Kings of the Boyne E-Book

Nicola Pierce

• Herausgeber: The O'Brien Press
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

Two kings, Three young soldiers. One battle to end all battles. Eager to prove his courage and defend his family honour, young Irish noble Gerald O'Connor rides his warhorse Troy north in King James's cavalry. Brothers Robert and Daniel Sherrard march south from the once-besieged city of Derry with King William's army. The chosen field of battle – the Boyne – lies waiting, where victory will decide who rules the lands of England, and of Ireland. And the fighting will decide who survives the deadly game of war.

Leseprobe

Reviews for Nicola Pierce

Behind the Walls

‘This is not glorified history; it is history as it really happened with its gritty and realistic depiction of the terror-struck city of Derry in 1689 where Protestants are threatened by the Catholic army. It’s a vivid evocation of life in a city under siege – boredom contrasted with times of real fear. Memorable characters help us share in the feelings of the people trapped and give us an insight into those feelings, both in historical times and today. Heart-breaking in places, the story is testament to the resilience of people; a moving read’parentsintouch.co.uk

‘An excellent novel’

Robert Dunbar, The Irish Times

Spirit of the Titanic

‘Gripping, exciting and unimaginably shattering’

Guardian Children’s Books

‘Captivating’

Sunday Business Post

‘Intriguing’

Belfast Telegraph

‘I absolutely adored this book. It makes you feel like you were there’

Finty, reader review

City of Fate

‘This fantastically written book will hook you from the start … this is historical fiction at its best’

The Guardian

‘A compelling novel, combining rich characterisation with a powerfully evoked sense of time and place’

Robert Dunbar, The Irish Times

‘Excellent … vivid and moving’

BooksforKeeps.co.uk

For Susan Houlden

Contents

Title PageDedicationAcknowledgements  Chapter One: Ardee, 1 October 1689 Chapter Two: King James in Dundalk, 1690 Chapter Three: Waiting Around in Dundalk Chapter Four: Outside Belfast, June 1690 Chapter Five: Killaughey, County Down, June 1690 Chapter Six: Drogheda, June 1690 Chapter Seven: County Down, June 1690 Chapter Eight: Drogheda, June 1690 Chapter Nine: Around the Campfire Chapter Ten: Returning to the Watsons’ Chapter Eleven: Location! Location! June 1690 Chapter Twelve: Heading South, June 1690 Chapter Thirteen: The Day before the Battle, July 1690 Chapter Fourteen: The Williamite Council of War Chapter Fifteen: The Jacobite Side of the Boyne Chapter Sixteen: The Jacobite War Council Chapter Seventeen: The Williamite Side of the Boyne Chapter Eighteen: The Battle Begins Chapter Nineteen: James’s Hasty Response Chapter Twenty: All is Revealed Chapter Twenty-One: The Ford at Rossnaree Chapter Twenty-Two: Checkmate! Chapter Twenty-Three: Here Comes the Jacobite Cavalry Chapter Twenty-Four: The Duke of Schomberg and the Reverend Walker Chapter Twenty-Five: Looking after Reverend Walker Chapter Twenty-Six: The Kings of the Boyne Chapter Twenty-Seven: A King’s Letter Chapter Twenty-Eight: Crossing the Boyne Chapter Twenty-Nine: Retreat! Chapter Thirty: The Hill of Donore Chapter Thirty-One: Malahide Castle, County Dublin Chapter Thirty-Two: Trim, County Meath  Epilogue Writer’s Notes The Three Kings of the Glorious RevolutionOther Books By Nicola PierceAbout the Author Copyright

Acknowledgements

If you have even just a little interest in the Battle of the Boyne, please visit the fantastic battle site and museum at Oldbridge House, the Battle of the Boyne Visitor Centre in Drogheda. I also recommend visiting Drogheda’s Millmount museum and fort, the site of that bloody massacre committed by Oliver Cromwell’s army. An unexpected thrill for me was when my mother brought me to Christ Church Cathedral, in Dublin, and I found myself standing right in front of a chair that had once cushioned the rear of King William III.

The title of the book came from a former student of St Peter’s School in Rathgar. I met his class in Rathgar Books and mentioned my difficulty in choosing a title. I had barely finished my sentence before Dylan Harold blurted out ‘Kings of the Boyne’. Cheers, Dylan!

I am grateful to history buffs Aisling Heffernan of the Battle of the Boyne Visitor Centre, Eamon Thornton of the Old Drogheda Society, historian and musician Aideen Morrissey and former MLA for East Belfast Michael Copeland for their wonderful anecdotes both about the Battle of the Boyne and 1690s Drogheda.

Thanks to my brother-in-law, Doctor Ciaran Simms, for lending me his grandfather’s books on Irish history.

Thanks also to David Doyle for telling me all about meadows.

I first read Saint Teresa’s poem on the Facebook page of poet and writer Nessa O’Mahony.

A big thanks to the readers of that difficult first draft: my other brother-in-law Donagh McCarthy, Rachel Pierce, Damian Keenan, Marian Broderick, Niall Carney and Conor Geoghegan. It’s a long story, almost as long as the book itself, but they had their work cut out for them, and I appreciated all of their responses and suggestions.

Once again designer and artist Emma Byrne blew me away with her work. And thanks so much to my ever-patient editor Susan Houlden who propped up my confidence following that first draft and prodded me to move in a different direction.

Finally, thank you for reading this book!

Chapter One

Ardee, 1 October 1689

For a second or two Gerald O’Connor wanted to be back home in Offaly, in his tiny bedroom that was too small for him now. Even before he had left, he had already begun to dream of a bigger bed and grander window.

Instead, that room continued to shrink as he grew taller, longer and wider. There were nights when he felt the whitewashed walls inching their way towards him; he could stretch out a toe from beneath his blanket and prod the coolness of the stone, challenging it to push back.

His bedroom window was the size of his sister’s sewing basket so he could not see the ruin of his grandfather’s castle. For that, he had to step outside and there it was: broken stubby walls covered in weeds, long spidery cracks and ancient matted webs dotted with the dusty, dried-up corpses of a multitude of flies and beetles. The roof was long gone and only one window, minus the glass, remained. This had been his own private empire when he was a child. It was where he had hidden himself after he threw a stone at his sister, dropped the cat down the well (it was an accident!) and fell into the biggest puddle around while wearing his best cloak. His family had always known where to find him, marvelling that he didn’t realise this himself.

On summer days he sat in its shadow and dreamed of a time when the castle had stood tall and pristine – the bustling home of a busy, important family, his family, the O’Connors. He had begged his sister Cait to draw the castle as it would have been. Following a brief discussion with their father, Cait sketched the shape of what Mr O’Connor described from memory. He had been a little boy when it was destroyed by the English army of Oliver Cromwell. Cait did her best, and the little sketch, after spending years nailed to Gerald’s bedroom wall, was now sitting in the pocket of his tunic. It was faded and worn, but Gerald would not leave it behind, though he rarely so much as glanced at it since he could see it perfectly in his mind’s eye.