The Angel’s Lamp

“The Angel’s Lamp is storytelling at its finest, fusing fact and fiction to create a grim, yet darkly romantic, portrait of the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin. Ashby Jones’s masterfully drawn, memorable characters and his cinematic eye make this tale powerful and brutally human. The story unfolds, one heart-pounding paragraph after another… rich with poetic beauty and emotion… written in vivid detail, highlighting the grit and glory and passion that were the earmarks of the Irish Independence movement.” —Linda Bruckheimer, bestselling author and philanthropist

It was bold and bloody and resulted in questions of responsibility and redemption that remain unresolved. In the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin, an overpowering British military battered the determined Irish rebels who stood and died, waiting for the popular support that did not immediately materialize. The Rebellion’s leaders were captured, executed, and buried in an unmarked mass grave, but the movement toward Irish independence had been set in motion.

Next April 24th marks the 100^th anniversary of the Easter Rising, when Irish nationalists initially seized strategic buildings in Dublin, declared the formation of the Irish Republic and proclaimed sovereignty. More than a million Irish Americans are expected to commemorate the Centenary of this event, which with renowned repercussions led to a treaty establishing the Irish Free State—today’s Republic of Ireland—in 1922.

Now, in The Angel’s Lamp (Top Hat Books; February 2016), Ashby Jones brilliantly weaves fact and fiction to create a compelling “faction” novel of honor, love, betrayal, and deliverance. In this dark, yet liberating work of romantic historical fiction, he illuminates the turbulent times and the people—the infamous and brutal Black and Tans, the volunteer women of the Cumann na mBan, the commoners on both sides deeply affected by the revolution, and rebel leaders such as Patrick Pearse, Countess Markievicz, Michael Collins and Sean McDermott, among others.

Johnny Flynn, Irish-born and raised, moves to England with his family and becomes staff sergeant in charge of the Rebellion’s soon-to-be executed principals. Guarding the uprising’s charismatic leader, James Connolly, Johnny is torn by his duty to the British military, his honor to his home country, and the call of his heart after meeting Nora, Connolly’s firebrand daughter.

Under the threat of death, Johnny is unexpectedly summoned to serve on Connolly’s firing squad. Ridden with guilt, feeling a traitor to his heritage, and hearing Connolly’s last cry, “Shoot straight, Johnny Flynn,” as an appeal for him to find his moral compass, he deserts the British Army and joins the ragtag Irish rebels. Fate catches Johnny in the crosshairs between his love for Nora, now a rebel, and an act of kindness toward his best friend Ryan Dahl, a Britsh soldier, who is captured and shut away to die. The fiery emotional conflict that follows pits the possibilities of love against the unyielding obstacles to forgiveness.

The stories of the Rising and the ensuing War of Independence have been handed down through the generations of Irish expatriates. Some 40 million Americans claim Irish ancestry and the issues raised by these events are as alive as ever, with the many moral and religious concerns still debated. The conflict of the human heart is ongoing; some who have erred plead for forgiveness, others feel they have done everything possible to earn redemption. The collision of all these forces results in an explosive story that challenges the emotions of the reader.