Anyone with an interest in Irish history will enjoy The Nationalists, a novel which opens during the 1916 Easter Rising, extends to the Black and Tan War and culminates in the Irish Civil War of 1922.

The story opens with Tony McAnthony meeting Angela O'Sullivan in the GPO during the Rising. Imprisoned after the Rising, Tony must fight for the woman he loves. He is forced to make hard life-changing choices when Lucy, Angela's best friend, is raped by the Black and Tans, the hated British auxiliary forces. Tony must now make a choice between the pen and the gun. Angela is taken aback by what he decides and as a headstrong Kerry woman she goes her own way. Their paths will collide again later.

Father John Troy also has difficult choices to make. His decision to render aid to rebels lands him in prison and on a collision course with Rome, the Irish hierarchy and fellow priests. The Rising of course was more than a military thing. A cultural revolution took place in tandem. The Nationalists explores this aspect as well including the Abbey Theatre.

The story interweaves factual and fictional characters - men like Eamon de Valera and Michael Collins. The story isn't completely set in Dublin, but moves to Kerry, Wales and London and moves on from the Rising to the elections of 1918, the Black and Tan War and the Irish Civil War.

Everyone is affected. Nobody escapes unscathed.