A Woven Silence

How do we know that what we remember is the truth? Inspired by the story of her relative Marion Stokes, one of three women who raised the tricolour over Enniscorthy in Easter Week 1916, Felicity Hayes-McCoy explores the consequences for all of us when memories are manipulated or obliterated, intentionally or by chance. In the power struggle after the Easter Rising, involving, among others, Michael Collins and Eamon de Valera, the ideals for which Marion and her companions fought were eroded, resulting in an Ireland marked by chauvinism, isolationism and secrecy. By mapping her own family stories onto the history of the State, Felicity examines how Irish life today has been affected by the censorship and mixed messages of the past. Absorbing, entertaining and touching, her story moves from Washerwoman’s Hill in Dublin to London and back again, spans two world wars, a revolution, a civil war and the development of a republic, and culminates in Ireland’s 2015 same-sex marriage referendum. • Also by this author: Enough is Plenty