BURY THE LIVING – Jodi McIsaac
The Revolutionary Series , Book One
A Perfect 10
47North (an Amazon Imprint)
ISBN-13: 9781503935518
ISBN-10: 1503935515
September 2016
Time Travel

Ireland – Past and Present

Nora O'Reilly has always been a rebel. It runs in her family. Growing up in Belfast in the time of The Troubles, she has already lost her father, her mother has taken to drinking to drown out the pain, and now, because of her bad decisions, her brother has had to join the IRA. Eamon had resisted falling into his family's pattern of rebellion, but in order to protect his sister, he becomes a rebel. And then he is brutally murdered by the Protestant faction, sending Nora on the path of revenge. She, too, joins the IRA.

Fourteen years later, Nora is in the Sudan working for a relief organization. Her mother has died, the Troubles may not be over, but the brutality is. Due to mandatory regulations, Nora must take time away from her work. She returns to Belfast to attend the funeral of one of her fellow rebels. Nora has been having mysterious dreams of a man asking for her help. The dreams are persistent, and increasingly urgent. Although she doubts its authenticity, she does follow the instructions to meet with “Brigid”, who gives her a relic which transports her back eighty years to the height of Ireland's civil war. She must search for Thomas Heaney, the man in her dreams.

When Nora finally tracks Thomas down, he is as baffled as she is as to why she is there. But Thomas has many secrets, and he's not about to reveal them to this outspoken stranger. Nora is befriended by a local family who secretly are working against the British-led government, a dangerous position for anyone. No one is safe from the government forces who use brutal and sometimes fatal tactics to tamp down the underground rebels. Nora is caught up in the atmosphere and hopes to be able to change the past so that her father and brother are not killed in the future.

BURY THE LIVING is the first book in the Revolutionary Series. It's gritty, it's poignant, and it's beautifully written. The Troubles in Ireland are well known and, while the terrorism has diminished, Ireland is still a divided country with a tragic history. Nora is a tough, in-your-face patriot who sometimes gets herself in over her head. Her relationship with Thomas starts out rather stormy as he, and others, question whether she is a spy for the government. But soon, the truth will be revealed about both Nora and Thomas.

A riveting tale, and, having ancestors from Northern Ireland, I highly recommend BURY THE LIVING. The historical aspect has been well researched.

Jani Brooks