Guns of Easter by Gerard Whelan

 

 

 

 

It is 1916 and Europe is at war. From the poverty of the Dublin slums twelve-year-old Jimmy Conway sees it all as glorious, and loves the British Army for which his father is fighting.

But when war comes to his own streets Jimmy's loyalties are divided. The rebels occupy the General Post Office and other parts of the city, and Jimmy's uncle is among them. Dublin's streets are destroyed, business comes to a halt.

In an attempt to find food for his family, Jimmy crosses the city, avoiding the shooting, weaving through the army patrols, hoping to make it home before curfew. But his quest is not easy and danger threatens at every corner.

As it is the 100th anniversary of the 1916 rising we decided to start the year off by reading a book based on this time in history. This is one of my favourite books that we have done so far in the book club, and  if you don't know much about what happened in 1916 it is a great way of finding out more. This book kept me reading and reading until I'd finished it, I couldn't put it down.

The story follows Jimmy who need to cross the city just as the 1916 rising takes place and shows how dangerous Dublin was at this moment in time.

 We felt that the book gave a good account of what happened and the author wasn't on one side or the other. We looked at the proclamation and at a map of where everything took place and had a good talk about what life was like then and the characters in the book and we played a game of identifying who said what in the book. We also looked at pictures of what Dublin looked like in 1916. This was from a pack put together by South Dublin Libraries Local Studies section and has lots of info, facts and pictures about the 1916 rising

                                                                 

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