Home rule - Clare Boylan

When aristocratic Englishwoman Elinore Dubois married a handsome young Irishman, her mother warned her that he would give her ten children and leave her destitute. In fact there are only nine Devlins, but in a two-roomed Dublin tenement, Elinore vents her disappointment on her seven daughters and in particular, on beautiful Daisy, whose refusal to accept the grim realities of her life infuriates Mama - and masks the tragic secret of her childhood. Set in Dublin at the turn of the century, Home Rule is a vivid and poignant portrait of a family of spirited girls at the disposal of men and mothers and a celebration of the humourless life force that sustains them.