A Long, Long Way
Synopsis
Barely eighteen years old, Willie Dunne leaves Dublin in 1914 to fight for the Allied cause, largely unaware of the growing political and religious tensions festering back home. A Long Long Way evokes the camaraderie of Willie’s regiment, the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, but also the cruelty and sadness of war, and the divided loyalties that tore at many Irish soldiers. Tracing their experiences through the course of the war, the narrative vividly dramatises the events of the Easter Rising within Ireland, and explores how such a seminal political moment came to affect those boys who were fighting for the King of England on foreign fields.
Author Biography
Sebastian Barry was born in Dublin on July 1955. His play, The Steward of Christendom (1995), won many awards, and A Long Long Way, is his third novel, and was shortlisted for The Man Booker Prize in 2005. His two previous novels were The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty (1998), and Annie Dunne (2002). He lives in County Wicklow.
