expected to open fire on his fellow Irishmen. Who and what are they fighting for?
Praise
‘History is rarely clean and simple; the beauty of this book is that it embraces that complexity.’ – Dr Patrick Geoghegan, Professor of History at Trinity College Dublin
About the Author
Sheena Wilkinson
Sheena Wilkinson is one of the most acclaimed Irish writers for young people. Since the publication of the multi-award-winning Taking Flight in 2010, she has published several novels, including Grounded, which won the 2013 Children’s Books Ireland Book of the Year award. Her first historical novel, Name upon Name, set during the 1916 Easter Rising, was chosen as Waterford City’s ‘One Community, One Book’ title; Star by Star, set at the time of the momentous 1918 General Election, when women in Ireland voted for the first time, won the 2018 Children’s Books Ireland Honour Award for Fiction and was selected as a Booktrust ‘Future Classic’. Sheena lives in County Down, where she spends her time writing, singing, and walking in the forest thinking up more stories.
