The Red and the Green: A Novel

Iris Murdoch

Jul 2010 · Open Road Media

About this ebook

A novel about a troubled Irish family on the eve of the Easter Rising by a Man Booker Prize–winning author.
 
In 1916, with the First World War raging across Europe, Andrew Chase-White, lieutenant in the British army, travels to Ireland to see his family. Though he was raised in England by Protestant parents, many of his relations still live on the Emerald Isle, and are Catholic and nationalist through and through. Andrew’s arrival in Dublin is the only spark needed to ignite old resentments, new passions, political tensions, and religious crises, sending the family into a torrent of fights and alliances, affairs and betrayals.
 
And as the historic gunfire begins at the General Post Office on the day of the Easter Rebellion, the lives of Andrew and his relations will be indelibly changed.
 
At once an exploration of the tumultuous political landscape of World War I Dublin and an examination of family, love, and loyalty, The Red and the Green is a compelling novel of Englishness and Irishness that continues to stand the test of time and history.
 

Ratings and reviews

If you want to read an historical novel about the Irish Easter Rebellion, this is not the book. Unfortunately, it is a boring story about forgettable characters who happen to be in Dublin in 1916.

About the author

Iris Murdoch (1919–1999) is the author of twenty-six novels, including Under the Net, The Black Prince, and The Sea, The Sea, as well as several plays and a volume of poetry. Murdoch taught philosophy at Oxford before leaving to write fulltime, winning such literary awards as the Booker Prize and the PEN Gold Pen for Distinguished Service to Literature.