Wexford Rising aka Boolavogue

Ireland, May 1798. In a land on the brink of rebellion, eighteen-year-old Catherine Corrigan, born in France to an Irish father, arrives in County Wexford. She is quiet, guarded, and grieving the recent death of her mother. Catherine’s father, Vincent, once a fighter in the French Revolution, has returned home to bury his estranged father and start over as a blacksmith. Catherine feels like a stranger in this new country. Raised during the violence of the French Revolution and now surrounded by tension in Ireland, she has no loyalty to either the British Crown or the rebels fighting against it. Her only desire is to find peace, but peace is slipping further out of reach. Vincent inherits his father’s forge, and begins working again. Catherine, isolated and restless, finds herself drawn to the nearby countryside, where she meets twenty three year old Alexander Lacey, a kind and thoughtful young man who hides the fact that he is a soldier in the British Army. Alexander, from a privileged background, was given a military commission he never wanted. He hoped to see the world, but not through bloodshed. His sensitive nature and moral discomfort set him apart from the other soldiers, many of whom view him with suspicion. With Catherine, he finds a chance to be someone else: gentler, more human. As Catherine slowly opens up to him, their connection grows. But their quiet romance is interrupted when Sean Curran, an old friend of Vincent’s and now a rebel leader, visits the forge. Curran asks Vincent to join the United Irishmen, a revolutionary group fighting for Irish independence. Vincent refuses. He has already lost too much and wants nothing more to do with violence. But rebellion is coming whether they want it or not. Soon, Catherine discovers the truth about Alexander: he is a soldier. Feeling betrayed, she pushes him away, furious and heartbroken. Then the war arrives at their door. Colonel Charles Wells, forty six years old and Alexander’s equal in officer rank, is a hardened British officer who has spent years away from his children, fighting for the Empire. He comes to the forge, looking for Curran. Vincent refuses to speak. As punishment, the soldiers burn down the forge and hang Vincent outside his home. Catherine escapes, but when she returns, she finds the body of her father and the ashes of her childhood. Her world, already fragile, is now destroyed. Alexander arrives too late to stop the execution, but just in time to save Catherine from the same fate. Seeing the horror done by his own side, he begins to question everything. Curran, now on the run, turns himself in to protect them, offering his life to buy them time to flee. Now truly alone, Catherine makes her choice. She will not run. She will fight. She and Alexander join Father John Murphy, a Catholic priest who has taken up arms and become a key leader in the Wexford Rebellion. Catherine begins to train as a fighter with Alexander’s help. Her desire for revenge drives her, but as the battle intensifies, so does her understanding of the cause. She is no longer an outsider, she is becoming part of Ireland’s struggle. Curran, captured and imprisoned, is tortured in Wexford Gaol. Once strong and passionate, he is now physically weakened and full of doubt. Though his body is failing, his spirit holds. During a daring rebel attack on Duffy’s Gate in Enniscorthy, he is rescued, but left crippled. Catherine is nearly killed in the escape. Both of them survive, but are deeply changed. They retreat to Vinegar Hill, where rebels prepare for a final, desperate stand. Catherine continues her training, now fully committed to the fight. She is no longer the grieving daughter: she is a soldier. Curran, broken and unable to fight, is overcome with shame and despair. He takes his own life, a quiet tragedy that speaks to the heavy cost of rebellion: not just in lives, but in spirit. The final battle comes at Vinegar Hill. Outnumbered and outgunned, the Irish rebels face a brutal attack by British forces. In the chaos, Catherine comes face to face with Wells, the man who killed her father. Their fight is vicious and personal. Catherine kills him, not just for revenge, but as a symbol of everything she has fought to overcome. But her victory is short-lived. Alexander is mortally wounded while protecting her. In his final moments, they share a quiet goodbye. He dies in her arms, having found purpose in love and sacrifice. Though heartbroken, Catherine refuses to leave the battlefield. She stays with Father Murphy and the surviving rebels to continue fighting, even as the battle is lost. Characters: Catherine begins the story as a grieving, rootless young woman, shaped by the chaos of the French Revolution. She has no political beliefs and wants only to heal. But the death of her father, betrayal, and war force her to grow. Her transformation into a fighter is not driven by speeches or ideology but by loss, love, and survival. In the end, she becomes a symbol of resilience in the face of despair. Colonel Alexander Lacey is a man out of place in his own world. Raised in comfort, he’s given a military role that doesn’t suit him. His gentle nature clashes with the violence around him, and he is seen as weak by his comrades. But through Catherine, he finds strength and clarity. His journey ends in tragedy, but also in redemption. He chooses humanity over loyalty to a cruel system. Colonel Charles Wells is not a villain without depth. He fights for the British Empire, but behind his orders and discipline is a man deeply homesick and emotionally distant from the children he hasn’t seen in years. His choices reflect the cost of empire, not just to the conquered, but to the conquerors themselves. Catherine’s final battle with him is more than personal; it’s symbolic of the larger struggle. Sean Curran is a revolutionary through and through. Devoted to Irish freedom, he has given everything to the cause. But when his body fails him, and his role is reduced to that of a symbol, he loses his will to live. His story reflects the painful truth that not all heroes are able to see the outcome they fight for. His death is quiet but devastating, and serves as a turning point for Catherine. 'Wexford Rising' is a story about grief, transformation, and the cost of resistance. It follows a young woman caught between two cultures and two wars, who must choose whether to retreat from the world or rise to meet it. Through her, we explore what it means to find identity in a land not your own, and how love, loss, and violence shape who we become. This is not a tale of easy victories. It is about fighting even when you know you may lose, and how people can be changed, not by politics, but by the people they love and the pain they endure. The story reflects how rebellion and personal growth are often intertwined, and how in times of great turmoil, even those who begin with no side are forced to find their place.