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Through The Barricades: Book Club Pick Kindle Edition

by Denise Deegan (Author), Aimee Alexander (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 974 ratings
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PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BOOKLIFE ‘BOOKS TO WATCH’

Her country overtaken by a foreign power, Maggie Gilligan signs up to fight for her people's freedom. Daniel Healy, in love with Maggie, joins the enemy - to try to save her.

Falling in love is never easy. At times of war, it's lethal.

Through the Barricades is a story of friends to lovers at a time of war, of two people who are prepared to die: Maggie for her country, Daniel for Maggie. Their conflicting duties put them on opposite sides. Will they and their love survive?

This friends-to-lovers story is inspired by real events of WWI and Irish rebellion.

'A thoroughly compelling book which I enjoyed immensely.' New York Times bestselling author, Hazel Gaynor.

‘It’s an engrossing portrait of a chapter of Irish history.' Publishers Weekly (BookLife).
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  1. Print length
    373 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    December 5, 2016
  5. File size
    4518 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
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  8. Enhanced typesetting
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From the Publisher

Novel, Red Cross cap, stethoscope

Fighting for your country is complicated.

Rebel Girl with quote from author Hazel Gaynor
Praise from bestselling author of The Girl Who Came Home.

Start reading this gripping love story by checking out the Look Inside feature.

  • Based on real events
  • Friends to lovers story
  • Epic romance
  • Star crossed lovers at a time of war

A Young Woman Fights for Her Country

A Young Man Fights for Her

Spurned on by her father's last words to her, Maggie Gilligan will risk her life for her country's freedom. Daniel Healy will do anything to save her - even if it means siding with the enemy and losing her forever.

Falling in love at times of war takes a special kind of strength.

  • ‘Maggie and Daniel are well-developed characters with evident chemistry - 'PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, Booklife Nov 2017.
  • 'Gripping, heartfelt story set in the heart of Ireland's most troubled time' - AUTHOR KATE KERRIGAN
  • 'Things I look for in a good book - character, plot and the author's ability to make me care. Denise Deegan does this in spades in Through the Barricades' - AUTHOR MARTINA REILLY
Denise Deegan

Denise Deegan

Denise Deegan is a novelist and screenwriter from Ireland. She writes about ordinary people who become extraordinary in crisis and loves flawed female characters. A rebel at heart, Denise is hugely influenced by her Irish heritage. She believes that it is her country's tragic past and, yes, its weather that makes her constantly find humour in darkness.

Editorial Reviews

Review

‘Maggie and Daniel are well-developed characters with evident chemistry, and their relationship will hold readers’ attention as they both work to reconcile their beliefs with their feelings for each other. It’s an engrossing portrait of a chapter of Irish history that may be new to many readers. Comparable titles: Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys. (PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BOOKLIFE, Booklife Nov 2017)

Gripping, heartfelt story set in the heart of Ireland's most troubled time. Deegan takes us on a memorable adventure into the past. Beautifully imagined and skillfully written - a book to remember.' (KATE KERRIGAN, author of the New York Times bestseller, the Ellis Island trilogy.)

'History comes vividly to life in this compelling love story set during turbulent times in revolutionary Ireland. In Maggie, Denise Deegan has created a strong female character caught between her ideals and her heart.' (MARTINA DEVLIN, best-selling author of The House Where it Happened)

'Denise Deegan captures all the emotion and drama of Ireland during the rebellion, and a world at war. In her characters, Maggie and Daniel, she authentically portrays the struggles and decisions faced by young men and women during this period of history. A thoroughly compelling book which I enjoyed immensely.' (HAZEL GAYNOR, author of New York Times bestseller The Girl Who Came Home.)

'Thought-provoking, heart-rending and uplifting, Through the Barricades takes a vivid look at the turmoil of events leading to 1916 through authentic and diverse eyes. It is not to be missed.' (RUTH FRANCES LONG, best-selling author of A Crack in Everything trilogy.)

'Things I look for in a good book - character, plot and the author's ability to make me care. Denise Deegan does this in spades in Through theBarricades. OK, the historical backdrop lends itself to a pacy narrative - Ireland from 1914 to 1916 - a tumultuous time in her history - but it takes a clever writer to weave the history and not let it get in the way of the plot. I fell in love with Maggie, Daniel and their friend Michael from their first introduction. I loved Maggie's fire and Daniel's devotion to her. I loved how their relationship developed and I enjoyed the almost Forrest Gump-ness of the book as Maggie interacted with important Irish figures. The pieces written about the trenches in the First World War were really moving as was the devotion Maggie's family had to each other. Bravo Denise.' (MARTINA REILLY, bestselling author of Proof)

'Daniel and Maggie take us through the human side of history, with a story of friendship and love. The birth of a social conscience and the harsh realities of insurrection combine with Deegan's characteristic empathy to craft a story that will appeal to young and old alike.' (Award-winning author of Needlework, DEIRDRE SULLIVAN.)

