Novel degenerates into history lesson

In Their Dreams of Fire

By Maurice O'Callaghan

Destiny Publications, €14

At one point during In Their Dreams of Fire, a British officer reprimands an underling for using a tautology in a document proclaiming martial law in Ireland. Tautology, he explains, is "telling us what we already know." It's an ironic moment because all too often Maurice O'Callaghan, in his vast and densely populated story spanning the War of Independence and the Civil ...