Title: The Irish Fiasco: Stolen Silver in Seventeenth Century Ireland
Author: Geoff Quaife
Publisher: Book Savvy International
ISBN: 978-1-958876-98-5
Pages: 300
Genre: Historical Fiction
Reviewed by: Jason Lulos
Hollywood Book Reviews
Civil war. An oxymoron. This logical and illogical contradiction in terms is quite fitting in the context of this novel because there are moments of civility mixed with brutality, and moments of honor mixed with betrayal. In The Irish Fiasco, author Geoff Quaife depicts the English Civil War, revealing its complexities, infighting, and constantly shifting alliances. It is, for this reason, a very realistic vignette of what such a war must really have been like. This realism certainly highlights the intricacies of the English Civil War. But what makes The Irish Fiasco even more intriguing and compelling is that it reads like a film noir or a classic detective novel: a series of whodunits that constantly keeps the reader guessing as to characters’ motivations and, in the end, who will betray or stay loyal to whom.
Luke Tremayne, a name befitting of a sleuth of any historical period, is sent by Oliver Cromwell to secure Dublin Castle and try to strengthen alliances with the English Parliament. Luke encounters resistance from a dizzying array of warring factions. There are the Royalists, those loyal to the King and monarchy, and different groups in Ireland fighting amongst themselves, as well as the Royalists and Parliamentary forces. The Irish Fiasco does illustrate the brutality of war but also the head-scratching temporary alliances between groups who are at each other’s throats one minute and supporting one another the next. Along the way, Luke meets and falls for a siren of a woman, Kate, who is reported to be a witch by religious zealots but is also known for being a sympathetic herbalist and therapist for women of the local Irish tribes. While Luke does pursue his lustful and loving affair with Kate, he is constantly at the mercy of the ever-fluxing alliances and betrayals amongst all these different groups and forces. Beneath it all is the elusive trove of silver, a treasure so rich that it will give whoever finds it a supreme advantage in this bewildering struggle.
The Irish Fiasco is an extremely well written work of historical fiction that truly showcases the how and why soldiers, commoners, and those in power can and will act with rampant duplicity in the midst of a war. Luke’s real plight is not so much finding the silver and winning over Kate as much as it is a constant guessing game about whom he can trust and why. Readers who love history, historical fiction, and investigative detective novels will really enjoy this story for its intricacies, realism, and its perplexing melodrama of love, violence, loyalty, and betrayal.