Citizens

Book excerpt: Dublin 2011: Ireland has failed, and if you're in your twenties, you're getting out. Neil, twenty-six, unemployed and disillusioned with the country, is leaving. But having deferred his flight to attend his grandfather's funeral, he's now stuck behind, aiding his grieving grandmother. His girlfriend left for Canada a month ago. Once he gets what has been bequeathed to him, he'll join her. Dublin 1916: Harry Casey is a Pathé newsreel cameraman with a cine-machine and four reels ready to capture the events of Easter Week. However, war destroys even the best-laid plans, and what starts out as an artistic endeavour becomes a subversive challenge to the new republic's hierarchy. Before Neil can leave for Canada, his grandmother asks him to read his great-grandfather Harry Casey's recently discovered memoirs. Eager to find out if the reminiscences are valuable, Neil delays his departure again. With his girlfriend in Canada growing increasingly impatient, and his grandmother's pleas for him to stay in Ireland more desperate, Neil faces a choice between the past and the future that will have far-reaching consequences for the rest of his life. Citizens creates a conversation across a century, between two disparate characters, in one unique interwoven story that combines the historical epic with razor-sharp contemporary cultural commentary.