Eva Gore-Booth

An image of such politics

Author:
Sonja Tiernan
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More than eighty years after her death, the name of Eva Gore- Booth is still known. This book is the first dedicated biography of the extraordinary Irish woman, who rejected her aristocratic heritage choosing to live and work amongst the poorest classes in industrial Manchester. Her close bond with her sister, an iconic Irish nationalist, provides a new insight into Countess Markievicz's personal life. Living in an environment receptive to occult beliefs, Eva became preoccupied by spiritualism and believed she developed a psychic ability. Many historians and literary critics have credited Eva's interest in the occult to the influence of Yeats. Gore-Booth published volumes of poetry, philosophical prose and plays, becoming a respected and prolific author of her time and part of W.B. Yeats' literary circle. Her work on behalf of barmaids, circus acrobats, flower sellers and pit-brow lasses is traced in the book. During one impressive campaign Gore-Booth orchestrated the defeat of Winston Churchill. Her life story vividly traces her experiences of issues such as militant pacifism during the Great War, the case for the reprieve of Roger Casement's death sentence, sexual equality in the workplace and the struggle for Irish independence. The story of her revolutionary life shows a person devoted to the ideal of a free and independent Ireland and a woman with a deep sense of how class and gender equality can transform lives and legislation.

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‘Tiernan has produced a vivid picture of an independent spirit.'
Deirdre Toomey
Yeats Annual No. 21: A Special Issue

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