Hell or Connaught!

Hell or Connaught!: The Cromwellian Colonisation of Ireland 1652-1660 by Peter Berresford Ellis, 252 pages

Catholic Ireland revolted against the Protestant rule of Charles I in 1641.  By 1644 the Irish were supporting the King against Parliament, and after the execution of the King in 1649 the Roundhead army arrived in Ireland to end resistance by fire and sword and, most deadly of all, starvation.  Hundreds of thousands of Irish, perhaps as much as a quarter of the population, perished and thousands more were enslaved and transported to the New World.  In Ireland itself, the decision was made to isolate the native Catholic population in the province of Connaught, the northwestern quarter of the island, with the lands thus depopulated to be given as pay for the Commonwealth soldiery and the London investors who backed the campaign.

The story of this decision, the effort made trying to put it into effect, and the pain it engendered are the primary themes of Ellis' history of the period.  There are other important narratives here, too, including the impact of land speculation, the religious sectarian divides among the colonists, the internal politics of the Commonwealth, ultimately resulting in its end, and the disappointments of the Restoration.  Ellis tells these stories, and more, including the long running personal feud over the survey of Ireland, in a straightforward manner that nevertheless manages to incorporate primary sources and contemporary poetry to provide a complete picture of a crucial moment in Irish history.

The Traitor's Wife

The Traitor's Wife, by Kathleen Kent, 352 pages

Martha Allen is a no-nonsense woman living in colonial Massachusetts.  She suffers no fools and has not been able to find a husband for it.  While assisting her cousin during the term of her pregnancy, she meets a man with a mysterious past, named Thomas, and feelings begin to blossom.  But Thomas' past is sailing across the ocean with murder in mind, and Martha and Thomas' future is uncertain.

...that is, unless you read the book to which this is a prequel, The Heretic's Daughter.  I had not, so I did not know how it would end.  The journey to the ending, though, is the interesting part.  This brought up a lot of interesting talk about Oliver Cromwell and Restoration England in our book discussion.