[Irish Century Novels 03] • 1949 · A Novel of the Irish Free State

Morgan Llywelyn's masterly epic, *The Irish Century*, continues in *1949*, a sequel to *1916 *and *1921*.

The struggle of the Irish people for independence is one of the compelling historical dramas of the twentieth century. *1949* tells the story of Ursula Halloran, a fiercely independent young woman who comes of age in the 1920s. The tragedy of Irish civil war gives way in the 1920s to a repressive Catholic state led by Eamon De Valera. Married women cannot hold jobs, divorce is illegal, and the IRA has become a band of outlaws still devoted to and fighting for a Republic that never lived. The Great Depression stalks the world, and war is always on the horizon, whether in Northern Ireland, Spain, or elsewhere on the European continent.

Ursula works for the fledgling Irish radio service and then for the League of Nations, while her personal life is torn between two men: an Irish civil servant and an English pilot.

Defying Church and State, Ursula bears a child out of wedlock, though she must leave the country to do so, and nearly loses her life in the opening days of World War II. Eventually she returns to an Ireland that is steadfastly determined to remain neutral during the war.

*1949 *is the story of one strong woman who lives through the progress of Ireland from a broken land to the beginnings of a modern independent state.

**The Irish Century Novels**

1916: A Novel of the Irish Rebellion

1921: The Great Novel of the Irish Civil War

1949: A Novel of the Irish Free State

1972: A Novel of Ireland's Unfinished Revolution

1999: A Novel of the Celtic Tiger and the Search for Peace