The Girl with the Emerald Flag by Kathleen McGurl
Genre: Historical fiction, Dual timeline
Read: 7th November 2022
Amazon
Published: 11th November 2022
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
A country rebelling
It’s 1916 and, as war rages in Europe, Gráinne leaves her job in a department store to join Countess Markiewicz’s revolutionary efforts. It is a decision which will change her life forever. A rebellion is brewing, and as Dublin’s streets become a battleground, Gráinne soon discovers the personal cost of fighting for what you believe in…
A forgotten sacrifice
Decades on, student Nicky is recovering from a break-up when a research project leads her to her great-grandmother’s experiences in revolutionary Ireland. When Nicky finds a long-forgotten handkerchief amongst her great-grandmother’s things, it leads to the revelation of a heartbreaking story of tragedy and courage, and those who sacrificed everything for their country.
Inspired by a heartbreaking true story, this emotional historical novel will sweep you away to the Emerald Isle. Perfect for fans of Jean Grainger, Sandy Taylor and Fiona Valpy.
MY THOUGHTS:
A country rebelling...a forgotten sacrifice...
THE GIRL WITH THE EMERALD FLAG tells the tale of two women - Nicky in 1998 and that of her great-grandmother Grainne in 1916. The focus of the story is rebellion and it's consequences and both women share more than a little in common.
Written in a dual timeline format (my favourite) we are privy to Grainne's involvement in the Easter Rising of the 1916 rebellion in the fight for Ireland's independence as well as Nicky's own personal rebellion against the things that confine her to expectation and conformation in 1998. It is interesting to note that Nicky's story takes place at the time of the Northern Ireland Peace agreement, signed on Good Friday in 1998, 82 years after her own great-grandmother's involvement in the Easter Rising of 1916.
Grainne MacDowd is an idealistic 18 year old fighting for the cause of Irish independence. She works at Clerys department store before being taken under the wing of Countess Markievicz in the lead up to what became known as the Easter Rising. Her brother Sean is away fighting in the trenches for the British in Europe in the hope that in doing so will bring the home rule of independence to Ireland. However, the fighting takes its toll and when Sean returns on leave he confides to Grainne that he is not returning; that he cannot be involved in the taking of human lives. He then goes into hiding and Grainne never sees him again.
In a battle of her own for Ireland, Grainne does a little bit of everything leading up to the Easter Rising, from cooking and cleaning to running errands and messages. And then comes Easter Sunday, the day of the Rising. For a week the streets of Dublin become a battlefield as they, the people, fight for a cause they believe in, going some way to making the ultimate sacrifice for Ireland's independence from British rule.
At 19 years old, Nicky Waters thinks she knows it all. She's at university in Brighton studying modern history away from the confines of her stifling mother and loving father. As their only child, Nicky resents her mother's constant presence in her life, poking her nose in and thus trying to control her. She is ungrateful, selfish and somewhat naive though she believes she is standing up for her rights, rebelling against the conformities placed upon her. She refuses to visit home, choosing instead to stay on campus and live the university life. She even goes so far as to think her kind, loving and stable boyfriend of three years is boring and stale...so she dumps him to explore herself and live uni life to the full.
And then she meets Seb. Someone who is more selfish, more ungrateful, more self-obsessed than Nicky herself. He claimed to be a rebel but only so far as what's in it for him. I cannot believe Nicky chose him over Conor.
In the midst of her "living the university life", she's been handed a project on...ironically enough...rebellion. Her mother suggests she explore her great-grandmother's story of living through the Irish rebellion and the Easter Rising of 1916 as her topic. But Nicky is apprehensive. To do so would be giving her mother points in their constant battle of wills. However, Supergran (as Nicky calls her) Grainne is 100 years old and if she were to get her story down on paper, now is as good a time as any...before it's too late.
Her research takes her to Dublin where she stays with Grainne and listens to her remarkable story, taking notes. And as she does, Nicky begins to learn a valuable lesson. Finding your place in the world and gaining independence does not come without risks or consequences. It's OK to stand up for what you believe in but you must also learn from your mistakes. And Nicky realises she has made plenty. In a light bulb moment, she discovers that she and Grainne aren't so different after all...and she begins to see things from a very different perspective.
This was something of a different story and not one I would typically read, being incredibly political. To be honest, I didn't understand a lot of the political side of things and they don't particularly interest me, but the story itself was interesting. Especially the ending. I am not giving anything away when I say the executions in the aftermath of the Uprising were especially heartbreaking. So many died at the hands of their captors, if not in the battle itself, and the first hand account of hearing the firing squad outside their windows is particularly haunting.
THE GIRL WITH THE EMERALD FLAG is a heartbreaking tale of rebellion, independence and finding one's place in the world. I didn't enjoy it as much as some of McGurl's other books but it is still a well-written, well-researched and well-told story of a time long forgotten by some and not by others. For me, the history of Irish rebellion and Ireland's independence goes only as far as IRA attacks that I remember as a child or maybe a U2 song.
Overall, this is a sad tale really but with the promise of hope at the end. For both women. Perfect for fans of historical fiction and dual timelines.
I would like to thank #KathleenMcGurl, #Netgalley, #HQStories and #RachelsRandomResources for an ARC of #TheGirlWithTheEmeraldFlag in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Kathleen always wanted to write, and for many years was waiting until she had the time. Eventually she came to the bitter realisation that no one would pay her for a year off work to write a book, so she sat down and started to write one anyway. Since then she has published several novels with HQ and self-published another. She has also sold dozens of short stories to women's magazines, and written three How To books for writers.
After a long career in the IT industry she became a full time writer in 2019. When she's not writing, she's often out running, slowly.
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