'Through the Barricades is a novel in which to lose yourself - gripping, exhilarating and romantic.' (KATE BEAUFOY, bestselling author of Liberty Silk.)

'Through the Barricades by Denise Deegan is by far my favourite book of 2016. It is a powerful, emotional story about love - love for one's country, love for one's family - and the need to stand up and make yourself heard, to make a difference. Something we all need to be aware of today. Through the Barricades is nothing short of stunning and I know it is a book I will re-read for many years to come. BOOK RATING - 5++++' (Books of All Kinds)

'Overall I loved this one and couldn't read it fast enough. And it will be a long time before I forget Maggie and Daniel's story. (Between My Lines)

'Maggie Gilligan is a character who will stay with me.' (Cornflake Girl's Musings)

'Through the Barricades was an honest, emotional and at times intense read but it is one I am glad I took the time to read. I would urge you to do the same.' (Bleach House Library)

'As with Deegan's contemporary novels, the characters come alive on the page & pull you into their world, even though it's one that's distanced from us by time. An emotionally engaging read from an emotionally intelligent author,' (Bestselling author, Claire Hennessy.)

About the Author

Award-winning author and screenwriter, Denise Deegan lives in Dublin with her family where she regularly dreams of sunshine, a life without cooking and her novels being made into movies.

Denise has been a nurse, china restorer, pharmaceutical sales rep, public relations officer, entrepreneur and college lecturer. Her most difficult job was checkout girl, though ultimately it did inspire a short story...

Denise's novels have been published by Penguin Random House, Hachette and Lake Union Publishing. Writing under the pen name Aimee Alexander, her contemporary family dramas have become international best-sellers.

To join Denise's newsletter and receive a free copy of the short story, Checkout Girl, copy this link into your browser: aimeealexander.com/get-free-book/
You can follow Denise on:

Twitter: twitter.com/#!/denisedeegan

Facebook: facebook.com/denise.deegan.3

Websites: denisedeegan.com & aimeealexander.com

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01MSW2FOL
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ (December 5, 2016)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 5, 2016
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 4518 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 373 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 974 ratings

About the author

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Denise Deegan

Denise Deegan

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Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Award-winning author, Denise Deegan lives in Dublin, Ireland with her family where she regularly dreams of sunshine, a life without cooking and her novels being made into movies. Denise has been a nurse, a china restorer, a pharmaceutical sales rep, a public relations officer, an entrepreneur and a college lecturer. Her most difficult job was checkout girl, although ultimately this experience did inspire a short story…

Denise writes for adults and teenagers. Her novels have been published by Penguin, Random House, Hachette and Lake Union Publishing. Writing under the pen name Aimee Alexander, Denise's contemporary family dramas have become international best-sellers on Kindle.

Under her own name, Denise has written a contemporary Young Adult trilogy, The Butterfly Novels: And By The Way, And For Your Information, And Actually, the second of which was nominated for an Irish Book Award. Denise's most recent novel, Through the Barricades, won the international SCBWI Spark Award 2017 and was selected as a Publishers Weekly Booklife "Books to Watch". Denise has also written a fairytale retelling, The Prince and the Pea, published by Amazon Publishing.

You can follow Denise on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/denisedeegan

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/denise.deegan.3

Websites: www.denisedeegan.com & https://aimeealexander.com/

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
974 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Suze Lavender
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful gripping story
Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2017
Verified Purchase
It's 1913 and Maggie wants to make her late father proud by making a difference. Girls are not supposed to fight for their country, but Maggie is determined to contribute. Maggie cares about the poor and wants to help them to improve their situation. Daniel is rich and doesn't know much about politics. When he meets Maggie he's intrigued, which is why he accompanies her to a food kitchen for those who have nothing at all to volunteer. It's the beginning of his awareness and a friendship that will soon grow into something more.

Maggie wants to join the revolution. She will do anything she can to help the cause she believes in. Daniel is prepared to make a huge sacrifice and joins the army at the beginning of the First World War. They don't realize that they will be on opposite sides of the same battle. Will their love survive this difficult situation and will they be able to remain unscathed during the many years of armed combat?

