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The Gates Flew Open: An Irish Civil War Prison Diary
Paperback
ISBN13: 9781781171691
Publisher: Mercier Press
Published: Sep 21 2026
Pages: 194
Weight: 0.40
Height: 0.60 Width: 5.00 Depth: 7.70
Language: English
'When the cell door banged shut with a short thick-set thud, my mind went dark; I felt buried; ... I was on the floor, for I had been catapulted in by the jailers, and the darkness within was smothering me.' Peadar O'Donnell, a Donegal Republican, was captured by the Free State after the fall of the Four Courts in 1922 and was interred in various prisons until his escape from the Curragh in March 1924.
The Gates Flew Open is his vivid and uncompromising account of what it was like to be a prisoner of the Irish Free State during the turbulent period of 1922-24. From the camaraderie that developed amongst the internees and the satisfaction of small victories over their jailers, to the often strained relationship with members of the clergy and the horror of losing friends like Liam Mellows to the executioner's bullet, this account gives an unparalleled insight into the fate suffered by the men whose fight for an Irish Republic ended in incarceration.
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