“The author is light years ahead of that other mass-reducer of recent Irish history, Leon Uris, in the important matter of style … The book ends powerfully with the executions. Some of the scenes are almost unbearably bleak and harrowing. Even the nameless Tommies come to life as little rays of humanity illuminate death-cell and execution yard.”
The Sunday Press (Ireland)
“I don’t think I have ever read a more graphic or moving last chapter of a book than that of Rebels.”
Irish Independent
“Rebels is the saddest story I’ve read since The Tale of Two Cities. I’ve wept for Ireland a hundred times since reading [this] book.”
Dr. Catherine O’Mahoney-O’Shea
Grand-niece of Michael Collins
“Rousing … De Rosa extracts every ounce of drama from a very large cast of historical figures, with rapidly cross-cutting scenes and truly crackling dialogue.”
Library Journal
“A chilling account … De Rosa advances the bloody action in short, chronological episodes replete with Hemingwayesque dialogue, letters, and statements … A dramatic and stirring contribution to Irish martyrology.”
The Kirkus Reviews