Confederacy of Fenians follows multiple characters through an alternative historical telling of the Civil War. I think this original idea is intriguing. How did you come up with this idea and develop it into a story?

I’ve always thought it was interesting to explore historical events from multiple points of view. I remember wondering long ago what the Galls thought of Julius Ceasar. It’s especially interesting during the American Civil War since culturally and linguistically northerners and southerners were so similar, yet they went to war and over 600,000 people died. The idea for this book came from combining my lifelong interests in the Civil War and Irish history, and my penchant for asking “what if?”.

With each chapter having a different point of view, were there any characters that you especially enjoyed writing for?

I love all my children equally. That said, I enjoyed writing from the perspective of John Lane since he was my real-life ancestor. I knew the bare outlines of his life so I found it rewarding to fill in the blanks. I also very much enjoyed writing the repartee between women and men – Viola and John Lane; Varina and Jefferson Davis; and Nelly and George McClellan. Those were some of the most satisfying parts to write.

How much research did you undertake for this book and how much time did it take to put it all together?

I’ve been reading about the Civil War since the early 1960s and about Irish history since the early 1970s, so it’s fair to say that 60 years of research went into the book. That said, I did almost no research specifically related to the story.  

What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?

I have a sequel to “Confederacy of Fenians” sketched out in my head, but I’m currently working on a collection of (hopefully humorous) essays and an unrelated screenplay, so the sequel will have to wait in line.  But if the public demand is strong enough…!

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