1949 cover art

1949

A Novel of the Irish Free State (Irish Century Series, Book 3)

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About this listen

Morgan Llywelyn's masterly epic, the Irish Century, continues in 1949, a sequel to 1916 and 1921.

The struggle of the Irish people for independence is one of the compelling historical dramas of the 20th century. 1949 tells the story of Ursula Halloran, a fiercely independent young woman who comes of age in the 1920s. The tragedy of Irish civil war gives way in the 1920s to a repressive Catholic state led by Eamon De Valera. Married women cannot hold jobs, divorce is illegal, and the IRA has become a band of outlaws still devoted to and fighting for a Republic that never lived. The Great Depression stalks the world, and war is always on the horizon, whether in Northern Ireland, Spain, or elsewhere on the European continent.

Ursula works for the fledgling Irish radio service and then for the League of Nations, while her personal life is torn between two men: an Irish civil servant and an English pilot.

Defying church and state, Ursula bears a child out of wedlock, though she must leave the country to do so, and nearly loses her life in the opening days of World War II. Eventually she returns to an Ireland that is steadfastly determined to remain neutral during the war.

©2003 Morgan Llywelyn (P)2021 Tantor 20th Century Fiction Historical Fiction War
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Loving the books so far. I wish I read the books rather than listening to them though; the narrator is not to my personal taste, unfortunately. The poor pronunciation of some of the words, for example - Fermanagh, Lisnaskea, craic, Ballinasloe etc etc… makes me cringe at times. Sorry for being so negative about this because the stories are great.

Great stories, shame about the narration!

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The only reason I finished this Audible was because I wanted to see what happened with the Characters.
I did enjoy the story but the constant mispronunciations of Irish surnames and townlands was just gnawing at me, but the worse of all was the constant mispronunciations of 'Eire' it was just irritating .
It is not pronounced 'Air' it's 'Air a' I'm sure with a small bit of research you would have been given the correct pronunciation.

Read the book instead.....

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