After the Rising and Before the Fall by Orna Ross is an historic novel covering several decades.
Note: Several of the characters are referred to by different names.
Jo/Siobhan returns to Ireland to attend the funeral of her mother Mairin/Mrs. D. While coming across an old flame, Rory O'Donovan, her thoughts return to the past and along with a case of journals and letters begins to uncover the history of her family. Jo's family and the O'Donovans have been tragically and romantically intertwined since the battle to free Ireland from English rule. After an Anglo/Irish 1921 treaty was reached, southern Ireland and a few counties in Northern Ireland were given a similar status to Australia with their own rule but with the English Crown still remaining as head of state. Jo's family and also the O'Donovans became split between those who voted for the treaty and peace (pro-treaty) and those who wanted a completely free Ireland (Free Staters) and wanted to continue fighting. Some of them joined the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and took their focus from the English and began fighting with Irish friends and neighbors. Jo's grandmother, Peg, follows it all in her diary.
This was one of my favorite books of this year and very well written. I did, however, question a period in San Francisco which I thought unnecessarily covered the AIDS problem in the 1980s which erupted in that area and didn't feel it added to the story.
