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A spellbinding historical epic that follows the lives and friendship of poet and Easter Rising Irish rebel Roger Casement and English sculptor Herbert Ward from their youth working in the Congo to Casement´s arrest for treason and death by execution in 1916

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In prose that is darkly humorous and alive with detail, Valiant Gentlemen reimagines the lives and intimate friendships of humanitarian and Irish patriot Roger Casement; his closest friend, Herbert Ward; and Ward´s extraordinary wife, the Argentinian-American heiress Sarita Sanford.

Valiant Gentlemen takes the reader on an intimate journey, from Ward and Casement´s misadventurous youth in the Congo - where, among other things, they bore witness to an Irish whiskey heir´s taste for cannibalism - to Ward´s marriage to Sarita and their flourishing family life in France, to Casement´s covert homosexuality and enduring nomadic lifestyle floating between his work across the African continent and involvement in Irish politics.

When World War I breaks out, Casement and Ward´s longstanding political differences finally come to a head and when Ward and his teenage sons leave to fight on the frontlines for England, Casement begins to work alongside the Germans to help free Ireland from British rule. What results is tragic and riveting, as both men are forced to confront notions of love and betrayal in the face of the vastly different tracks their lives have taken.

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Murray´s writing is super, full of humour and wisdom. In her hands, Ward, Casement and Sarita are vital, rounded characters. This fictionalised account of their intertwined lives is impressive. The Times

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Sabina Murray grew up in Australia and the Philippines and is currently a member of the MFA faculty at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is the author of Tales of the New World, A Carnivore´s Inquiry, Forgery and The Caprices, which won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.

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