Hannah is nineteen years old and living on her family's farm in West Cork. Her peaceful world is shattered forever by the eruption of the War of Independence, Ireland's bid for freedom from Britain. Hannah's family hide rebel soldiers in their attic, putting them in great danger from the Black and Tans who roam the countryside. An immediate connection between Hannah and O'Riada, the leader of this band of rebels, will change her life and that of her family forever.
2019
Ellen is at a crossroads in her life : her marriage is in trouble, her career is over and she's grieving the loss of a baby. After years in London, she decides to come home to Ireland to face the past she has always tried to escape. Her journey centres on an old house in the countryside, a house that used to belong to her family. Reaching into the past, she feels a connection to her aunt, the mysterious Hannah O'Donovan. But why won't anyone in her family talk about Hannah? And how can this journey help Ellen put her life back together ?
Well, well, well... I wasn't impressed.
The historical part of the book was easy enough to read, but there was nothing original in it.
The contemporary part of it made me want to strangle each and every one of its protagonists !
Ellen has cause to not be feeling good about her life, but I couldn't even feel some empathy about a woman who has lost her baby, that's how bad it was. Ellen was whiny, she bullied everybody around her, her family was awful, the characters didn't communicate with each other, they didn't say what they were feeling/experiencing and then they got angry because the others didn't understand them and they shut them out ! For years !
Besides, Ellen wasn't such a nice person to start with : when she was younger, she was beautiful and didn't mind slapping people around in pubs and getting away with it because of her beauty, she was just selfish and completely silly. I hated her !
At the end of the story, both Hannah and Ellen began to start a new life, but honestly, Ellen buying her old family home with her husband's money while contemplating leaving him is a not so good start for a new life. I think the novel aimed at the kind of atmosphere you find in a Kate Morton book with both old story/new story, but Kate Morton's characters are a lot more interesting.
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