Trench

Will O’Brien’s philosophy was tied up by the Trench. He had marched through Belgium in September 1916 with the Irish Guards until they reached the Somme. He had been nineteen years old, hardly an age to realize that he was in a vicious world war. And while the place was full of trenches in which to feel safe he and his comrades only had shallow shell holes for cover before charging the Prussian Guards and their murderous nests of machine guns. Will had seen his comrades fall dead as he, a sprinter, ran towards German lines. He fell wounded and spent a painful time crawling back to the Trench being sprayed by German machine guns. It was getting back to the safety of the Trench that kept him going. He was one of thirty that had returned.
In 1923 Will was a Captain in the Irish Army stationed in Cork. He was part of Green Branch whose task was to keep peace in a country alive with guns. Green branch was directly answerable to the new President. The roaming guns included old and new IRA, British Army adventurers, colonials who chose to stay behind after Michael Collins had won freedom for Ireland. Churchill wanted to invade Ireland again. He was looking for any excuse to persuade his colleagues to reoccupy the country and some colonials were sending him information urging him to take over again. Will had discovered a group of suspicious old British Army adventurers coming together and staying in a hotel were his brother Joe worked.
Will hadn’t been chosen by Green Branch for his great intellect. But because he was considered honest and fair by everyone and was popular, playing rugby and cricket for Munster, he could call on people who would normally be thought his enemies. His family helped too, especially his brothers. Joe, a hotel commissionaire, was married to a standoffish wife Margaret and Ed, a bank manager, was married to Jo who constantly engaged him in sex lest he look elsewhere, which he was inclined to do. His sister Kay worked in the local Tax Office and loved a shell shocked teacher.
Although Will was keeping up with the dangerous activities of the different armed factions, he was less able to stay in tune with the women in his life. Being a military man virtually since leaving school he was unaccustomed to the subtleties of women. He was in love with Julia an English teacher, while his sister Kay was pushing him towards her friend Monica, a Belgium immigrant. Then Will stepped into the dangerous world of Eileen Murphy. She was the only child of the Cork IRA leader who doted on her. Eileen thought she had become compromised with Will and to save her reputation was prepared to seduce him into marriage, but Will wasn’t at all sure whether she really loved him. He had to find the safety of the Trench.

"A delight of fast repartee ...... the craic writ large."
"A confection of Irish conversation and philosophy".
"An entertaining mix of romance and adventure – don’t you just want to meet these brothers?!"
"See this period of post World War 1 through different eyes in the culture of an emerging newly independent Ireland."
"This has something for everyone providing entertainment through its sharp wit and conversations."
"An enjoyable look at the wit and free spirit of this Irish family that Britain could not suppress, an adventure in times rarely covered in fiction."