Can we ever remake the past that made us? When Jo Devereux returns to Ireland after an absence of 20 years, the last person she expects to meet at her mother's funeral is Rory O'Donovan. The bitter conflict between her family and his, full of secrets and silences, poisoned their childhood. Now she's back in village where they both grew up, he's urging her to stay and, to her own surprise, she's tempted. Because of him? Because her life in San Francisco is such a disaster since her friend Richard died? Or because she always swore she'd write a book about it all. So Jo settles into a shed near the beach and embarks on a quest, uncovering astonishing truths about her mother and grandmother and women's role in the conflict known as "The War of The Brothers," the Irish Civil War of 1922. And also about a killing with consequences that have ricocheted through four generations. Now Rory, mired in an unhappy marriage, is urging her to rebel again but reading her family history has made Jo cautious. "Rebellion has an energy that sweeps people up," she tells him, "but what happens after the rising?" Will her exhumation of the past provide the answers she so desperately needs? AFTER THE RISING was Orna Ross's debut novel. An instant bestseller and universally acclaimed, it has now been reissued by the author.