Gracelin O'Malley Trilogy

Set during Ireland's devastating potato famine, a spellbinding novel of a young woman torn between love for her family and duty to her English husband. Patrick O'Malley names his newborn daughter Gracelin for the light of the sea that shines in her eyes. But when young Gracelin is only six years old, her mother's untimely death drains joy and laughter from the O'Malley clan. At fifteen, Gracelin saves her family from financial ruin by marrying Bram Donnelly, the son of a wealthy English landowner. But, even though Gracelin is Protestant, she is snubbed by English high society for marrying above her station. To temporarily appease her husband's cruel nature, she intends to provide him with an heir-but that, too, will end in sorrow. As famine sweeps Ireland, Gracelin openly defies her husband by feeding the desperate souls who come to their door. In secret, she also sides with the rebels who call themselves the Young Irelanders. Led by Morgan McDonagh and joined by Gracelin's beloved brother, Sean, the Irelanders are determined to fight and free their homeland from the yoke of English rule.

An Irish mother must flee her beloved homeland for a new life in America, in the "gripping" second novel of the acclaimed historical trilogy (Publishers Weekly). Forced to flee Ireland, Gracelin O'Malley boards a coffin ship bound for America, taking her young daughter with her on the arduous transatlantic voyage. In New York, Gracelin struggles to adapt to a strange new world and to the harsh realities of immigrant life in a city teeming with crime, corruption, and anti-Irish prejudice. As she tries to make a life for herself and her daughter, she reunites with her brother, Sean . . . and a man she thought she'd never see again. When her friendship with a runaway slave sweeps her into the volatile abolitionist movement, Gracelin gains entrée to the drawing rooms of the wealthy and powerful. Still, the injustice all around her threatens the future of those she loves, and once again, she must do the unthinkable. This sweeping novel of the Irish immigrant experience in 1840s America brings a long-ago world to vibrant life and continues a remarkable heroine's bold, dramatic journey through extraordinary times.