Jane, will live a long life. Born in Galway in 1830, she will be almost eighty-six years old on the 24th April 1916, and she will witness the Proclamation of the Republic.
I read on Wikipedia that this document, the Proclamation, was printed in Liberty Hall on Eden Quay, before the Easter Rising, and that there was a problem with a shortage of type.
Jane Keating, a newspaper woman, is going to have to be there, and also at the GPO on Sackville Street to hear it read out.
My first idea about writing the "Daughters" novels was to cover the period of the Famine, in the mid 1840s. I am now at the point of revising the second novel, "Daughters in Exile". It is almost ready to self-publish, and the third novel, "Home - 1847" is researched and drafted.
I've been thinking about the next topic for a novel, and Jane will provide a link back to the Famine years. She has more to say and do.
In my mind, Jane Keating, this invented character, will live to see at least the Declaration, and maybe even the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922.
The period of 1916 was such a pivotal and dramatic time for both Ireland and Britain: the Proclamation and the mid-way point of the First World War. In fact, it is irresistible to me, as a writer of historical novels.
It might take a while to write, but I like the idea of it. Now, I just need a title.
Refs:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proclamation_of_the_Irish_Republic