Seize Never Be At Peace Author M.J. Neary Distributed As Interactive EBook

I'm intrigued by Irish history, and I find it so hard to comprehend sometimes how a modern Western society could be at war over religion, so I was looking forward to reading this book and getting an insider's view of the events leading up to and encompassing the Easter Rising of.
One of the first things that struck me in this book was the use of the theater as a medium for political activism.
In an era before before movies and TV and the evening news, plays were the most personal way to reach an audience and draw attention to a plight or evoke emotion toward a cause, and the Irish nationalists used it to their full advantage.
The backdrop of Dublin's theater scene provided a very evocative setting that dripped with Irish atmosphere, but it wasn't enough.
This book has a few issues that prevented me from truly enjoying the story,

While Ms. Neary does display some moments of semantic brilliance in her poignant observations about the Irish culture and human nature, to find them the reader has to suffer through mounds of unnatural dialogue full of dramatic monologues and history lessons, and the life stories of every single character who had anything to do with the Rising upon their introduction to the story and there are many.
The story is also told in an omniscient point of view that allows for a good bit of headhopping, and that served to never really allow me to connect with any of the characters.
Helena is supposed to be the lead, but the story meanders into the lives of many others, most of whom I couldn't make myself care for.
They're all either drunks, bullies, or adulterersand sometimes all three, I was also a bit miffed about being misled by the mention of Helena's two lovers in the book description there are no passionate love affairs in this novelin fact, the only passion Helena ever exhibits is for Irish nationalism, and I had a hard time figuring out where that passion came from.
And while her every reluctant encounter with Bulmer is depicted and he's actually the best of the lot, though Helena is either too jaded or too stubborn to see it, the reader doesn't even learn that Helena had been intimate with Sean until their affair is over.


But despite my disenchantment with the characters and the unevenness of the story arc, I had to keep reading to see how everything would play out.
I kept hoping that the Rising and its aftermath would make it all worthwhile, but I was disappointed again, The Rising itself was sort of anticlimactic, and it felt as if I were being held at arm's length throughout.
It takes place over the course of only a few pages, Characters are wounded and killed, and there is no emotion on the part of the survivors whatsoever, Overall, I thought the story was surprisingly lacking in emotion from the characters for its subject matter, I really had been expecting a lot more from it since the entire book had been building to that point.
And things seemed to fall apart from there, Toward the very end, we start learning about some pretty monumental things that Helena's been through since the Rising from other characters as the focus of the story shifts to characters that were relatively unknown for the firstpages of the book.
But finally, the very last page felt so right after so much wrong, and it brought a smile to my face, and that's the reason for the bump up to.
stars.

So unfortunately, this book didn't really live up to my expectations, But it does seem to be well researched, and most of the characters were actual historical figures, so it may be worth a read for anyone with a keen interest in this time period.

Never Be At Peace is full of vivid, deftlydrawn characters, Foremost, of course, is the redoubtable Helena Molony, but the many other intriguing characters also hold their own, Among my favorites is the hapless Quaker, Bulmer Hobson, who manages to be equal parts endearing and exasperating, I turned to reference books several times while reading, not because of any lack of clarity, but out of curiosity about how much was historically documented and how much was fiction, and I learned that this story rests on solid research, and that even characters I had thought might be fiction were in fact historical.
A fascinating thread throughout the story is how the different characters view the role of women in society, in the revolution, in relationships.


One of the historical characters is W, B. Yeats. He might well have been thinking of the events and personalities described in Neary's book when he wrote "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.
" And yet this group of squabbling, contentious rebels contains a very human mix of the best and the worst, A subtle undercurrent of humor adds even more depth to Neary's story, Highly recommended. Set in the first half of theth century, Never Be at Peace tells the story of Helena Molony, an actress who dreams of liberating Ireland from British control.
The novel is also the story of theEaster Rebellion and Molony weaves in and out of it along with a sizeable cast of other personages to whom the author, M.
J. Neary, pays detailed attention and manages with impeccable skill, There are few undeveloped characters and one result of that is the intense insider view readers are given to the historical rebellion along with its strengths, foibles, inner squabbling and eventual splintering.


Against a backdrop of the theatre, a telling metaphor superimposed on the plans for a nationwide Irish strike and government shutdown, Molony et al.
, particularly Bulmer Hobson, with whom she engages in an unsatisfying and drawnout affair, act out their own dreams, This is despite the conflicts raised in competition with each others egos, biases, backgrounds, perceptions, demands and goalseven children are part of the makeup of this production, one in particular representative of Ireland herself, in the aftermath of a clash of wills, disregarded in favor of satisfaction of individual wants.


