THE assassination of rebel leader, Michael Collins is the focus of a new novel by Donegal writer Sean Hillen.
In this historical fiction a mysterious diary found in the attic of an old stone cottage in Donegal reveals long-held secrets about the killing, exactly one hundred years ago.
Sean Hillen, former foreign correspondent for The Irish Times who lives in the Donegal Gaeltacht, gives his interpretation of the tragic event, an ambush in Cork, that shaped the future of Ireland for generations.
“The shooting of Collins, the most popular man in Ireland at the time, remains one of the country’s most infamous unsolved murders,” said Hillen, who conducted research for his novel at Beal na Blath (Mouth of the Flowers) in Cork, the site of Collins’ death and in the Michael Collins House in Clonakilty close to where the revolutionary leader grew up.
“He could easily have been the leader of the nation and unlike Eamon De Valera who allyed himself closely with the Catholic Church, Collins had little respect for the church and more for the socialist traditions of those who died in Easter 1916.
“As such, Ireland could have been a very different country today if Collins had lived. Certain people in high places were fully aware of this and with Collins winning the Civil War, it was important for them that he be eliminated and fast.”
With De Valera becoming Taoiseach and the nation’s longest serving president and his close ally, the Catholic Church, helping him write Ireland’s first-ever constitution, giving itself a privileged position, the plan to eliminate Collins went perfectly, according to Hillen’s book, ’Driver’s Diary – Death At The Mouth of Flowers’.
The intriguing handwritten diary found in a Donegal cottage around which much of the novel’s suspense revolves was written by the driver of the armoured car Collins was in when shot in the head, dying on the roadside.
That driver saw everything that happened that fateful day but was afraid to speak out.
Donegal features prominently in the novel, including mention of the Donegal News, with one of the characters saying of the county, “It was the closest he’d ever get to the socialist republic he and his Irish rebel comrades had fought for.”
Sean’s book is now available on Amazon
(https://www.amazon.com/Drivers-Diary-Death-Mouth-Flowers-ebook/dp/B0BNGVBY5B/)THE assassination of rebel leader, Michael Collins is the focus of a new novel by Donegal writer Sean Hillen.
In this historical fiction a mysterious diary found in the attic of an old stone cottage in Donegal reveals long-held secrets about the killing, exactly one hundred years ago.
Sean Hillen, former foreign correspondent for The Irish Times who lives in the Donegal Gaeltacht, gives his interpretation of the tragic event, an ambush in Cork, that shaped the future of Ireland for generations.
“The shooting of Collins, the most popular man in Ireland at the time, remains one of the country’s most infamous unsolved murders,” said Hillen, who conducted research for his novel at Beal na Blath (Mouth of the Flowers) in Cork, the site of Collins’ death and in the Michael Collins House in Clonakilty close to where the revolutionary leader grew up.
“He could easily have been the leader of the nation and unlike Eamon De Valera who allyed himself closely with the Catholic Church, Collins had little respect for the church and more for the socialist traditions of those who died in Easter 1916.
“As such, Ireland could have been a very different country today if Collins had lived. Certain people in high places were fully aware of this and with Collins winning the Civil War, it was important for them that he be eliminated and fast.”
With De Valera becoming Taoiseach and the nation’s longest serving president and his close ally, the Catholic Church, helping him write Ireland’s first-ever constitution, giving itself a privileged position, the plan to eliminate Collins went perfectly, according to Hillen’s book, ’Driver’s Diary – Death At The Mouth of Flowers’.
The intriguing handwritten diary found in a Donegal cottage around which much of the novel’s suspense revolves was written by the driver of the armoured car Collins was in when shot in the head, dying on the roadside.
That driver saw everything that happened that fateful day but was afraid to speak out.
Donegal features prominently in the novel, including mention of the Donegal News, with one of the characters saying of the county, “It was the closest he’d ever get to the socialist republic he and his Irish rebel comrades had fought for.”
Sean’s book is now available on Amazon
(https://www.amazon.com/Drivers-Diary-Death-Mouth-Flowers-ebook/dp/B0BNGVBY5B/)