The Dead Republic

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At the end of the second volume of Roddy Doyle's trilogy about Henry Smart, Henry, having lost a leg in a railway accident, crawls into the Utah desert to die, only to be found by John Ford, who is filming a Western. Ford sees a kindred spirit in Henry, a former boy volunteer in the 1916 Easter Rising and a hitman for Michael Collins, and decides to make a film about his life, appointing him as 'IRA consultant' for The Quiet Man. The narrative picks up in 1951 as Henry returns to Ireland for the first time since his escape in 1922, accompanied by Ford and stars John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. Ford's intense meetings aim to extract Henry's essence for Hollywood. A decade later, now a school caretaker in Dublin and known as 'Hoppy Henry' due to his wooden leg, Henry becomes a hero after a bomb blast leaves him legless. The Provos embrace him as a symbol of resilience, and as the peace process unfolds in secrecy, Henry discovers new roles to play. Through three compelling novels, Doyle captures the entirety of Ireland's twentieth-century history and crafts a remarkable character in Henry Smart.