Kilkenny author's book launch a huge success!

There was barely standing room in Keoghs’ pub on Friday, October 6 for the launch of John Fitzgerald’s novel, entitled Invaders.

Joe Kennedy of Callan Society launched the novel, which consists of two volumes and described it as a work of ‘epic dimensions’.

He enlarged on the historical background to the project, recalling how the British parliamentary forces, having won the civil war against the King, turned their attention to Ireland, which had been slipping away from British domination for the previous eight years and even had a form of provisional government, with a de-facto capital in Kilkenny.

A massive invasion force disembarked at Ringsend, gradually fanning out across the country, capturing towns and cities as the Irish and Royalist alliance reeled under the onslaught.

Callan stood between the invaders and Kilkenny, because so many other towns and cities had capitulated following massacres at Wexford and Drogheda, Cromwell and his advisers didn’t think for a moment that Callan would offer even token resistance. 

But a brave captain, ably assisted by his ‘warrior wife' was to prove them wrong.

Mark Gegan in the novel (based on the real-life Mark McGeoghegan) had been assigned from his native Westmeath, where he lived on a large farmstead, to take charge of a castle in Callan.

From the day he arrived in the town, he was determined to defend it from what may come. 

Unfortunately the town governor, Sir Robert Talbot wanted to surrender Callan to Cromwell. When Talbot ordered the bulk of the defending soldiers to lay down their arms and walk away from Callan, Gegan refused to budge.

He gathered the remaining soldiers stationed at Skerry’s Castle in West Street, and hundreds of militia volunteers, and defied the disbelieving foe that stood poised to occupy the town.

A three-day siege ensued that has been the source of great pride ever since Callan: While other towns ran up the white flag, Callan fought the invaders. It became a town of heroes.

The captain’s wife takes centre stage in the story.

A woman ahead of her time, she defies the norms of the age by acting as a fully fledged soldier and fearlessly challenges the restrictions and injustices imposed on women by a 'man’s world'.

John first conceived the idea of a story set in that dark far-off time when he was only ten years old after hearing a teacher extolling the virtues of a brave captain who’d defied an all-conquering army. Decades later he got around to writing it during the Covid lockdown.

“You’d have to get acquainted with the lifestyles of the relevant time period, the clothing, the food, the layouts of towns and cities, the weaponry, and, most challenging of all, the mind-sets,” he said.

Armed with information about the war strategies and weaponry of that age, he was able to better visualise the battle scenes that would form such a vital part of the novel.

He thanked Joe Kennedy for launching the book and expressed gratitude to Joe for his 1984 article in the Old Kilkenny Review on the theme of “Cromwell in Callan” as that provided him with vital background information for the novel.

Concluding, John expressed the hope that the book, if nothing else, would help to put Callan on the map, though it was already shaping up to be a centre of arts and culture, and had a rich heritage stretching all the way back to pre-medieval times.

Historian Philip Lynch delved further into the true history of the period. He read a series of moving poems recalling the Cromwellian conquest, including one by Alice Kennedy of Clonmel Road that records the valour of Callan’s defenders.

Jimmy Rhatigan regaled the gathering with his famous Patrick Kavanagh act, and sang a few verses of Raglan Road to round off the surprise impromptu performance.

Judy Rhatigan also recited a poem from her Raggedy Bush collection that was launched recently.

Peter Brabazon also obliged with a sample of his work. He recently launched a collection of his highly original, offbeat and entertaining work at Fennelly’s of Callan.

Mark Townsend, author of the popular biography of Brother Damien Brennan, spoke of the enormous work that goes into producing any book, whether a novel or nonfiction.

“You’d have to love writing to take such a project over the line,” he enthused.

Marianne Lyons-Kelly, of the Kilkenny Heritage Walkers, recalled how she often looked wistfully over her backyard wall at the Fair Green, when she lived in Callan. 

She grew up in the shadow of the fairground where Cromwell had positioned his cannons to bombard the town. She was always conscious of that 'other time' in Ireland when her native Callan had been turned into a battleground in a war of epic proportions.

Marianne said she saw Invaders possibly being made into a film or adapted for a major drama. She also indicated that a guided walk taking in the area’s battle sites as identified in the novel, might be organised in the coming weeks.

Invaders, volume one and two, are available from Amazon and will be in Kilkenny bookshops later this month.