Wounds: A Memoir of War and Love

Wounds: A Memoir of War and Love
Fergal Keane

A family story of blood and memory and the haunting power of the past.2018 WINNER OF THE CHRISTOPHER EWART-BIGGS MEMORIAL PRIZE2017 WINNER OF THE NON-FICTION IRISH BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARDA SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERAfter nearly three decades reporting conflict from all over the world for the BBC, Fergal Keane has gone home to Ireland to tell a story that lies at the root of his fascination with war. It is a family story of war and love, and how the ghosts of the past return to shape the present.Wounds is a powerful memoir about Irish people who found themselves caught up in the revolution that followed the 1916 Rising, and in the pitiless violence of civil war in north Kerry after the British left in 1922.It is the story of Keane’s grandmother Hannah Purtill, her brother Mick and his friend Con Brosnan, and how they and their neighbours took up guns to fight the British Empire and create an independent Ireland. And it is the story of another Irishman, Tobias O’Sullivan, who fought against them as a policeman because he believed it was his duty to uphold the law of his country.Many thousands of people took part in the War of Independence and the Civil War that followed. Whatever side they chose, all were changed in some way by the costs of violence. Keane uses the experiences of his ancestral homeland in north Kerry to examine why people will kill for a cause and how the act of killing reverberates through the generations.

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Copyright (#u60540a93-1119-515e-a380-83f97fb31654)

William Collins

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This eBook first published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2017

Copyright © Fergal Keane 2017

Cover image shows the Clonmult IRA unit, reproduced courtesy of Cork City and County Archives

Fergal Keane asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

Maps by Martin Brown

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Source ISBN: 9780008189273

Ebook Edition © September 2017 ISBN: 9780008189266

Version: 2018-07-30

Dedication (#u60540a93-1119-515e-a380-83f97fb31654)

For Dan and Holly, children of peace

Contents

Cover (#ud1337387-2e43-5bb1-85de-5877f604e91d)

Title Page (#ufe220466-fa54-51f9-acae-7107706fad89)

Copyright (#ud5e2c194-bc23-5772-8210-716a5108e0e8)

Dedication (#u7ae320c6-78a7-5a87-8322-6d23818d112e)

Maps (#u1a47c7f4-bd3e-5f9b-a214-3ff67772f743)

Prologue: We Killed All Mankind (#ubd282b57-a22d-5db5-b94e-2ac50d69655d)

1. The Night Sweats with Terror (#u59da2349-94df-522c-a639-49c8a559beca)

2. The Ground Beneath Their Feet (#u7ca13542-7dcd-5999-ba2f-4fa33cb5c737)

3. My Dark Fathers (#u2df32d8a-127b-587c-8e5a-66ac18375912)

4. Revolution (#u201a7c2f-2a9b-5140-ab9c-d04fcdde56cc)

5. Tans (#litres_trial_promo)

6. The Abode of Wolves (#litres_trial_promo)

7. Sunshine Elsewhere (#litres_trial_promo)

8. Assassins (#litres_trial_promo)

9. Between Gutter and Cart (#litres_trial_promo)

10. Executions (#litres_trial_promo)

11. The Republic Bold (#litres_trial_promo)

12. The War of the Brothers (#litres_trial_promo)

13. A New Ireland (#litres_trial_promo)

14. Inheritance (#litres_trial_promo)

15. Afterwards (#litres_trial_promo)

Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)

A Short Note on Sources (#litres_trial_promo)

Notes (#litres_trial_promo)

Chronology of Major Events (#litres_trial_promo)

Glossary (#litres_trial_promo)

Select Bibliography (#litres_trial_promo)

Index (#litres_trial_promo)