The princes of Ireland

Summary: Masterfully interweaving engrossing fiction and well-researched fact, The princes of Ireland is an epic story of love, war, family and politics, spanning seventeen centuries of Ireland's history. The first installment of this two-part saga begins in pre-Christian Ireland with the reign of the mighty High Kings at Tara and the tragic love story of Conall and Deidre--a reworking of the celebrated Cuchulainn legend--and ends in 1573, with the desecration of Irish Catholic churches and shrines and the hanging of Silken Thomas during the reign of King Henry VIII. Monks, noblemen, soldiers, rebels, craftswomen and writers are just some of the characters cast in this saga that introduces all the major events in Irish history, including the tribal culture of pagan Ireland, the mission of St. Patrick, the coming of the Vikings, and the founding of Dublin.