To Speak of Easter Week draws on oral history recordings relating to the 1916 Rising and its aftermath,. The stories are based on recordings made by Maurice O’Keeffe for the Irish Life and Lore Series. Based on the testimonies of the sons and daughters of the rebels, their granddaughters, grandsons and other close relatives.
The book examines the very human legacy of Easter Week and looks at the different ways in which the family members have internalised and attempted to make sense of the actions of their antecedents.
They tell their stories in their own unique voices, speaking of the pride and the glory, the grief and the agony, the loss and the very real burden of history.