Poolbeg Press Ltd

Kilmainham Gaol opened in 1796, four years before the Act of Union abolished the Irish Parliament in Dublin and replaced it with direct rule from Westminster. It closed in 1924, two years after the signing of the Treaty. Thus the opening and closing of the Gaol more or less coincided with the making and breaking of the Union between Great Britain and Ireland.

James Joyce was born in Dublin in 1881. A brilliant student, he abandoned a career in medicine to pursue his dream of being a writer. After meeting the love of his life, Nora Barnacle, the two left Dublin in 1904 to live on the Continent.