Out of Ireland

Beware of the Past #2

by Christopher J. Koch

A leader of the Young Ireland rebellion of 1848, Robert Devereux is an Irish gentleman who is prepared to hazard a life of privilege in the fight for his country's freedom. Transported to Van Diemen's Land as a political prisoner, he enters a life that greatly changes him, falling in love with a young Irish convict woman. Through Kathleen O'Rahilly he comes to know the people he's long romanticised; but his cause, and the life he has lost, will not let him go.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Ireland, Australia, Book Club, Tasmania

706 pages, Paperback

First published June 24, 1997

About the author

Christopher Koch was born and educated in Tasmania. For a good deal of his life he was a broadcasting producer, working for the ABC in Sydney. He has lived and worked in London and elsewhere overseas. He has been a fulltime writer since 1972, winning international praise and a number of awards for his novels, many of which are translated in a number of European countries. One of his novels, The YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY, was made into a film by Peter Weir and was nominated for an Academy Award. He has twice won the Miles Franklin award for fiction: for THE DOUBLEMAN and HIGHWAYS TO A WAR. In 1995 Koch was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for his contribution to Australian literature.

Reviews

[Velvetink · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally engaging and I can't put it down. The book stands on its own, first of all, as a ripping good yarn by a fine storyteller. The novel is formidable in size (over 700 pages), but reads quickly and well. Secondly, it is a fascinating introduction to the situation of mid-19th century Irish revolutionaries, and their plight when transported to English prison colonies. Koch's protagonists are based upon a handful of members of the Young Ireland movement who were actually transported to Van Diemen's Land in 1848. However, the specific characters and events are fictional. There are some great quotes in the book, and overall Koch's writing gives insight (I feel) to the particular national character of Australians today, given their brutal colonial history. I would love this book to be made into a film.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Member of Irish ascendancy and leader of Young Irelanders is exiled for sedition, encouraging armed rising against the British in the aftermath of Irish famine
Exiled to Bermuda and then Van Diemens land
Interesting plot of young upper class man adapting to social and geographic isolation in Tasmania. Changing relationship with some of his erstwhile co-conspirators and with members of the local English community
Some of the plot points were so well flagged in advance as to be obvious.
Was interested to see the author's own ancestors included irish emigrants - both member of upper class and convicts.

[Guy Salvidge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good, but Christ it is long.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

With this, the fourth of Koch's novels I've read, the author secures his position as one of my favourites. Together with his earlier book Highways to a War (1995), this forms a diptych or dual narrative called Beware of the Past (apparently the two novels were originally intended as one volume but it grew too large - they add up to 1240 pages), with Highways' story of war photographer Mike Langford finding echoes in the 1840s story of Young Ireland firebrand Robert Devereux who is transported to Van Diemen's Land for sedition.
It is a cracking read, taking in the Irish Famine, the fight against the British, the long sea voyage to the Antipodes and life in the convict colony where trusting anyone can be a dangerous thing to do. Koch assembles a memorable cast of characters and writes some thrilling set pieces, but the fact that the reader already knows the outcome (both from reading Highways, and the prologue to this volume written as an "editor's introduction" by Ray Barton, the narrator of Highways to whom Mike Langford bequeathed the Devereux diaries) robs the last few chapters of some of their potential impact. As a result, the novel relies for much of its narrative drive and interest on its episodic structure (Devereux is a fan of Dickens so that structure is appropriate), but at the conclusion of the novel I wasn't convinced that Koch had managed to say anything about the lengths someone will go to - for a cause they believe in; for love - that he hadn't already said more eloquently in Highways to a War.
Koch revisited the diptych idea - with another convict narrative contrasting with a second narrative with a more recent historical setting - in his final novel, Lost Voices and whilst I don't think that novel reached the same dizzy heights as Highways to a War (one of the best Australian novels I've read), the diptych element was for me much more successfully employed there.
But Out of Ireland was still a great read which I was completely swept along by, with some wonderful descriptive writing about the Tasmanian landscape, a lot of lively dialogue, and many characters who I feel sure will live on in my mind for some time.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Out of Ireland was the sixth novel of Christopher Koch (1932-2013), one of our most treasured Australian writers. The book was first published in 1999, and won the Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction in Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards for (2000), and also the Colin Roderick Award (1999).

