Clodagh Finn: Great Irish wives, the club with so many overlooked members

O’Brien Press has finally published a non-fiction version of he lives of 10 women overshadowed by their famous husbands

A formidable woman: Matilda Witherington Tone. Picture: National Library of Ireland

I don’t think I will ever be able to walk down Grafton St again without imagining the Romeo and Juliet-style balcony love affair that took place between Irish revolutionary Theobald Wolfe Tone and his soon-to-be wife Martha Witherington.

He later renamed her Matilda and left her behind as he continued his studies abroad, but we’ll come to that. And we’ll come to the fact that this formidable woman once stood in front of Napoleon Bonaparte’s carriage to secure French citizenship for her son.