Boyhood's Fire

On 24 April 1916, 1,600 revolutionaries assembled in Dublin and declared an Irish Republic. Among those who advanced on the city’s strategic strongholds were boys of Na Fianna Éireann, the youth wing of the IRA. They took part in every major action that week, and four were killed, including fourteen-year-old Seán Healy, the Rising’s youngest fatality.

Boyhood’s Fire is a gripping account of those young warriors who helped shape Ireland’s fight for freedom. From the chaos of Easter Week, through the War of Independence and Civil War, to the streets of Belfast and Derry in 1969, successive generations of youth were forged in the fire of revolution.

They were scouts, couriers, fighters, and, in time, leaders. Many would rise through the ranks of the IRA; others would fall in conflicts stretching from Ireland to Spain. Over sixty Fianna members would lose their lives.

Drawing on vivid first-hand testimony and original research, James Durney delivers a powerful, fast-paced history of youth in revolt, uncovering the forgotten faces behind Ireland’s long fight for freedom.