Customer Reviews

Michael's War: A Story of the Irish Republican Army

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MICHAEL'S WAR is a serious literary work. It is also a page-turner, an exciting adventure yarn--and a warm-hearted love story--and a sound perspective of the tangled history of the Irish struggle for freedom. The characters are memorable and believable--and like so much Irish literature, the narrative sings. Finally, it is the heritage of Daniel Ford, its author.

In a word, I loved it.

The story is set in the period 1917-23 when the Irish Republicans fought, with minimal resources, the arrogant British domination and made their mark, only to be tricked and betrayed so that in the end it was brother fighting brother.

Equally important, this is a personal history of Michael Ford, a stubborn farmer, as he grows from boyhood to a commander of men, who ultimately escapes death by Irish luck and lives to look at his own gravestone before his departure for America.

DON'T MISS THIS BOOK!

-- Paul Estaver

'Michael's War' is a very fine yarn about the Irish Republican Army, complete with the mandatory love affair between the Irish farmer and the squire's daughter. (Think of Tom Cruise & Nicole Kidman in 'Far & Away'!) I especially liked the way Mr Ford, an American, caught the cadence of Irish speech.

The story closely follows the course of Ireland's separation from England, from the Easter Week 'rising' in 1916 to the surrender of the IRA 'diehards' in 1923. At the end of all, as Michael would say, he sells the farm and sets out for America, leaving behind a country full of hate & suspicion as a result of civil war.

The seeds of the IRA 'troubles' of the past half-century were sown in Cork & Kerry in the early 1920s. Mr Ford coats the history lesson with a satisfactory romance and an exciting tale of guerrilla warfare. Good job! (reviewed Nov 2003 by Terence Quigley)

'Michael's War' is a very fine yarn about the Irish Republican Army, complete with the mandatory love affair between the Irish farmer and the squire's daughter. (Think of Tom Cruise & Nicole Kidman in 'Far & Away'!) I especially liked the way Mr Ford, an American, caught the cadence of Irish speech.

The story closely follows the course of Ireland's separation from England, from the Easter Week 'rising' in 1916 to the surrender of the IRA 'diehards' in 1923. At the end of all, as Michael would say, he sells the farm and sets out for America, leaving behind a country full of hate & suspicion as a result of civil war.

The seeds of the IRA 'troubles' of the past half-century were sown in Cork & Kerry in the early 1920s. Mr Ford coats the history lesson with a satisfactory romance and an exciting tale of guerrilla warfare. Good job! (reviewed Nov 2003 by Terence Quigley)

By taking the history of the Irish Rebellion and telling it through the eyes of one young man caught up in the events, Ford presents a highly readable way of learning the history of the time. The background is well researched and the characters stubborn and believable. It's easy to imagine how the three main characters were caught up in the events, which took some of them farther than they wanted, and others, not quite far enough.

Michael's War is an absorbing story of the Irish Rebellion with strong, real characters. Another reviewer said it was a page turner and I totally concur. I read it in only a few nights and I was sad to reach the end although the journey was well worth the effort. Mr. Ford tells the story in a clear and direct manner as if he had lived in Ireland during this time period. Anyone who has any interest in this time period will enjoy this book.

John N.

This book is a fiction, though its hero bears some resemblance to my father, Patrick Ford, born 1899 in the County Cork, died 1977 in Arizona--one of the wild geese who populated the far reaches of the world, for the most part to the world's great benefit. Toward the end of his life, Dad wrote a recollection of his youth in Ireland, and I referred to it constantly while writing my novel. He lived through much of Michael's life story (though he never, to the best of my knowledge, had an affair with the squire's daughter). The rest was experienced by other people, whose stories I adapted.

The heroines bear less resemblance to my mother, Anne Crowley, though Mom did serve in the Cumann na mBan--easier to pronounce than to spell!--and once or twice tucked blasting caps into her cleavage. She was a more forgiving person than my father, and she wouldn't be at all troubled to learn that her great-granddaughters carry British as well as American passports.

When the novel was done, I put it aside and turned to other things, among them a story about the Flying Tigers of World War II. If you have read "Remains," you may remember Austin and Annabel Love as members of the British Raj in Burma in 1941-42. They suited the role, so I borrowed their names and some of their circumstances. Now, as I return to "Michael's War," I find that they suit this book even more, so here they are as I first invented them. If the coincidence troubles you, just pretend that they hail from different branches of the same fictional family. -- Dan Ford