Through the Barricades is a beautiful raw and gripping story. Maggie is fierce, stubborn and capable. She has strong beliefs and isn't afraid to fight for them. Daniel is gentle and loving and he's willing to go far for Maggie. They both make huge sacrifices for what's in their hearts. It's clear from the start that what they feel for each other is true love, but their situation is far from ideal, a lot is standing in their way, both personally and professionally. Nothing is certain, they aren't safe and there are no guarantees they will ever see each other again. This kept me on the edge of my seat. I flew through the pages, because I had to find out if they'd find happiness or disaster together. I absolutely love it when a story makes me feel so much.

Denise Deegan's writing is amazing. She has a great way with words that immediately captivates me every time I read one of her books. Through the Barricades isn't a light story, it's set in a dark time, but there's plenty of hope as well. I loved how well researched this story is and learned a lot about Ireland at the beginning of the twentieth century. Denise Deegan's detailed descriptions of battles, gatherings and dire situations moved me to tears. She's honest and doesn't stay away from the difficult parts, which is something I greatly admired. I highly recommend Through the Barricades, it's a brilliant emotional roller coaster.
3 people found this helpful
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Joleen
4.0 out of 5 stars Foul language, but good story
Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2017
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When Maggie's father dropped her from their burning apartment to a neighbor below, the last request her father made was for her to make a difference in the world. Turning back into the danger to help others, he never made it out himself. This was the beginning of a lifelong desire to make her father proud and fulfill his desire for her.
The working class in Ireland in 1913 were poor, underpaid, starving and many lived in wretched conditions. Maggie's greatest desire was to help bring about a stronger Ireland, free of British rule. A fiery 16 year old in a lower middle class home, she attended a wealthy private school on scholarship, so was somewhat of an outcast. Having bicycle troubles a couple of upper class boys (Michael and Daniel) stopped to help, ending up in a verbal altercation and an upper cut. Daniel was smitten. Never had he seen such fire, such passion, such beauty. His goal was to get to know this vision with the dark streaming hair...and so he did.
Over the next few months, behind his lawyer father's back he helped in soup kitchens alongside Maggie, and even joined a resistance movement learning military training, until his father found out, and until WWI recruited young men to fight in Europe. This separated them. While Maggie fought on the home front, Daniel fought the Huns and the Turks in Gallipoli and France, both putting their lives in danger. Both falling deeper and deeper in love.

Then came the Easter Uprising!

This is where I stop because there's too much to the story, and I don't want to give away more than I already have.

My opinion about the book is this...

I was unaware of the Easter Uprising 100 years ago in 1916, and I've read little about WWI. Mostly I've read about the Revolutionary War, Civil War and WWII. So what I learned from this book was a lot. Plus it spurred me to do a bit of research to get even more background on the historical figures in the book surrounding the beginnings of the IRA.

The author immediately draws you into each character, showing you what they are like, not just telling you about them. You feel like you are a part of two families, you feel like you are there in the soup kitchen, you feel like you are in the resistance meetings, or the trenches with soldiers in Gallipoli. Very, very well done.

The style I most appreciate is one with a more Christian theme leaving out profanity. This was purely Catholic, and being raised in an Irish/Italian Catholic family myself, I'm familiar with the "language" used on a daily basis, which only gets worse in the trenches of war. I knew what I was reading so accepted the reality of it. I wish it hadn't been so graphic for my own sensibilities, but I can't fault the author for her take on the way they all would have communicated. It wasn't all the way through the book, so there's that.

The love story between Maggie and Daniel was a beautiful thing. I was a bit miffed that she put Ireland above Daniel, and that Daniel chose to go off to war (because Irish were exempt unless they enlisted), but it made for an interesting story!!

Really good story, really good ending. I recommend it for adults and for someone who is okay with some foul language.
2 people found this helpful
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John E. Donovan
5.0 out of 5 stars Country before self!
Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2021
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Author Denise Deegan (also writing as Aimee Alexander), has written an excellent book relating to The Easter Rising, a.k.a. The Easter Rebellion of 1916, and though a work of fiction, it paints a very credible and realistic portrait of this tumultuous time in Ireland's history. The characters ring true, as do their political ideologies and subsequent actions. Characters, plot, story-line, etc., etc., are top-notch, and all come together, nicely, to create a memorable and enjoyable book.
As an Irish American, with lineage focal to the book's subject matter, I found the book to be, not only, very enjoyable, but, also, very informative. I think anyone with Irish lineage would love this book.
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drummers girl
5.0 out of 5 stars A great book that you can't put down.
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2018
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Ms. Deegan is a very gifted writer. Every character was memorable and stood out on its own. The story was interesting and memorable and gave us a picture of how Ireland fought for independence from British rule. Although this didn't happen for years after the Easter Rising, now we know how it all began. I read till the wee hours jut to see how it ended. And it ended well. Although this was a young adult novel the only thing that made it fit into that category was the absence of the cuss words that don't need to be there to tell a good story. I'm
4 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars Great plot, could stand a lot less repetition of ...
Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2017
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Great plot,could stand a lot less repetition of the love scenes,more action
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Top reviews from other countries

