The Weldons of Tibradden

The story of a house called Clodagh, and the family who made it their home. On the outskirts of Dublin stands an old stone house that has witnessed Ireland's transformation over 150 years. Within its walls, the Weldon women have loved, lost, and survived against the backdrop of a nation fighting for its identity. At the heart of this tale is Faith Weldon, a stubborn, sharp-witted woman who lives long enough to see her world turn upside down and right itself again. From the bloody risings for independence to the quiet battles fought in kitchens and bedrooms, Faith's journey mirrors Ireland's own struggle to define itself. This isn't just another family saga. It's about the spaces between what's said and what's kept silent, about the choices that echo through generations, and about how a house becomes more than just stone and timber. As men march off to revolutions and wars, the Weldon women keep Clodagh standing – sometimes barely, sometimes defiantly. Their triumphs aren't always grand, but they're hard-won and honest. Unflinching, intimate, and shot through with dark Irish humour, 'The Weldons' pulls you into a world where history isn't just something that happens in textbooks but at kitchen tables and on doorsteps.



ANNIE M. P. SMITHSON (1873-1948) was the most successful of all Irish romantic novelists. Her nineteen books, including The Walk of a Queen, Her Irish Heritage, The Marriage of Nurse Harding and The Weldons of Tibradden were all bestsellers, with their wholesome mix of old-fashioned romance, spirited characters and commonsense philosophy.



She was born in Sandymount, Co Dublin, and reared in the strict Unionist tradition. On completion of her training as a nurse in London and Edinburgh, she returned to Dublin and was posted north as a Queen's Nurse in 1901. Here, for the first time, she experienced the divide between Irish Nationalists and Unionists, and it appalled her. She converted to Catholicism at the age of 34 and was subsequently disowned by most of her family. She immersed herself in the Republican movement - actively can­vassing for Sinn Fein in the 1918 General Election, nursing Dubliners during the influenza epidemic of that year, instructing Cumann na mBan on nursing care and tending the wounded of the Civil War in 1922. She was arrested and imprisoned, and threatened to go on hunger-strike unless released.



Forced to resign her commission in the strongly Loyalist Queen's Nurses Committee, she took up private work and tended the poor of Dublin city until she retired in 1942. During her long career, she did much to improve the lot of the nursing profession and championed its cause as Secretary of the Irish Nurses Union.



In later years, she devoted herself to her writing and was an active member of WAAMA, PEN and the Old Dublin Society. Her autobiography, Myself-and Others, was completed in 1944, four years before her death at the age of 75.