The novel provides fresh insight into earlier groups and their startups, and we read of bands such as the Irish Republican Brotherhood IRB, Citizen Army and Irish Volunteers.
While they strike an alliance, they are not a true consortium instead they are given to poor communication and conflicting orders, most notably regarding the scheduled uprising day and the failed rendezvous with a German ship intending to deliver arms.
Moreover, the public does not support them

as much as previously believed, but the rebels will themselves to continue,

“Oh but it was frightfully comical: red streamers and paper flowers floating in the air, Flags, draperies, carpets! Red through a grey mistMost Dubliners, even the destitute, view George as a legitimate monarch, While the carriage made its way through the sea of Union Jacks, I leaped forth with a black flag, The feeble old man standing behind me was so furious he struck me on the back with the stick of his Union Jack.
But you know, my back is quite stiff, and the stick broke at once!”

Never Be at Peace moves in time past the rising, until the eve of World War II, when we are witness to the aftermath of forty years of dedication to a cause that appears to be in tatters.
One chapter entitled “Potato Theatre” recalls a previous statement of Hobsons, that the potato is the “prostitute of all crops,” and links the absurdity of situations with compassion for the heartache of loss, portrayed by Neary with a balance that utilizes sardonic and dark humor as well as what has to have been an intensive amount of research to get at the private lives of historical figures.


Neary tells this story of these people through an omniscient narrator who retains its presence as we are transported one at a time into the thoughts of various characters.
At any given time it is very clear through whose perceptions we are viewing the world, and it works, even as Molony and Hobson retain their positions in the lead.
This technique enables readers to see players as the individuals they are, individuals that history has sort of flitted over for “lack of space,” and we are able to identify them later when they at times are initially unrecognized following the brutal passage of years.


Historically, for example, Hobsons positions were sabotaged, information was deliberately kept from him and he had to develop strategies of his own in order to detect plans, all part of a swirl of events that counterattack themselves and lead to rumors that damage his subsequent political prospects.


While it might be a tad unfair to state that Nearys Hobson spirals into a caricature of himself, he does nevertheless retain his insistence upon placing his position at odds with forces mightier than himself, for better or worseand often worse.
Neary portrays the stark reality, never attempting to overlay scenes or actions with glitter of any sort, Hobson is determined if at times naïve, and his humor and bitterness frequently cross paths, As he stumbles upon a Sackville Street in the midst of being looted,

jewelry shop owner Edward Burns watches his premises as it is destroyed.
. . The spectacle of urban apocalypse mesmerized him,

A gaunt man in his early thirties entered the scene, limping and holding his stomach, In spite of his wrinkled clothes and tangled hair, it was obvious he did not belong to the mob,

He exclaimed in a heightened Northern accent, “Connolly, look! This is your noble working class, unshelled, unembellished, ” He clapped his hands, cheering the looters, “Thats the spirit! Steal from your fellow Dubliners while you can, ”

Likewise, Molony dedicates her life to a cause that she herself helps break down by allowing herself to be misdirected, by others as well as herself, despite her intelligence and strong sense of personality.
Of course, in fairness it must be said that she does not see all that readers do, and naturally her responses are colored by events as she occupies them.
Still, Neary does not provide excuses, though we do at times see Molony nearing the moments when she needs to reconstruct herself.
Her often simple dialogue is nevertheless charged with meaning as she simultaneously sabotages a moment, a statement fraught with significance.


“This is Irelands hour of beauty, When all the sordidness and sadness slips from her, when she lies around us simplified in the coloured dusk, Look how the seagulls rock on the golden water, Dont they remind you of pearls scattered over silk”

Helena exhaled and tucked a frizzy strand behind her ear.
“If I dont have a cup of tea, Ill surely collapse, ”

This is the story of a moment in time, which involves the people who eyed it, waiting for and planning, and what happens afterwards.
It rightfully brings to a wider audience the historical figures whose lives were spent in dedication to that moment, and the failures they experience.
Some of the cast are recognizable to many readers some known well to audiences appear but briefly, Many are bent to the brink, giving their livesin more ways than onefor the chance at freedom, and none are willing to give up in the face of breakdown in whole or part.
As written elsewhere by Irish novelist Liam OFlaherty, who himself makes a cameo appearance in Never Be at Peace, “There is reason to hope that the failure is only partial in some places.
”
Once more Marina Julia Neary has proven she is an expansive writer, adept at handling a multitude of characters with honesty and imagination, intelligence and wit, engagement but also objectivity.
Ms. Neary is ambitious and alert like a spider spinning a sticky web connecting many storylines into a saga spanning nearly forty years replete with twists of fate, theatrical egos, sexual maneuverings, impetuous love affairs, misbegotten offspring, and impassioned if ambiguous conflicts in the protracted fight for Irelands independence that made history for textbooks and neglect.


