A lot has been said and written about the men of 1916, but little about the women - they weren't written out of history because they weren't written in to begin with. At the start of the 20th century, women in Ireland didn't have a voice and the right to vote was years away. Some of them, however, through privilege and passion, managed to break free of the roles expected of them.
So it was with Muriel, Nellie and Grace Gifford, whose stories are told in Marita Conlon-McKenna's new novel, Rebel Sisters. Beginning in 1901, the book tells the story of the wealthy Gifford family of Rathmines. Isabella, a Protestant who was loyal to the British crown, and Frederick, a Roman Catholic, had 12 children. They lived in a Dublin that was in effect two cities, one a grim place of dire poverty, the other a secluded eyrie of charmed privilege.
Unlike many well-to-do young women of that time, the sisters were somehow persuaded their parents to allow them choose careers rather than follow the conventional path of a 'good' marriage and children. Reluctantly their mother agreed to allow Grace study art in Dublin and London. Muriel did some nurse training and Nellie travelled around the country teaching home economics.
But their story isn't just one of women kicking against the conventions of the day, extraordinary as that was. Through their relationships with the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising, their awareness of the political situation in Ireland grew exponentially. They felt the tension, they began to sense and seek change, both political and social - for women, for the poor of Dublin's slums, for the Irish men who flocked back from England to avoid conscription during the first World War.
Ultimately, they sought radical change for Ireland itself. Muriel married 1916 leader Thomas MacDonagh, while Grace - who converted to the Catholic faith -married Joseph Plunkett, the night before he was to be executed in Kilmainham jail. Nellie, the most politically active of the three sisters, was one of a small number of women who took part in the Rising itself, having joined the Citizens Army working alongside Countess Markievicz.
Their lives were fascinating, these were women of grit, determination and courage. Marita Conlon-McKenna tells their story well. However, I didn't think it needed to start as far back as 1901. I wanted more on the lead up to the 1916 Rising, the tension, the fear, the hope, the aftermath.
Avril Hoare
