THE KING AND THE CATHOLICS

THE FIGHT FOR RIGHTS, 1829

ANTONIA FRASER Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 319pp, £25, Oldie price £18.06 inc p&p

Following on from her book about the Great Reform Bill, Fraser has now produced the prequel, as it were, on the subject of the fight for Catholic Emancipation. ‘Fraser, a convert to Catholicism, as well as a descendant of the Anglo-irish Protestant Longfords, tells the story with erudition, sprezzatura and a tremendous sense of fun,’ wrote Dominic Sandbrook in the Sunday

Times. ‘Every page is shot through with humour and humanity. Columns of bloated, bewhiskered bigots fall to Fraser’s skewer, but the many Georgians with rent consciences are handled with great sensitivity. She is excellent on Ireland. She writes beautifully and she includes just the right amount of smut.’

Patrick Geoghegan, history professor at Trinity College Dublin and an expert on Daniel O’connell, the Irish would-be MP who led the campaign of moral suasion, was full of praise for the book in his review in the Irish Times. ‘Writing with a historian’s skill and a novelist’s heart, Fraser shows how O’connell was able to bring the British government to the point where it felt it had no alternative but to concede emancipation, and persuade King George IV to relent on what was a profound issue of conscience for him. What was even more extraordinary in world history, O’connell succeeded in doing this without resorting to force.’ Fraser approaches the subject, wrote Gerard Degroot in the Times, ‘not as one of arid doctrinal debate, but rather as a story, told by an extraordinary cast of characters… Supporting actors included some of Fraser’s ancestors, who were active in the opposition to emancipation. The people make this story.’