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Fugitives by Aubrey Flegg
Published by O’Brien Press Ltd., 2010

Set in early 17th Century Ireland, this is a fast-moving adventure story based on The Story of the Flight of the Earls which will appeal to older girls and boys.

For anyone, including adults who need brushing up on their history, this novel will certainly fill you in. Children will learn about the history of Ireland without even realizing it through the contemporary detail and characterization in a setting that’s firmly rooted in Ireland’s past.

The Irish have lost at the Battle of Kinsale and Con’s father Hugh O'Neill, the great Ulster chieftain, must depart, forever to be exiled from his own land. Con is in great danger is not aware of it.

His cousin and friends, Fion, Sinead and James, with help from the mysterious “Haystacks” must hunt the wild landscapes, dense woodlands and high mountains in a bid to save him, all the while being chased by the English soldiers.

Can Con reach Lough Swilly in time where his father Hugh O’Neill anxiously awaits him to escape to France?

'Flegg takes a minor incident in one of the most iconic moments of Irish history and develops a tale out of it that is part adventure story and part history lesson'
Books Ireland