The Last September

The action is set in County Cork, in southern Ireland, in 1920. Danielstown is a “Big House”, the country home of Sir Richard Naylor and his wife, Lady Myra. The Naylors belong to that class of Anglo-Irish aristocracy known as the Ascendancy, whose way of life – moneyed, graceful, essentially feudal – is coming to an end. The “native” Irish, carrying on the struggle for independence that began with the 1916 Rising, are engaged in a small-scale but murderous battle against the British Army in the form of the “Black and Tans”, a special force, consisting mainly of embittered veterans of the Great War, set up by the British to fight the IRA. The Naylors and their kind maintain a sceptical attitude to the war going on around them, insisting it is no more than the usual shenanigans that the natives have engaged in since time immemorial ; behind the facade of tennis parties and army camp dances, however, all know that the end is approaching.