Fanatic Heart book club questions

A retelling of the life and exploits of Irish patriot John Mitchel, with a particular focus on his time in exile on Van Diemen’s Land, Fanatic Heart will captivate readers and make for a lively book club discussion.

Discussion points and questions

• Why are you drawn to historical fiction, and what are the major qualities of successful historical fiction? Do these novels ever lead you to go to the source and read the pertinent non-fiction?
• What responsibility to the original story does an author carry when they choose a real person as the lead actor in their fiction?
• The fabled Irish patriot, John Mitchel, is an extraordinary character. He lived a very large, and complicated life. In his author’s note, Tom Keneally alludes to some of the difficulties of tackling a character whose opinions on subjects as large as enfranchisement and slavery differ greatly from that of the author. How well has he carried that off?
• Jenny Mitchel followed her husband from Ireland to Van Diemen’s Land to North America and back to Ireland. Travelling with a growing family. It is almost impossible to imagine how challenging that must have been. Can you put yourself in her place?
• What do you think of Mitchel’s theory that the farmers of Ireland, who had no access to land ownership or an independent income, were worse off than the slaves of North America?
• It was the liberation of Ireland, an Irish outcome, that drove all of Mitchel’s activities, regardless of which country he was residing in. Is this a fervour you can sympathise with? Does it ameliorate some of his behaviours and beliefs?
• Van Diemen’s Land, for deposited convicts, is described in an almost idyllic way in Fanatic Heart. Does this fit with your former ideas of life for convicts in Van Diemen’s Land?

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