Trapped in a loveless marriage to the cruel local English landlord, Gracelin O'Malley becomes caught up in the political unrest that sweeps across Ireland in the wake of a devastating famine, risking everything to aid the desperate and starving people and harboring Irish rebels, including her own brother. Original.
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. A vivid chronicle of nineteenth-century Ireland, the first volume of Ann Moore’s popular trilogy introduces a courageous young heroine and movingly portrays an indomitable people as they struggle to survive the infamous famine and the brutal civil war that arrived in its wake. Fans of gripping historical fiction will love this “epic saga that sweeps you into the life of a remarkable woman” (Romantic Times).
This “elegantly written” trilogy follows an unforgettable Irish heroine from the potato famine through immigrating to America (Eileen Goudge). “An epic saga that sweeps you into the life of a remarkable woman,” Ann Moore’s trilogy of breathtaking historical novels covers Gracelin O’Malley’s life from the 1845 Famine and the Young Ireland movement to the mass emigration to America, culminating in the wild frontier of 1850s California (Romantic Times). Through it all, Gracelin’s indomitable spirit and Moore’s “vivid historical detail” prove most hauntingly memorable (Kirkus Reviews). Gracelin O’Malley: As the potato famine devastates Ireland, Gracelin openly defies her English husband by feeding the desperate souls who come to their door, and secretly sides with the rebels who call themselves the Young Irelanders—including her beloved brother, Sean—as they fight to free their homeland from the yoke of English rule. “Lyrical, pitch-perfect prose . . . Historical fiction at its finest.” —Publishers Weekly Leaving Ireland: Forced to flee Ireland, Gracelin takes her young daughter with her on an arduous transatlantic voyage to New York City. As she tries to make a new life for herself and her daughter, she reunites with her brother and befriends a runaway slave, getting swept up into the volatile abolitionist movement. “Moore blends romance and adventure. . . . Strong and likable characters and a well-paced story will make readers look forward to Gracelin’s next appearance.” —Booklist ’Til Morning Light: With her two children, Gracelin travels to post–Gold Rush San Francisco to meet the sea captain who has proposed to her. But when she arrives, he is nowhere to be found. Although destitute in a dangerous city, Gracelin vows to make a secure life for her children and find her brother. “Readers who have been following the story of Gracelin O’Malley will be thrilled with the concluding volume in Moore’s trilogy.” —Booklist
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.
An Irish mother faces her destiny in California as the acclaimed trilogy comes to an end—“a vibrant picture of American history in the mid-19th century” (Historical Novel Society). With her two children, Gracelin O’Malley travels to post–Gold Rush San Francisco to meet the sea captain who has proposed marriage to her. But when she arrives, he is nowhere to be found. Destitute in a city filled with gangs, disillusioned soldiers, and professional gamblers, Grace takes a position as a cook for one of the city’s most prominent doctors—only to become caught up in a tangled web of blackmail and betrayal. Determined to make a secure life for her children and find her brother, Sean, Gracelin sets in motion a series of events that change the future of everyone around her, never dreaming that the man she thought she’d lost forever is still alive and determined to find his way back to her. Dickensian in scope, with a full cast of riveting characters, Ann Moore’s ’Til Morning Light is the stunning conclusion to the enthralling story of Gracelin O’Malley, a heroine for the ages.
"Grace O'Malley, Princess and Pirate" by Robert Machray O'Malley was chieftain of the Ó Máille clan in the west of Ireland, following in the footsteps of her father Eoghan Dubhdara Ó Máille. She was well-educated and was regarded by contemporaries as being exceptionally formidable and competent. Upon her father's death she inherited his large shipping and trading business. This book recounts her fascinating life story.
This award-winning book for reluctant readers is a fascinating collection of remarkable deaths--and not for the faint of heart. Over the course of history, men and women have lived and died. In fact, getting sick and dying can be a big, ugly mess--especially before the modern medical care that we all enjoy today. From King Tut's ancient autopsy to Albert Einstein's great brain escape, How They Croaked contains all the gory details of the awful ends of nineteen awfully famous people. Don't miss the companion, How They Choked!
In 1846 a baby girl is born to a young Irish fisherman and his wife. It is the second year of the Great Hunger and the young couple choose to remain in Ireland, while family and friends are leaving. Their story takes place in the fishing village of Blackrock, Dundalk but with the cities of Liverpool and Sunderland playing a critical part in their lives. Is their love for each other and their homeland enough to sustain them, or will they be forced to join the one and a half million who emigrate? This is the story of a young man's love for his wife and child and the struggle to provide for his family in one of the darkest periods of Ireland's history.
Fans of Katherine Applegate and Erin Entrada Kelly will love this quirky story of a determined girl, and some extraordinary chickens. Twelve-year-old Sophie Brown feels like a fish out of water when she and her parents move from Los Angeles to the farm they’ve inherited from a great-uncle. But farm life gets more interesting when a cranky chicken appears and Sophie discovers the hen can move objects with the power of her little chicken brain: jam jars, the latch to her henhouse, the entire henhouse.... And then more of her great-uncle’s unusual chickens come home to roost. Determined, resourceful Sophie learns to care for her flock, earning money for chicken feed, collecting eggs. But when a respected local farmer tries to steal them, Sophie must find a way to keep them (and their superpowers) safe. Told in letters to Sophie’s abuela, quizzes, a chicken-care correspondence course, to-do lists, and more, Unusual Chickens is a quirky, clucky classic in the making.
"In 1865, Goldie O'Neill was nine years of age when she trekked across the unclaimed American West with her family to form their own Irish catholic Colony. Their new community had dreams of self-governance and prosperity far removed from the anti-Irish sentiment and prejudice of the ruling classes. They soon learned about the extremes of the American West and the ongoing Indian war. A year after their arrival, Goldie blames herself for her sister's disappearance. She forms an unlikely friendship with a Lakota Indian boy who promises to help with her life-long quest to find her sister. In the intervening years, as their community flourishes and a new prejudice surfaces, her sister's disappearance ebbs away for everyone except Goldie. 1937, Lucy O'Neill was adopted by her aunt, Goldie O'Neill. When she learns that her father, Lorcan O'Neill, has returned to the small town in the Midwest after a thirty-year absence, she returns to meet him. Aware of the silence that surrounds his name and the reluctance of her family to reveal the real story, Lucy delves into the past to find a story far removed from the account her aunt had told her." -- amazon.com