Ireland's disease

A vivid report from the heart of late‑Victorian Ireland, this work begins with the author’s own letters sent from Dublin and the countryside during two summer visits in 1886 and 1887. He records the palpable tension of a nation poised on the brink of political change, yet still caught in the daily grind of evictions, unpaid rents and the ordinary hardships of city and rural life.

The narrative moves through bustling streets, the stark poverty of Dublin’s tenements, and the rugged life of Kerry farmers, providing a rich portrait of the people, their customs and the lingering grievances that fuel unrest. Alongside these observations, the author confronts the heated criticisms he attracted in the press, offering a candid, sometimes confrontational, defense of his perspective.

Readers will come away with a textured sense of an Ireland struggling under what the writer terms a “chronic disease” – a blend of economic strain, political oppression and cultural resilience that still echoes in its history.