The Scrap - Softcover

"Brilliant." (Sunday Independent)

"One of the most remarkable and enjoyable books that has been written about the Easter Rising in recent times . . . This stunning narrative . . a real page-turner that captures the pathos and patriotism of 1916." (Dr. Brian Murphy Irish Independent)

"The best history book I read was Gene Kerrigan's The Scrap . . as brilliantly paced as one of his thrillers." (Colm Toibin The Books of 2015, Irish Times)

"Essential reading . . . his mastery lies in the telling detail . . . with his novelist's eye and democratic insistence on every character being afforded equal weight, Kerrigan directly brings us into the terrifying mayhem facing a group of ordinary volunteers during a week that left a city in flames." (Dermot Bolger Irish Times)

"A monumental account of the Easter Rising." (Kim Bielenberg Irish Independent)

In the last hours of the 1916 Easter Rising, 20-year old Charlie Saurin came face to face with his Commander-in-Chief, Patrick Pearse.

In a final gamble, Pearse had a desperate plan to save the collapsing rebellion.

It required the sacrifice of Saurin and his comrades.

The Scrap is the true story of the rising, from first-hand evidence, as seen by one rebel unit - F Company, 2nd Battalion - following them from the first skirmish in Fairview to the inferno of the GPO.

Told in the context of some of the major events of that week, the story of F Company brings alive the excitement, the humour, the horror and the contradictions of that decisive moment in the creation of the Irish state.