The Princes of Ireland

The Dublin Saga

By: Edward Rutherfurd

Narrated by: Richard Matthews

From the bestselling author of London and Sarum, a magnificent epic about love and battle, family life and political intrigue in Ireland over the course of eleven centuries. The Princes of Ireland brilliantly weaves impeccable historical research and mesmerizing storytelling in capturing the essence of a place and its people.

Edward Rutherfurd has introduced millions of readers to the human dramas that are the lifeblood of history. From his first bestseller, Sarum, to the international sensation London, he has captivated audiences with gripping narratives that follow the fortunes of several fictional families down through the ages. The Princes of Ireland, a sweeping panorama steeped in the tragedy and glory that is Ireland, epitomizes the power and richness of Rutherfurd’s storytelling magic.
The saga begins in tribal, pre-Christian Ireland during the reign of the fierce and mighty high kings at Tara, with the tale of two lovers, the princely Conall and the ravishing Deirdre, whose travails cleverly echo the ancient Celtic legend of Cuchulainn. From that stirring beginning, Rutherfurd takes the reader on a powerfully imagined journey through the centuries. Through the interlocking stories of a memorable cast of characters—druids and chieftains, monks and smugglers, noblewomen and farmwives, merchants and mercenaries, rebels and cowards—we see Ireland through the lens of its greatest city.
While vividly and movingly conveying the passions and struggles that shaped the character of Dublin, Rutherfurd portrays the major events in Irish history: the tribal culture of pagan Ireland; the mission of St. Patrick; the coming of the Vikings and the founding of Dublin; the glories of the great nearby monastery of Glendalough and the making of treasures like the Book of Kells; the extraordinary career of Brian Boru; the trickery of Henry II, which gave England its first foothold in medieval Ireland. The stage is then set for the great conflict between the English kings and the princes of Ireland, and the disastrous Irish invasion of England, which incurred the wrath of Henry VIII, and where this book, the first of the two-part Dublin saga, draws to a close, as the path of Irish history takes a dramatic and irrevocable turn.
Rich, colorful, and impeccably researched, The Princes of Ireland is epic entertainment spun by a master.©2004 Edward Rutherfurd; (P)2004 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

London
“Remarkable . . . Grand.”
—New York Times

“Hold your breath suspense, buccaneering adventure, and passionate tales of love and war.”
—The Times (London)

“Fascinating . . . A sprawling epic.”
—San Francisco Chronicle

“A tour de force . . . Breathtaking.”
—Orlando Sentinel

“Rutherfurd is a skilled storyteller with respect for his readers . . . He juggles his immense cast with great poise and momentum . . . No tourist will look at the ancient but chaotic city [of London] through quite the same eyes after following its history through two millennia.”
—Washington Post Book World

Sarum
“Bursts with action, encyclopedic in historic detail . . . supremely well crafted and a delight to read.”
—Chicago Tribune

“A richly imagined vision of history, written with genuine delight.”
—San Francisco Chronicle

Russka
“An example of how a skillful historical novelist can illumine the present by dramatically re-creating the past.”
—Houston Chronicle

“Rutherfurd literally personifies history.”
—New York Daily News


The Forest
“As entertaining as Sarum and Rutherfurd’s other sweeping novel of British history, London.”
—Boston Globe

“The Forest is Michener told with an English accent.”
—St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Real life history interwoven into a novel.

Where does Princes of Ireland rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I love all of Mr. Rutherfurd's novels. The way he can weave real life history and blend w/ fictional characters ... characters you really come to love.
My all time favorite: "London" which is not unabridged nor in audible form.
If you like real history, yet told in a novel form, NOT textbook form, you'll really like Mr. Rutherfurd's novels. "Paris" is great too.

Important Irish history!

Enjoyed this immensely! Depth of family and regional history as well as political tensions with the English.

Hard to put down

LOVED the book - the author takes his basic cast of characters from the time of the druids and follows them through the centuries that follow. The influences brought by successive conquests/invasions are woven skillfully into the lineage, and specific traits repeat in generations to follow.

The narrator is equally accomplished - he carries the various voices extraordinarily well through the combination of inflection and accent.

Imagine an almost-60 woman shopping for groceries with headphones on, oblivious to the world. That was me, and while there were MANY quizzical looks, I just couldn't turn the story off. Heck, the teens do it all the time, why not me?

I'm already well into the sequel, and loving it also.

Great stuff!

For anyone that loves this genre of historical writing, this is a wonderful book ... actually, a series of books because the story continues in "The Rebels of Ireland." As does most historical fiction of this type, he follows a number of families down from pre-Christian to modern day Ireland, specifically, Dublin. The story is not so tightly tied to Dublin as is the author's "London" or "New York" was tied to those cities, but it is certainly centered in Dublin. I can find nothing to criticize in this wonderful book and am now in the middle of the second part of the saga. It's enthralling and you'll learn more than you imagine! Worth a second reading, too.

James O'Michener Tackles the Old Sod

This is basically a fun story about adventures in Ireland's history as seen through the thread of a single family that's been carried down from ancient times to the Reformation. In that way, I found it to be similar to Hawaii and The Source, by James Michener: a sprawling epic, with lots of interesting sub-stories. This is a bit above Michener, though. The author tracks Irish history pretty closely, which I liked. The narrator manages to keep lots of voices straight, which is tough in a work this long.