1916 I Saw It All
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It wasn’t that we weren’t a happy family, we loved each other dearly. The only thing my parents didn’t share was their point of view regarding Ireland’s future. Every time they quarreled, my dad would say, “Maggie dear, the time is not yet right for a rebellion. I trust Redmond when he says we must join the British army to save Europe. I believe Ireland’s day will come but that’s not today, my love”. It hurt Mam deeply when he went off to the trenches of Northern France. It saddened her in another way too. She regretted that he didn’t seem to understand the purpose or aims of the group of gallant women to whom she belonged, the Cumann na mBan. She, like other members of the organization, supported the belief in carrying out a rebellion against the British forces who were occupying her country, and as far as she was concerned, the time was just right. Mam worked in Hanlon’s Fishmongers shop in Moore St. Recently she had begun to speak about a woman named Countess Markievicz. I found her name strange and foreign, Mam found it charming and exotic.
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About the Book
Set in Boland’s Bakery, in Dublin’s Grand Canal Dock, 1916 I Saw It All, tells the story of Mathew Farrelly, who is caught in the crossfire of the Easter Rebellion, with only his beloved bay mare to comfort him. Mathew is concerned about his mother’s safety, being uncertain whether she is attending the wounded in Hanlon’s Fishmongers in Moore Street or fighting alongside the rebel soldiers in the GPO. This young boy’s account of the Rising of 1916 is set against a backdrop of key figures of the rebellion: Countess Markievicz, Commandant de Valera, Nurse Elizabeth O’Farrell, and Michael Walker, Ireland’s Olympic cyclist.
About the Author
Karen Farrelly Tazi was born in Dublin, studied at UCD, and trained to be a primary teacher at St. Patrick’s College of Education. Today, Karen teaches at Marymount International School, Paris. She has written and illustrated four books for children, all of which were published by Irish book publishers. Her most recent publication, Na Clocha Síneacha, which appeared in late 2009, published by MÓINÍN, was shortlisted for the 2010 Book of the Year for Younger Readers / Réics Carló Award.