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.