THE LIFE OF DANIEL O’BEEVE

He was born into a world that was so emotionally cold that it would be a miracle if he merely survived, with no real chance of living and growing and blossoming into a vital human being.

Thirty-six generations of his ancestors had been crushed by the jackboot of an invading empire.  They were treated like dirt.  Robbed of their humanity.  Consigned to the dustbins of history as a margin note; and an unflattering one at that.

But against all the odds, the empire was driven out, only to be replaced by a group of broken gombeen men; products of too much denigration and dehumanization to be able to restored the human soul of old Ireland.  They were joined in ‘power’ by a feudal religion which favoured ignorance over knowledge.

Daniel was born into this mess, among the lowest classes of that screwed up society.  He was not to expect anything. He should adapt and conform to the crushing deflation to which he was subjected from the beginning of his life. https://abc-counselling.org/jim-byrnes-autobiographical-novel/