Melissa
5.0 out of 5 stars AMAZING piece of Irish Fiction
Reviewed in Canada on March 17, 2017
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Through the Barricades by Denise Deegan is an excellent piece of Irish Fiction; Keeping me reading until the wee hours of the morning.

Author Denise Deegan delivers an all-around amazing story that is complete with an engaging plot and a well-developed cast of characters; playing vividly in my mind like a movie. I cried, I laughed, and then I cried some more as the book progressed.

Furthermore, as a born and raised Canadian, I felt that I learned a bit about Ireland’s history. I mean, I knew that there was a political division between the North and South. However, I found it fascinating to learn a bit more about it from this fictional account.

This may be a short review compared to others. Regardless, there was really nothing that I didn’t like about this book.Through the Barricades was an incredible novel; I would highly recommend it to any reader that loves Historical Fiction (or stories about Ireland).

Side note: I received a copy as part of a blog tour. However, I have since purchased my own copy as I firmly believe in supporting authors that I enjoy.
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JB Johnston
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful writing!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 27, 2017
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Denise Deegan certainly has a way with words and was able to grab me right from the onset with opening prologue. From then on in after I was totally hooked on this book. The story is of Maggie Mae Gilligan, a feisty young woman caught up in the turmoil of Ireland at the start of the 20th Century. Determined to make a difference just like her father wanted, Maggie wants to fight for her country. She wants the British out of Ireland but as a young woman feels powerless to help. Then she meets Daniel who is totally and utterly besotted by her and everything about her from the wonderful way she throws a punch right down to her beautiful eyebrows!

Daniel's love soon sees him wanting to be with Maggie all the time, even going as far as volunteering at a soup kitchen feeding the poor. While Daniel disagrees with Maggie's desire to take up arms against the British, he would quite gladly follow her to the gates of hell. Despite coming from completely different backgrounds, Daniel and Maggie's friendship and love soon blossoms.

However, Maggie's plans are soon disrupted by the onset of the First World War and Daniel feels that he needs to join the British Army and do his duty. Maggie is horrified but cannot deny her feelings for him and despite everything, the love he and Maggie share cannot be quelled by the onset of war both at home and abroad or by any political views. Maggie's letters to Daniel when he is fighting on the front are what keeps him fighting, keeps him alive. Daniel dreams of his future with Maggie and that is the only thing that keeps him sane.

Set against the back-drop of the Easter Rising in Ireland and the atrocities of trench warfare in places such as Gallipoli, Denise Deegan paints a very vivid picture of the terrible sufferings, the violence and the death that our characters must endure. Some of the scenes around Gallipoli had be gasping with shock. For those lovers of historical fiction with a romantic element Through The Barricades is one book you will not be able to put down. Its gritty, its romantic and its shocking. I loved it! Its a stark reminder that violence solves nothing and yet humanity learns nothing from its mistakes. Love is the only thing really worth fighting for.
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Jockaboy
5.0 out of 5 stars What a lovely book.
Reviewed in Australia on April 25, 2017
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I got this as a freebie and wondered why I bothered when I saw it won the SCBWI Award for "Childrens books" !! Well I found this one of the most appealing, simple to read and at times simply beautiful books I have had the pleasure to read. My time as a child ended some 60 years ago but this little beauty took me back to my childhood instantly. Youth and love obviously has no boundaries.
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iainbeag
4.0 out of 5 stars Irish History, Politics, Society in the first quarter of the 20th century
Reviewed in Canada on October 2, 2017
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This was a most enjoyable book; snippets of Irish mythology; sketches of patriots on the long path to freedom; superb covering of the period that included early 20th century; politics and social mores of the times, World War I and its subsequent effect toward Irish Nationalism. All in all, a superb read.
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Amazon Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting
Reviewed in Australia on May 6, 2017
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Interesting to read about this era of history. Covered a lot that I knew nothing about. Was a little disappointed with the ending.
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