At 702 pages it’s a long book, but it’s a great story when you have long idle hours to spend, lost in a book. Any temptation I had to stop loafing in bed after a chest infection and do some long-neglected housework was quickly quashed by Out of Ireland. I did not want to put aside the book at all…

It’s the story of a Irish rebel called Devereaux, but – like all the other Koch novels – its focus is on issues of trust and betrayal. Based loosely on the fate of rebels transported to Van Dieman’s Land (now Tasmania) after the failed 1848 uprising, the novel purports to be the diaries of its main character Devereaux and is narrated in his voice. This fictional Devereaux aligned himself with the Young Ireland movement but was from the Anglo-Irish Protestant Ascendancy so although he considers himself Irish, he does not speak Gaelic and has had very little contact with what he calls the peasant class. He is torn between frustration about their limitations in terms of the rebellion, and romanticising them as noble equivalents of the French revolutionaries.

Devereaux’s English ancestors had taken up estates in Ireland after its conquest by England but by the time the story takes place they have lost their estates and although he’s had an education at Trinity College, he considers himself middle-class. As far as the Irish convicts he meets are concerned, he is gentry, but amongst those transported to Van Dieman’s Land in the same crackdown as he has been, there is the aspirational Liam Kinane who reveres Devereaux’s rebellion but despises his ancestry.

This ambivalence in Devereaux’s character plays out in his love for the convict girl Kathleen O’Rahilly.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2016/08/29/o...

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Long, slow, well written and beautifully descriptive of early Tasmania, "Out of Ireland" is not a fast-paced action novel by any means. It's the fictional journal of an Irish patriot transported to Australia for 14 years for sedition in the late 1840s, and focuses on his reaction to his situation and his grappling with the challenge of "maintaining the rage"against his oppressors. This becomes particularly apparent when he falls in love with an Irish convict girl, and takes up farming. He is in Tasmania with several other transported compatriots, who each meet that challenge in their own way. He is in a constant war within himself over whether to succumb to the gentle pleasures of tilling the soil and living with his Irish convict lover, or to stay true to the Cause and never accept the authority of the British over him and his people.

Just who are his people is an issue that creeps into the arguments he has with his compatriots; they are a group of wealthy, privileged young men who were as much seduced by the romance of being freedom fighters, as spurred by the condition of the Irish people at the time. The novel raises the image of young men full of rhetoric and bombast, who see 'the people' as separate from themselves, but needing their leadership and guidance,and there is much declaiming about making the streets red with blood in the pursuit of liberty. However whose blood it usually is that runs red in the streets and the rivers, is the moot point.

Well worth reading for its lovely writing and its ideas, but be prepared to give it the time it deserves. I read it much too quickly!

[Elizabeth S · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating this book was tricky, because it was well-written and often engaging. However, I don't think it earned its length.

Out of Ireland is a quick read thanks to its easy to follow prose and beautiful descriptions. You want to experience the main character's journey to see where Robert Devereux will end up with each twist and turn.

Nonetheless, this novel is 700 pages long, and I don't think it needed to be. I don't even think it was worth all of those pages.

That's not to say I didn't enjoy it, or it wasn't well done. If I was rating it solely on those factors, I would probably give it three stars, which I consider a high rating.

But in reality, Out of Ireland is a long slog. A good one, but not one that showed me in any way how it deserved so much of my time.

Koch does an excellent job, and I've heard positive things about much of his work. For that reason, I'm definitely glad I read this, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone who may find the novel of interest.

Even so, committing to such a big book shouldn't be done lightly (even if I tend to do so much too lightly... but that's my own problem). For that reason, unless you're a huge fan of Koch's writing or this is the epitome of your favorite genre or subject, then I can't say it's really worth it.

It does pain me in a way to speak poorly of it, because the writing is lovely and the characters are very well drawn. But I couldn't help thinking the length was unnecessary, when it came down to it. Some books build such complex settings or delve so deeply into issues that they require their astounding lengths. Unfortunately, Out of Ireland was good, but didn't feel "I earned all of my 700 pages" good.

