I’d agree with this review - read ‘Fanatic Heart’ earlier this year and found it surprisingly dissatisfying: Keneally’s Mitchel is a vacuum lacking psychological depth or indeed any intellectual hinterland and the text leans toward apologetics and sentimentality. Fanatic Heart by Thomas Keneally: unsatisfying story of an Irish freedom fighter turned pro-slavery apologist #JohnMitchel #Keneally

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/review/2023/11/27/fanatic-heart-by-thomas-keneally-the-unsatisfying-story-of-a-irish-freedom-fighter-turned-slavery-apologist/