The Silkweaver

by Gabrielle Warnock

The highly-paced story is set in Dublin in 1798, a turbulent period of political unrest in Irish history. Anton Paradis, a silk weaver of unparalleled excellence whose only desire is to create beautiful patterns on the finest of silk, finds his life in turmoil when he is reluctantly forced to betray his employer, friend and fellow-revolutionary, Danno McKenna. The unfortunate weaver is swept up in a spiralling nightmare of uncontrollable events which culminates in him becoming a deeply unwilling and unlikely hero of the Irish Cause. Against this backdrop of ominous and increasingly frenetic political intrigue, Danno's intense affair with the beautiful and passionate Letitia is echoed by Anton's love for Caitlin. The swiftly-moving narrative is punctuated by a series of letters from a well-placed informer, whose sinister machinations increasingly twist the lives of the central characters.

350 pages, Paperback

Published May 1, 1999

Reviews

[Huw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very involving for most of its length, although some reliance on coincidence and the blandness of the eponymous character mars the story a little bit.