Boycott – a word whose meaning is known the world over. But it once belonged to a man. Two brothers, Owen and Thomas Joyce take conflicting stands in the struggle with injustice in a country striven by the Land War.
Category: Fiction
Boycott - a word whose meaning is known the world over. But it once belonged to a man.
Two brothers, Owen and Thomas Joyce, barely survive the horror of the great famine that devastated Ireland in the 1840s. But it left a lasting effect on both of them. Three decades later they are thrown together during the Land War, when evictions and landlord cruelty reach an intolerable level. But Thomas places his trust in the gun, while Owen backs the passive resistance advocated by the Land League. Captain Charles Boycott, an English land agent in Mayo, becomes the first to suffer this new form of revolt, when he and his family are ostracised. It is a David versus Goliath situation, with Boycott supported by the military, the police, the press, the British Government. How can peasants stand against an empire? And how will the two brothers reconcile their differences and confront their troubled past?
A novel of brotherly love and brotherly conflict.
Colin Murphy is the author of The Most Famous Irish People You’ve Never Heard Of and co-author of the bestselling ‘Feckin’ collection (The O’Brien Press). His début historical novel Boycott (Brandon) was published in 2012 to great acclaim.
'the story gallops along and keeps the reader attentive and engaged with its lively, vivid, and varied writing'
'brings our history alive'
'firmly rooted in minute research'
'on an historical level, it is a valuable piece of writing'
'he has produced an engaging labour of love novel that reinstates the most successful protest in Irish history into popular consciousness, in an old-fashioned historical saga that deserves a wide readership'
'a stirring and deeply researched story'
'rattling yarn, with action racing along, brilliant twists, flawed heroes and evil villains interspersed with on-the-spot reports from contemporary newspapers and official documents'
'a blockbuster ... vividly brings a forgotten era to life'
'a powerful story of the weak become strong through concerted and determined action ... I look forward to the next novel from this muscular writer'
'a great novel of brothers in conflict during a troubled time'
'engaging and well-paced'
'its achievement is impressive'
'Perfectly paced and beautifully written'
'There is a great sense of urgency that motivates the book'
'His command is impressive and his storytelling masterful'
'Marks of a mature novelist and one with many more novels to come'
