A tale of the Irish war in the seventeenth
century (1641-1652), whose main character is Edmund O'Tracy, the son of
the head of the O’Tracy clan in Ulster.
The Wild Rose
of Lough Gill, published in the 19th century, is one of the most popular novels ever published in Ireland. It is a fast-moving, romantic story of love and hate, war and kidnapping, cities besieged and gory battles with Cromwell stalking-the land.
Strife-torn Ireland of the
time of Owen Roe O’Neill is the setting for this haunting story of Edmund O'Tracy
and Kathleen, his Wild Rose, two young
lovers caught in the terrible events of the age. It was Ireland's tragic fate to be the battleground for much of the power struggle
between the English King and his Parliamentary enemies, between the Puritans and the adherents of the old faith.
As the ravages of war swept
the country from Donegal to Waterford
and from Sligo to Dublin, Edmund and Kathleen saw pillage and slaughter, knew capture and
imprisonment, and watched the Cromwellian grip fasten on Ireland.
Their story is a vivid
re-creation of one of the most turbulent
periods in Irish history and seldom has a romance of such breathless excitement been combined with such a realistic picture of the time. This intriguing story ends shortly after the fall of Galway and the scene
is set partly in Co. Sligo (near Lough
Gill).
Patrick G. Smyth was born in
Ballina, Co. Mayo. Besides his novels he wrote poetry
for several Irish periodicals between
1876 and 1885. He emigrated
to America in 1889 where he worked for some time on a Chicago newspaper.
It is now the name of a festival held in Manorhamilton, County Leitrim every August.
Smyth, Patrick Grehan
(1883) The Wild Rose of Lough Gill.
Last update: 18
March 2010