Introduction to Author James Francis Smith's Upcoming Sunday Posts

Smith's Sunday Posts will initially be taken from his book, The Last of the Fenians. The story of Ireland from 1913 to 1923. Intriguing characters include three Donegal childhood friends, Reed, PJ, and Fiona.

• Father Edward Ward – Nicknamed “Reed” – an early friend of Michael Collins, administered to the Irish Catholics in the 10^th Division only to lose an arm in Gallipoli. The now one-armed priest returns to Ireland in time to witness the 1916 Easter Rising. Later, along with PJ, supports Michael Collins in his struggles with De Valera throughout the Anglo-Irish War, The Treaty, the Troubles in Ulster, and the Irish Civil War, a tragic period during which Catholics randomly killed Catholics.

• P J Sleavin – PJ who unknowingly fathered Fiona’s first child, becomes a renowned boxer. While searching for his childhood sweetheart, PJ joins the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Imprisoned by Bryn Morgan, PJ is forced into volunteering for England’s cycle corp. During which time, he participated in every major WWI battle in France and Flanders.

• Fiona Glackin – The teenaged and pregnant Fiona ran off to marry the spoiled brat of a Protestant ship builder. Isolated from her Catholic religion and social class, she soon learns to hate her in-laws, and pits Morgan an English spy against them.

• Bruce & Roger Wolf – Father and son Belfast shipbuilders. Bruce the father, a first cousin and rival of the builders of the Titanic, was under suspicion due to his birth in Hamburg, Germany.

• Bryn Morgan – a Scotland Yard detective, sent to spy on and to prevent the Irish from aiding the Germans. Forsaking his duties, Morgan falls for Fiona, and takes out his rejection on PJ.

• Cannon Martyn – an Anglican minister befriends young Reed. Convinces him that the Catholics in the 10^th, the 1^st ever Irish Division, badly need a Catholic priest. The elderly Martyn dies in Gallipoli.

Tell your Irish relatives and friends as well as history lovers to tune in weekly.