THE HAWTHORNS BLOOM IN MAY
Now in her fifties and a grandmother, Rose Hamilton has much to be thankful for in the steady love of her husband, John, and their relative prosperity, but she is concerned for her children.
Sarah, recently widowed, is broken-hearted at the loss of her beloved Hugh, and worried by signs of hostile Trade Union activity in the Sinton mills where she is struggling to keep up his commitment to hundreds of workers.
Sam, married to cold and selfish Martha, is struggling to support his large family on a modest income.
As world events impinge on the family with the sinking of the Belfast-built Titanic and the growing prospect of war in Europe, mother and daughter face new challenges in their daily lives. But it is events in Ireland that make the greatest demand when Sarah becomes involved in the Easter Rising of 1916.