Thomas Flanagan has written a historical novel set in Ireland that has become a best selling book.
A professor of English with a love for Ireland, Professor Thomas Flanagan has written a novel 'The Year of the French' based on the Irish rebellion of 1798.
In the grounds of Trinity College Dublin, Thomas Flanagan tells Liam Nolan about the background to this historical novel. He began to write the book one day while waiting for his wife.
I picked up a sheet of paper and I began writing. I wasn't sure what it was going to turn out to be. In fact, it was the prologue to the novel.
Born in Connecticut, Thomas Flanagan's grandparents on both sides came from Ireland and he developed a long interest in the country and its history. Choosing the 1798 rebellion as the subject for a novel, he says,
I was interested in recreating a society which is very different from what we have now and then seeing what happened to it when suddenly history was dumped on its doorstep in the form of three French ships with a thousand soldiers.
The challenge he faced when writing 'The Year of the French' was to create a fictional story which reflects the truth of what actually happened. The work includes a combination of invented and actual characters.
If history teaches us anything, it can be used to understand what is happening now.
While Thomas Flanagan knew it was a good novel which would be published, he had no idea it would achieve such popular success and literary acclaim.
This episode of 'Summerhouse' was broadcast on 29 August 1979. The presenter is Liam Nolan.
'Summerhouse' was a summer magazine programme presented by Liam Nolan and Áine O'Connor.
