A
tale of the Irish war in the seventeenth century (1641-1652), whose main
character is Edmund O'Tracy, the son of the head of the O’Tracy clan in
Ulster.
The
Wild Rose of Lough Gill, published in the 19th
century, is one of the most popular novels
ever published in Ireland. It is a fast-moving, romantic story of love
and hate, war and kidnapping, cities besieged and gory battles with Cromwell stalking-the land.
Strife-torn Ireland of the time of Owen Roe O’Neill is the
setting for this haunting story of Edmund O'Tracy and Kathleen, his Wild
Rose, two young lovers caught in the terrible events of the age. It was Ireland's tragic fate to be the battleground for much of the power struggle between the English
King and his Parliamentary enemies, between the Puritans and the adherents of the old faith.
As the ravages of war swept the country from Donegal to Waterford
and from Sligo to Dublin, Edmund and Kathleen saw
pillage and slaughter, knew capture and imprisonment, and
watched the Cromwellian grip fasten on Ireland.
Their story is a vivid re-creation of one of the most
turbulent periods in Irish history and seldom has a romance of such
breathless excitement been combined with such a realistic picture of the
time. This intriguing story ends shortly after the fall of Galway
and the scene is set partly in Co. Sligo (near Lough Gill).
Patrick G. Smyth was born in Ballina, Co. Mayo. Besides
his novels he wrote poetry for several Irish periodicals between
1876 and 1885. He emigrated to America in 1889 where he worked for some
time on a Chicago newspaper.
It
is now the name of a festival held in Manorhamilton, County Leitrim every
August.
Smyth,
Patrick Grehan (1883) The Wild Rose of Lough Gill.