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Heiress, Rebel, Vigilante, Bomber

The Extraordinary Life of Rose Dugdale

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Heiress, Rebel, Vigilante, Bomber

By: Sean O'Driscoll
Narrated by: Gerry O'Brien
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About this listen

Brought to you by penguin.

The astonishing story of the English heiress who devoted her life to the IRA

She grew up in a Chelsea townhouse and on a Devon estate.

She was presented to the Queen at Buckingham Palace as a debutante in 1958.

She trained at Oxford as an academic economist and had a love affair with a female professor (who was on the rebound from Iris Murdoch).

At thirty, she commenced giving her inheritance away to the poor.

In 1972, the deadliest year of the Northern Irish Troubles, she travelled to Ireland and joined the IRA.

Sean O'Driscoll's Heiress, Rebel, Vigilante, Bomber tells the astonishing story of Rose Dugdale, who went on to become a committed terrorist, participating in a major art heist and a bombing raid on a police and army barracks; who kept a pregnancy secret for nine months in prison and gave birth there; and who ended up at the heart of the IRA's bomb-making operation during its deadly final spasms in the 1990s. Heiress, Rebel, Vigilante, Bomber is both the page-turning biography of a remarkable woman and a groundbreaking account of the inner workings of a terrorist organization.

© Sean O'Driscoll 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

 Europe Great Britain Historical True Crime Women Exciting War

Critic Reviews

Fascinating . . . O'Driscoll's research is impressive (Ben Macintyre)
Riveting (Roy Foster)
Generous and well researched (Rosa Lyster)
An absorbing, well-researched and extremely well-written account of a life that almost defies belief (David McCullagh)

Superb . . . an even-handed and thrilling gallop through [Dugdale's] improbable life
Possibly the most extraordinary book you'll read this year
Unputdownable . . . jaw-dropping (Joe Duffy)
It would be hard to overstate how good this book is . . . a fantastic read (Eilis O'Hanlon)
[A] pacey, well-researched book (Frank Coughlin)
Well-researched . . . balanced (Charles Lysaght)
All stars
Most relevant
This biography follows the life of a highly complex and very brave woman who did it ‘her way’ and puts you behind the scenes of the highly secretive Irish Republican movement. The way the country was torn apart is heart-breaking but there is enough hard case humour and old fashioned derring-do to keep you enthralled. I would have liked a bit more analysis into what made Rose tick as a person. The final chapter packed a real punch into the attraction of conflict for some people, that would have been great to have filtered throughout the book (although the focus was on Rory). I wonder if the author ever really understood what drove Rose. The dispassionate recording of events felt balanced and did not glorify or demonise the IRA although the bomb-making was difficult to read knowing the bloody outcome. Rose was a highly complex and extraordinarily brave woman, and the Troubles presented the ideal cause for her massive yearning for social justice. Would highly recommend.

Complex woman in complex times

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