The silence of Barbara Synge' provides a fascinating companion volume to Bill McCormack's acclaimed 'Fool of the family' (2000), a biography of the playwright J.M. Synge (1871-1909). Taking the alledged death of Mrs John Hatch (n e Synge) in 1767 as a focal point, this book explores the varied strands of the Synge family tree in eighteenth and nineteenth century Ireland. Key events in the family's history are carefully documented, including...