The past is never dead, it isn’t even past
The History behind The Bratinsky Affair "It is not the wimpled version of history that is interesting but its brutality." - Hilary Mantel The story of Countess Irina Bratinsky, née O’Rourke de Breffny, has its roots in the religious wars of 17th-century Ireland and...
At school I was an avid reader of history, including the swashbuckling adventures of the members of the O’Neill, O’Donnell and O’Rourke clans who used the strength of their sword arms to carve out positions of wealth and influence in their adopted homelands in...
The Bratinsky Affair is Jim Loughran’s debut novel. Set in 1976, the thrilling story unfolds through a dual perspective: one is Tom O’Brien, a closeted Irish journalist from Wicklow, seeking the story to prove his ability to his higher-ups, and Irina Bratinsky, a...
Jim Loughran, what first attracted you to the 1930s and beyond? The 1930’s were a turning point. I think back to my own mother who was born in 1911 when the German, Austrian, Russian and Ottoman empires still stood. The Second World War created a definitive break with...
Joseph Cornelius O'Rourke Since I was a teenager three periods of history have obsessed me: French history from Louis XIV to the rise of Napoleon, World War 1 and the collapse of empires and the Russian revolution. I have read endless biographies, memoirs and novels....
