A fictionalised account of the life of James Lovett, son of Lord Dunmain, set in 1730's Dublin and colonial America.
Category: Children's fiction
A fictionalised account of the life of James Lovett, son of Lord Dunmain, set in 1730s Dublin and colonial America.
Dublin. A city in flux, its population swelling, a place of great wealth and grinding poverty, a playground for the rich but also a violent and dangerous city. Here James Lovett, thirteen year old son of Lord Dunmain and heir to several titles and grand estates, finds himself homeless and dispossessed on the streets. His boorish, drunken father must conceal his son’s existence to collect a large inheritance. He announces James's death and even stages a funeral in the city’s cathedral.
But James is not dead. A spirited and resourceful boy, he is surviving by the skin of teeth. Can he survive against terrible odds? The adventure works its way to a thrilling climax in the forests of Pennsylvania, followed by return to Dublin and a final confrontation with his family ...
Peter Sirr lives in Dublin. He is a prize-winning poet as well a critic, essayist and translator. For many years he was Director of the Irish Writers’ Centre and was also editor of the national poetry magazine, Poetry Ireland Review. He has published eight collection of poetry with The Gallery Press, including The Thing Is (2009), winner of The Michael Hartnett Award, and Selected Poems (2004). He is member of Aosdána.
Sirr is a first-time novelist but an experienced poet and critic; his love of early eighteenth-century Dublin is evident and shines through his language, just archaic enough to provide flavor but plain enough to reveal the parallels of life then and now … a compelling look at a time and place not very far away and may provoke further curiosity
gripping … very credible atmosphere
Sirr’s novel is rich in its evocation of time and place and strong in its characterisation
action-packed … exciting and thrilling adventure story
I thought the book was very exciting and couldn’t wait to get to the end
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