O’BRIEN, William. B. Mallow, Co. Cork, 1852. Ed. Cloyne diocesan seminary and Queen’s Coll., Cork. Early engaged in journalism. He long edited United Ireland, to which he contributed much prose and verse. He is one of the best known and most remarkable of modern Irish politicians. He has been prosecuted nine times for political offences, and spent more than two years in prison, where When We Were Boys was written. Has been Member of Parliament, except for short intervals, since 1883.
⸺ WHEN WE WERE BOYS. Pp. 550. (Longmans). 6s. 1890. Frequently republished.
One of the most remarkable of Irish novels. A tale of Ireland in Fenian times. Scene: Glengarriff, Co. Cork. A very brilliant book, sparkling with epigram and metaphor. Full of criticism, argument, thought and dream about Ireland. The story itself is strong in romantic and human interest. The characterization is full of life and reality, yet many of the characters are types. In the course of the tale many aspects of Irish life, among all classes, pass in review. There are many touches of satire. Over all the characters and scenes the author’s exuberant imagination has cast a glare as of the footlights, making them stand out in vivid colours and clear outlines. Yet there is little or no distortion or misrepresentation. The Author’s sympathies are strongly nationalist and Catholic, yet national failings are not blinked, and some of the portraits of priests are distinctly satirical. The central interest, perhaps, is the romantic excitement, enthusiasm, and exaltation of an impending rising.
⸺ A QUEEN OF MEN. Pp. 321. (Unwin). [1898]. Third ed., 1899. There is a cheap ed. in paper covers.
Scene: Galway City, Clare Island, and the opposite coast, just before the great War of the Earls. A very highly-coloured romance, full of flashy and dramatic sensation, told with an exuberance of language that sometimes exceeds, but at times is very effective. Some of the descriptive pieces are quite above the common and attain remarkable vividness. The book was written in the midst of the scenes described. An effective device to secure colour is the frequent interjection of Gaelic phrases phonetically spelt. The heroine of the tale is the famous Gránia Ni Mháille, who appears not only as dauntless sea-queen of the O’Malleys, but above all in her womanly character. Fitzwilliam, Bingham, and Perrott also appear, the last as a hero. Though many of the incidents are quite fictitious and few happened exactly as narrated, yet some of those which might seem most incredible to anyone unacquainted with the State Papers could be paralleled by real happenings. Some of the incidents narrated are: the Composition of Connaught, the disgrace of Perrott, the wrecking of the Armada on the Connaught coast, Gránia’s visit to Elizabeth. With Gránia’s love story is entwined another, that of Cahal O’Malley and Nuala O’Donnell.
O’BRIEN, Mrs. W. Wife of preceding; née Sophie, dau. of Herman Raffalovich, of Paris. She is a convert to Catholicism, and a thoroughly naturalised Irishwoman for many years past. She has written also a book of reminiscences, Under Croagh Patrick. I have also seen mentioned as by her a book entitled Amidst Mayo Bogs.
⸺ ROSETTE: a Tale of Dublin and Paris. Pp. 266. (Burns & Oates). 1907.
Diary of Rosette, only child of a Parisian bourgeois family. Deals chiefly with the life of this family in Paris, and afterwards in Dublin. There is no sensationalism. Rosette’s religious development is thoughtfully worked out, and there is good character-drawing (e.g., Rosette’s artistically inclined mother and the old servant, Mélanie). The point of view is, of course, distinctly feminine. The style is pretty and graceful.
O’BYRNE, Dermot.
⸺ CHILDREN OF THE HILLS. Pp. 148. (Maunsel). 2s. 6d. n.d. [1913].