Updated / Wednesday, 10 Mar 2021
15:00
Author Michael Gerard writes for Culture about his book
Ireland's Final Rebellion and An American Dream, an epic tale spanning the 20th century, inspired by his own family's remarkable tale.
The protagonist in this book is based on my own father's life and his involvement in the Tan War of 1919-1921. Daddy was an unassuming tailor, tall and straight, who always wore a shirt and tie and smoked Carroll’s cigarettes. He was fifty-seven when I saw the light as the youngest of his five children. We were a poor family amongst poor neighbors in rural County Mayo, Ireland. During my childhood, the cheap ready-made suits were destroying the livelihood of the tailor, but Dad worked at his bench every day, making clothes or doing alterations for customers.