Part of me wonders if maybe Koch wrote the entire thing and then decided he would just rather not cut any part of his novel. I can imagine snipping and editing is very difficult, but I'm still uncertain how he felt every single one of those pages did the book justice.

In any case, it was good. It was definitely good, and I liked it at certain points more than others. But it wasn't the amazing tome its length might suggest, which left me rather disappointed.

[Prue Mansfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

I took this on our Tassie trip, but at font 8, close lines and 700 pages, the light was not good enough to read it. But I picked it up when home. It is a really well written yarn, about an Irish political prisoner, and some of his compatriots, exiled to Van Diemans Land for sedition. Exploring the difference between political prisoners and the criminal class, what they thought of each other, and whether accepting a ticket-of-leave or pardon was abandoning their determination to fight against the English. Even these well off men saw that Australia gave them prospects that returning to Ireland did not. I confess to skimming the longish sections on the details of the political action taken back in Ireland. I'll read more of his.

[Kangelani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely BRILLIANT! I loved reading every page and found it hard to put down. Sadly I came to the end, and felt I had know the characters in this novel. Hobart Town and Bothwell became real places in Tasmania to me, from the excellent descriptions Koch described. During the read I researched old abandoned cottages in Tasmania in the hope that I might find one to fit some of the descriptions in the book. Christopher Koch is one of my new favourite authors!

[Gay Harding · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a journey this story has taken me on. I am in awe of Christopher Koch. Although I struggled with the length of this book and skipped paragraphs, wherever I ended up was infinitely interesting and poetic. I learned so much about this chaotic era for Ireland and what those patriotic men went through for their beloved Eire. You have set a precedent Mr Koch. How does one find anything to come close to your gift.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Illuminating depiction of the island prison, Van Diemens Land, and the torment and longing of those sent to serve time at the ‘edge of the world’. Revolution (French, Irish and American) intelligently explored through differing class perspectives. Marked down due the tome’s soul-wearying length and repetitiveness.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting snapshot of a period of convict era Tasmania (mainly Hobart) from the point of view of an Irish dissident. I found the long explanations of the Irish political scene a bit hard going, but really enjoyed a glimpse into what Tassie was like at that time. Long but well written.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My gosh, this book was long but totally fascinating. For some reason I thought these were real diary entries, and then I got to the author's note and was like - wait, this was historical fiction? LMAO.

[Irene Adler · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not for me - abandoned page 34 as the subject matter and main character didn't interest me enough. But the writing style was good, I would consider reading a different book by the same author if I come across one.

[Farshid Anvari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shows struggle of people for independence of Ireland. It well portrays the suffering (physical, mental and emotional) of the group who were exiled to Tasmania.
It is of course a fiction but feels like real.

[Luke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Immersive historical fiction.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story that engages the reader on every level. Koch’s use of language and his character studies are masterful.

[Matt Ralph · Rating 3 out of 5]

'...democracy will probably bring us despotism in the end, and a new oppression by the masses instead of by kings and nobles.' P. 472. Quote from Benjamin Constant

I'm partial to books about revolutionaries, probably since visiting Cuba and Mexico in 2016 and reading about Ché Guevara and Fidel Castro in Cuba, and Hidalgo, Pancho Villa and José Manuel 'El Doctor' Mireles.

Out of Ireland was enjoyable in its treatment of Tasmania as a backdrop of exile for Irish revolutionaries in the nineteenth century. Strange to think of the part of the world I live in to host guests of such convictions.

The naivety of the central character, Devereux, was so gently done that I developed a sympathy for him. I was also impressed at the skill of the author to create such a believable character, especially in light of the difference between this book and another of his, The Year of Living Dangerously, which was quite different in tone and setting.

One of the most powerful moments in the book for me was the killing of two men. I thought I had become desensitised to killing, particularly in the case of self-defense, which was the case here, but the description of guilt, the gruesomeness and futility of someone dying were brought out so vividly they have stayed with me.

