Cover of Exit Unicorns

Exit Unicorns

Exit Unicorns seriesNext:Mermaid in a Bowl of Tears(2007) →

In this sweeping and powerful epic the journey begins in the 'terrible beauty' of Northern Ireland during a time when conflict reigns and no one is spared from tragedy and sorrow, the time known as The Troubles. It is the spring of 1968 in Belfast and James Kirkpatrick has just lost his father under suspicious circumstances, Casey Riordan is released from prison after five years and Pamela O'Flaherty has crossed an ocean and a lifetime of memories to find the man she fell in love with as a little girl. All three lives are on a collision course with each other against the backdrop of the burgeoning civil rights movement and a nation on the brink of revolution. They come from disparate backgrounds-Jamie a wealthy aristocrat whose life is like an imperfect but multi-faceted jewel-brilliant, flawed and with a glitter that is designed to distract the observer. Casey, a card-carrying member of the Irish Republican Army, who must face the fact that five years away has left him a stranger, a misfit in his own neighborhood where not everyone is sympathetic to a convicted rebel. Pamela, who has come to Ireland in search of a memory and a man who may not have existed in the first place. Through it all runs the ribbon of a love story: love of country, the beginning love of two people unable to resist the pull of each other regardless of the cost to themselves and those around them, and the selfless love of one man who no longer believes himself capable of such emotion. It is an electrifying tale of a people divided by religion and politics, a tale of love and danger, of triumph and tragedy. Ultimately it is the story of that 'terrible beauty' herself-Ireland-and how nation is bound to one's identity, woven into the weft of all we become.

Audience
adult
Length
long · 500 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked Exit Unicorns? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Exit Unicorns. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Gracelin O'Malley Shares historical fiction, Ireland, irish
  2. Daffodils Shares historical fiction, fiction, romance
  3. The Sea and the Silence Shares historical fiction, Ireland, fiction
  4. Trinity Shares historical fiction, Ireland, fiction

“People who read Exit Unicorns tend to reach for these next.”

  1. The Destiny
  2. Sterling Redmond
  3. The Second Thanksgiving
  4. Camp Follower

“If you want more of the same (historical fiction), start with these.”

  1. Through the Barricades
  2. Of Irish Blood
  3. Granuaile: [The Pirate Queen]
  4. The Naming of Eliza Quinn

“If it was the Ireland that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. The Yellow House
  2. 1916: A Novel of the Irish Rebellion
  3. Brigid of Kildare
  4. Lion of Ireland

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Seeing Red
  2. White Lies
  3. The Silver Boat
  4. These Honored Dead: How The Story Of Gettysburg Shaped American Memory