Never Call It Loving

Hailed by Mary Stewart as "a splendid book," Dorothy Eden's acclaimed biographical novel is both an account of the illicit love affair that scandalized Victorian England and the gripping account of the rise and fall of one of Ireland's greatest political leaders Katharine O'Shea is an unhappily married young mother of three when she meets Charles Stewart Parnell, "the uncrowned king of Ireland." They couldn't be more different. Kitty is from an aristocratic English family. Born in County Wicklow to Protestant gentry, Parnell is a passionate crusader for Ireland's oppressed poor. But their first encounter leaves them both with the certainty that something momentous has occurred. Before long, they're engaged in a forbidden liaison-one that will have profound ramifications for Kitty's personal life and Charles's brilliant political career. As their love affair plays out on the world stage, scandal and a scorned husband's revenge conspire to destroy everything Charles has worked to achieve for the Irish. Set against the tumultuous backdrop of late-nineteenth-century England and Ireland, Dorothy Eden's most ambitious novel weaves a passionate, heartbreaking story of a larger-than-life man and woman whose only crime is falling in love.