I will say right off the bat that I received this book through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program, and I'm grateful to the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

I will also add that my grasp of Irish history is pretty limited, though that did not impede my enjoyment of the book. The stories were varied enough across genres, and in focus on the women's lives, that it didn't feel dull or repetitive, and I feel like I know more about each of these women, even if I maybe don't have their entire biographies down pat.

My one sort of qualm with the book really (and this may be a cultural thing I'm not in touch with or whatever) but a large number--practically all, if not all--of these stories revolved pretty heavily around these women's relationships to men, especially husbands and brothers. I understand that that may also be a side effect of how these women became famous, but it was odd to read stories of these women and have most of the story really truly be about their brothers or husbands. (We won't touch the Maud Gonne piece because I like totally understand why that part of her life was chosen but also like yikes.)

But overall this is totally approachable and at times really interesting and humanizing set of stories, and I'm glad I know more (or anything!) about these women now. ( )

In Truth and Dare Devlin selects women of Irish history whose accomplishments have been overshadowed or obscured by their male relatives. Rather than a simple biographical sketch she outlines the skeleton of their works and then gives us a novelised segment from their life. Amazingly this works extremely well - by the end of each life you feel that you know more about one of these important women, more importantly you feel you almost know them. Personally I shall be looking out a biography or two as a direct result of this book. Well done Martina Devlin and thank you. ( )