Described by W. B. Yeats as “the nearest approach they have to a true poet,” Susan Mitchell (1866–1926) was an active and valued member of Dublin society. Originally from Carrick-on-Shannon and raised by Unionist aunts in Dublin, she rebelled against privileged society and the Protestant Church in which she was raised. By a trick of fate, Mitchell exchanged her life as a gentlewoman in provincial Ireland for that of a journalist working on progressive publications in Dublin, where she gained a reputation for lampooning contemporary politics and the literary world. Pyle provides readers a glimpse of her satirical commentary and singular perspective on Dublin’s tumultuous years.
December 2021