[Edgar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Out of Ireland have we come
Great hatred little room
Hath maimed us from the start.
The above lines from a William Butler Yeats poem. Recently I read ‘Great hatred little Room’ about the torturous drawn out proceedings leading to the Good Friday peace agreement which still prevails in Northern Ireland. In that book the vexed question was considered whether combatants in a struggle should renounce violence and disarm prior to an agreement being reached. Nelson Mandela in his autobiography argued persuasively against this claiming it took pressure off your opponent and left your side with fewer bargaining chips. In ‘Out of Ireland’ the main protagonist, William Deveraux, favoured the threat of armed rebellion, claiming a peaceful approach didn’t work in the past, as the British were under little pressure to make concessions.
Not having read the forerunner to this book, Highways to War, I was misled by the Preface, believing it to be the literal truth (as one usually does with prefaces) ie, that the book was actual extracts from a diary of one of the Young Ireland members of the 1840s. Reading from that perspective, I found the book amazing ! In hindsight I should have twigged – at the polished prose throughout, and some amazing incidents, eg Devaraux shooting both bushrangers when his convict girlfriend was abducted. I wondered why no mention was made of the Young Irelanders I was familiar with, eg John Mitchel, whose jail journal I read, or William Smith O’Brien (one of whose direct descendants I once met at London’s Speaker’s Corner). Until I read in the postscript that the characters in the book were loosely based on these people. For a moment I felt a little cheated that it was all not for real, as I thought. But maybe this conceit was deliberate to enhance one’s reading experience – it certainly worked for me !

[Don Alcock · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't put this down. A masterful novel, even at 700 pages. One of Koch's best, I think, and has become an Australian classic. This masterful 19th century-era novel tells the story of a man who suffers exile through fighting for the future of his people. A leader of the Young Ireland rebellion of 1848, Robert Devereux is an Irish gentleman who is prepared to hazard a life of privilege in the fight for his country's freedom. Transported to Van Diemen's Land as a political prisoner, he enters a life that greatly changes him, in love with a young Irish convict woman.

The novel takes the form of Devereux’s journal, which he starts writing in shortly after he’s sentenced to transportation. The decision to write the novel as a journal was an ingenious one of Koch’s. It allows readers to gain a personal insight of someone (though fictional) from the nineteenth century. It’s the opposite of the bland, formal accounts buried in the government archives. It's a novel I re-read each year.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful and eloquently written work of fiction, based around Young Ireland. As an Australian, and having visited Tasmania (Van Deimen's Land) I am drawn even closer to the words, characters, and emotions portrayed in this fascinating read.

To whomever chooses to sit down and read this wonderful work, may I say, please find a very comfortable and quiet position out in nature, as far from the everyday, mundane sounds of current society, to explore the joys of the harsh, yet emotionally stirring story found within its cover.

[Susan Austin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This used to be one of my favourite books but I was a bit disappointed when reading it again. I loved the descriptions of early colonial life in Hobart but I found some of the writing to be repetitive, felt the author frequently overstated things or laboured some points/themes and was obsessed with describing everybody's attire in detail. It was still a mostly-enjoyable read but it has dropped off my list of favourite books. I wonder if this will happen if I read other favourite books over again??!!

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely not a sit down and read in one night book. Very heavy with articulate prose and emotionally evocative writing. I found the references to scholars of old refreshing and almost academic in nature, which helped develop the main character as a gentleman of the 1800s. Thoroughly enjoyable, if you like a heartier kind of novel.

[Peter Longworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Out of Ireland" is a beautifully written novel, full of atmosphere and a true conviction of the people, time and place of 19th century Ireland and Australia. This is my favourite Koch novel after his masterpiece, "The Year of Living Dangerously"

[Dan Piette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highways to a War great stuff.

[Brooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lengthy irish historical novel. Good insight into Van Diemen's land and life on a penal colony. Pace of the novel gives a sense of years passing as fortunes of principle characters as the age.

[Adrian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book,

[Carol Preston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story, but not a light read, either in content nor length. It's a saga of great proportions. Great history

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this book took me sometime to finish I enjoyed the historical connections with Tasmania. It could have been a couple of hundred pages shorter and still conveyed the same atmosphere.

[Jeff Macpherson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful imagery, gotta love Tasmania! Where's the sequel?