As large as Ms, Nearys storytelling is, it remains intimate and nuanced throughout with enjoyable and often insightful descriptions of the characters appearance and dress, what and even how they eat, their mannerisms and quirks, the places they haunt, and all kinds of details that make them real, ridiculous, amusing, talented and tragic but never larger than life.
Yeats, Maud Gonne, Countess Constance Marckiewicz, James Connolly and any number of legendary individuals are drawn irresistibly conscionable and culpable, but not more so than the novel's lesserknown figuressuch as the feminist, activist, journalist and actress, Helena Molony.


Never Be At Peace pauses and moves along with verbose dialogue and distinct staging, unfolding with various personal and public dramas as though they are equally significant and insignificant at least with the sense that they may be separated in dry facts but not in the human context of historic events.
The informational aspect to Ms, Nearys approach to historical fiction is more about style than didacticism, If it teaches anything, it is that nothing is what it seemsespecially not history or heroism, loyalty or love,

Although writing about a similar progression of events as in her previous novel, Martyrs and Traitors, Ms.
Neary has skillfully created a newly compelling story that has the reader forgetting they have been there before, Just as in life, so much is in the eye of the beholder, Never Be At Peace, despite its distractions and detours, is Helena Molonys story: a testament to her courage and stumbling on her personal and civic passage through life, allowing the reader to breathe with relief for her vulnerability, forgive her “mistakes” and hope for a renewal of the vitality of her purpose.
Yet, even as the novel represents Helenas specific journey it highlights the experience of many women born or somehow persuaded to take outstanding roles in society, in relationships and even revolutions.
Never Be At Peace sweeps readers into earlyth century Ireland, in the buildup to the Easter Risingand subsequent struggle for independence from Britain.
We get a very realistic Irish period description, which the author has clearly researched indepth, There are many subplots, which at times seem unrelated to each other, but characters from different subplots do meet and the author skilfully weaves them all into the main story.
Numerous historical characters are given a voice and interact effectively with the authors fictive characters,
Another historical novelist, Hilary Mantel, said that, after researching history, it is the novelists task to fill in the empty gaps and bring history to life.
Marina Neary does this wonderfully well in her novel,
The main story is told mainly by Helena Molony, courageously rising from humble origins, to become a successful theatre actress, feminist and a protagonist in the struggle for Irish independence.
Despite her love of the theatre, the author shows her nationalism: “She generally boycotted Shakespeare on the account of him being English.
” But she also has her flaws and weak moments, which help to make her real and endearing to readers,
In addition to Helena, the story is dominated by strong women a minority at the time, many being suffragettes but also shows the ordeals women faced, such as unwanted pregnancies making them social outcasts.
Bulmer, the male protagonist, says: “The women in my family outshine the men”, But period male chauvinism is evidenced by another character: “He subscribed to the notion that educating women was an unnatural act, as their brains were not big enough to accommodate the extra flow of blood”.

The novel will be of great interest to anyone interested in the period, Therepublicans are executed for treason, for rebelling during World War I, with German help considered as stabbing Britain in the back whilst it fought Germany on continental Europe.
It reveals how Protestants and Catholics worked together towards Irish independence, in great contrast tos/s when the Catholic IRA faced Protestant Ulster Unionists.

The Republican independence movement is also shown not to have been uniform, with rival groups not always cooperating, deep personality confrontations and supporters of the AngloIrish Treaty Irish Free State clashing with republicans advocating full independence from Britain.
This clash produced Michael Collins assassination, which maybe could have been covered in greater detail, Were told: “The Free State forces and the Republicans engaged in a tennis match of provocations and reprisals, It was difficult to pinpoint who had started the exchange and even more difficult to predict when it would end”.

We also learn that many Irish didnt support therising: “Dubliners were furious with the insurgents for having reduced the citys center to a smouldering pile of brick and wood.
Constance could not escape the wrath of Dubliners, They bombarded her with whatever they could get their hands on, The British soldiers had to protect the captured rebels from their fellow Irishmen”,
After thes, Helena Molony appears more distant from the republican struggle and the story follows her less closely than earlier in the novel as events lead to full independence in.
Helena seems disillusioned: “It killed her to see the defeated Irish republicans turn away from their cause, seeking status, prosperity and security instead of freedom.
The country was assuming the features of the enemy, turning into a pale, grotesque version of England”,
Despite taking time to introduce and follow a myriad of characters, the story progresses swiftly, with unexpected twists and turns and a surprise ending.
A very enjoyable novel to read and a great depiction of a dramatic and tragical period inth century history.

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