Publisher's Synopsis
An historical fiction of the wars of Ireland in the 1920's and their impact on the Irish and their country, inevitably wars are about the people affected and their stories. No one is immune from the impact of violence and upheaval.
Westmeath, a county in the Irish midlands. It's the beginning of the 20th century and two boyhood friends grow up in the rural countryside dominated by the British military in Athlone. "Treaty or Treason" is an historical fictional account of those whose lives were affected by the major events in Ireland in that time.They grow into young men in a heart breaking coming of age, seeing the horror and heroism of the Easter uprising debacle in 1916 unfold in Dublin. But it is an event that ignites a national blaze and turns the two young men into revolutionary fighters whose secret activities put them in grave danger and change their lives.
For two years from 1919 they fight the Irish War of independence against the mighty British Empire all the time seeing the prize of their beloved Republic and independence getting closer for Ireland.
The brutality of their foes, the mercenary Black and Tans and their treatment of the civilian population forges their friendship and resolve. Their society has been torn apart, their leaders challenged. The boot heel of Imperialism stamps down on their country.
This is a saga of boys to men to fighters at a time when the world is recovering from World War 1. But for Ireland the struggle is just beginning and the fight will be ferocious and vicious against a powerful enemy.
Joe Keegan and Sean McKeon stand shoulder to shoulder, victory is in sight. But at the last minute it is snatched away by the politicians and leaders who see a different way forward. A Treaty and Dominion status, not a Republic will be accepted.
For the whole country, choices must be made that were never foreseen.
A Civil War looms, it will be ugly and Joe and Sean now have to make a choice: Treaty or Treason!
Joe never doubted he would join with the anti Treaty forces of the IRA but Sean confounds Joe and accepts the Treaty and joins the Provisional Government Army.
Friends become enemies and their lives and loves are compromised by the deep emotional divisions within the country that survive to the modern day. Joe's relentless fight against the powers of his former comrades destroys his freedom and many thousands of others like him who are imprisoned in their quest for their ideal.
Joe loses his dream as Sean commits himself to a future that demands allegiance to a power he had hoped to defeat.
PHILLIP KERRIGAN is an Australian author of Irish descent and has an abiding interest in Irish history and politics. His family took part in the times he writes about.
