This novel is set during World War 2 when many Irish joined the British army and fought against Nazi Germany, even though the Irish government under de Valera had declared for neutrality. In this "What If" novel, author Paddy McEvoy tells the story of a young Tipperary couple, Thomas and Roisin, whose passionate pleas are a major influence on de Valera's imaginary decision to abandon neutrality and fight alongside the old enemy, Britain. After the disasters of Dunkirk and the Blitz, Britain is defeated and occupied. German troops arrive in Ireland, particularly in Tipperary where this story is centred, and the world has changed utterly.This is a story of how occupation has the effect of uniting the warring factions of Ireland, whose Civil War has not long finished. The British and Irish people forget "The Troubles and are brought together in a common struggle that will bind them, and Europe ever-closer in the post-war world.Thomas and Roisin's growing love for each other and their passion to build a better world provide a warm contrast to the hostilities that surround them.Paddy McEvoy was born and raised in Tipperary and educated by the Roman Catholic Christian Brothers, and at University College Dublin. His authentic depiction of the social order in a small Irish town in the 1940s is inspired by his own recollections and those gleaned from a previous generation. After the end of the imagined Occupation, a very different Ireland emerges to take its place in a warmer, peaceful and saner world.This book will appeal to anyone who has a nostalgia for Ireland's past and an interest in Irish history. But the author's vision is a global one of an optimistic world that is still struggling into being. No one knows how close Hitler's military might came to defeating and occupying Britain, and how this might have affected Ireland. The story told in this novel is a What-might-have-been, that came alarmingly close to changing the Irish definition of Emergency.60,000 words; 220 pages.
About the Author: A teacher for over 40 years, in England and Northern Ireland, Paddy McEvoy has had experience of a wide cross-section of, nor only schools, including state and Steiner education, but other employments, including: agricultural work; factory work; Merchant Navy; trawler-man (Iceland); building labourer; bus-conductor; musician; amateur archaeologist (Israel), among others........ which provided much food for thought......... He was born and reared in the One, True, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, but prodigally, strayed. Educated by the Christian Brothers, he read Social Sciences at University College Dublin, (self-financed), where he got a glimpse into the innards of the workings of the Irish Establishment, but wasn't much taken by what he saw. His insights of the workings of the English system left him similarly underwhelmed. He grew up in a post-Independence, restrictive Ireland, an Ireland which is happily, mostly a thing of the past. He would say of himself that, while having softened his ties with class, nationality, ethnicity and tribe, he has strengthened and intensified his anchorages with humanity in general, which is the guiding principle of his writings. He is the author of a seven-part series of short essays: A Humanist Catechism For Young Thinkers; and A Disobedient History of Ireland, in four volumes, both available on Amazon as ebooks. www.paddymcevoy.co.uk