Princes of Ireland

The Dublin Saga

By: Edward Rutherfurd

Narrated by: Richard Matthews

Length: 26 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

The saga begins in tribal, pre-Christian Ireland during the reign of the fierce and mighty High Kings at Tara, with the tale of two lovers, the princely Conall and the ravishing Deirdre, whose travails cleverly echo the ancient Celtic legend of Cuchulainn. From that stirring beginning, Rutherfurd takes the listener on a powerfully imagined journey through the centuries. Through the interlocking stories of a memorable cast of characters (druids and chieftains, monks and smugglers, noblewomen and farmwives, merchants and mercenaries, rebels and cowards) we see Ireland through the lens of its greatest city.

While vividly and movingly conveying the passions and struggles that shaped the character of Dublin, Rutherfurd portrays the major events in Irish history: The tribal culture of pagan Ireland; the mission of St. Patrick; the coming of the Vikings and the founding of Dublin; the glories of the great nearby monastery of Glendalough and the making of treasures like the Book of Kells; the extraordinary career of Brian Boru; and the trickery of Henry II, which gave England its first foothold in Medieval Ireland. The stage is then set for the great conflict between the English kings and the princes of Ireland, and the disastrous Irish invasion of England, which incurred the wrath of Henry VIII and where this book, the first of the two-part Dublin Saga, draws to a close, as the path of Irish history takes a dramatic and irrevocable turn.

Rich, colorful, and impeccably researched, The Princes of Ireland is epic entertainment spun by a master.

©2004 Edward Rutherfurd (P)2004 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

"A tour de force....Breathtaking." (Orlando Sentinel)

"Rutherfurd literally personifies history." (New York Daily News)

"A richly imagined vision of history, written with genuine delight." (San Francisco Chronicle)

Historical Fiction at it's Best!

If you could sum up Princes of Ireland in three words, what would they be?

Fascinating historical saga.

Any additional comments?

After visiting Ireland recently, I downloaded this book to recall the wonderful places and to learn some of the background of the beautiful locations and landmarks. Had originally read this book when it first came out, as I love the development format that Rutherford uses for his novels. It was a great read, but LISTENING to the stories again made my travel experience much more meaningful. When traveling in a limited timeframe, it is hard to absorb all of the surrounding history, and having all of this added information was so helpful. Will look forward to hearing the sequel and also to a return visit to Ireland!

Swarthy

My only true complaint was that the author had clearly just discovered the word swarthy in a thesaurus while he was writing it. There was a solid chunk where every male character was referred to as swarthy multiple times, some in the same sentence. Thankfully he moved on to other descriptors. Still, I constantly had to explain to my wife why I was laughing whenever I was listening on my head phones. ‘The swarthy man with his swarth haired arms walked swarthily towards a group of equally swarthy looking Danes.’

If you like and know a bit of Irish history

And you have a knowledge of the island’s geography, you will enjoy. It is history novelized, not historical fiction. I happen to love Rutherfurd’s books, where the place, not the people, is the star.

Epoch in length and very well-told

I really enjoyed the Saga about the old country and it's people. I may check out the rest of the series

Entertaining

I throughly enjoyed this 1st book on Ireland by Edward Rutherford. I look forward to listening to the second book soon.

Very Interesting & Enjoyable

Not knowing much of Ireland's history - I thougth this an interesting book. While the names are a bit hard to keep track of throughout the various stories - the authors weaves the stories together nicely and adds some "connective" history in between where necessary. It was helpful in trying to get a basic understanding of how Ireland progressed over several centuries.

Great for Reading in Bed

Actually, I was sick for 2 weeks with the flu. It did not take 2 weeks to "read" this book, but I was able to take my time and "re-read" certain parts that I enjoyed or slept through the first time. It has a solid, measured pace through the years; the people, although they are not followed from birth to death, in all cases have all the human attributes of forebears and descendants. I particularly enjoyed the story of Finula, the wannabe Wild Child who is revealed many years later as a matron with seven wild children of her own. The more things change, the more they stay the same. I hope nobody waits until they are stuck in bed with flu to read this one.

Love love love

Excellent author Realistic portrayal of history. I’ll get others to enjoy. Thank you very much

A good book!

It got really peachy in parts in the beginning chapters and I didn't appreciate that but everything else was wonderful

The Princes of Ireland

I thouroly enjoyed this story of the interaction of the irish princes, kings, Brian Baru, the Vikings, & the English.