The Children of Croke Park by Michael Foley

Dublin 1920

‘Above the noise of the crowd, I could hear men shouting. I looked back and saw them – a line of trucks, and men with guns starting to run towards the field. That’s when it happened.’

On a bright day in November, three boys joined the huge crowd heading to a Gaelic football match at Croke Park. Excitement filled the air, but also fear. Important men had been killed in their beds that morning by the IRA. The police were angry. In the middle of a cruel war for Irish independence, people were afraid of what might happen next.

But that war wouldn’t come to Croke Park. Would it?

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Bloody Sunday was a turning point in the Irish War of Independence. Every school child knows at least a little bit about it. But I hadn't known the details...I didn't know there were children killed there, shot by British forces, and this book is looking to rectify that.

Michael is an expert on this sad part of Irish history, having already published a well received non fiction title on it, and he uses all that research and all his knowledge of life at the time to weave an utterly compelling story, centered around the three young boys. Each has a chance to tell their part, and each rings completely true; as Michael says in the afterward, he had to fictionalise certain bits of the background, but the events are as accurate as they can be. I was horrified to hear of the demands the British Army made on the grieving families!

I haven't read his non fiction title myself, but I do know someone who has, and I asked for their opinion on this title. Here's what they told me:

This very readable book tells the story of the events of Bloody Sunday 1920 through the experiences of three young boys who were among those killed in Croke Park on that day. The story of that day was told in the author’s earlier book for adults, ‘The Bloodied Field’, which recounted in fascinating, forensic detail the build-up to Bloody Sunday, the events of the day and its aftermath. Now Michael Foley has told the story from a different perspective, bringing it to a younger audience. The story is helped along by imaginative fictionalisation, and brought to a very satisfying conclusion in the last section of the final chapter. Read and enjoy, but remember – it all happened.

This is a fantastic historical novel, but if you're buying it for younger children, do be aware that there are deaths in it.

The Children of Croke Park publishes on the 3rd of April, 2023. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.