Sheila Connolly

The Irish Series

This one's so new it doesn't have a name yet, but the first book (also nameless) will be published in February 2013, in time for Saint Patrick's Day.

Nora Donovan=s dying wish was that her granddaughter Maura would visit the town where Nora was born, in County Cork, Ireland. Nora had emigrated with her husband and young son more than half a century before and had never been back: after her husband died there was never enough money even if she=d wanted to go, and she had a son to raise on her own. Then, grown and married, her son died in an work-related accident in Boston, and his wife dumped their child Maura in Nora=s lap and disappeared, leaving Nora to raise her grand-daughter alone.

After Nora dies, Maura is saddened by how little Nora left after a lifetime of hard work, once all the bills are paid and she=s sold the dilapidated Boston three-decker where Nora had housedCand underchargedCa generation of Irish immigrants. But there is just enough for a round-trip plane ticket, and Maura had promised her grandmother, so she books a cheap red-eye flight to Ireland.

Arriving exhaustedCboth emotionally and physicallyCand disoriented, Maura makes her way by bus from the airport to the small town of Leap on the south coast of Cork. Going through her grandmother=s few possessions, Maura had found that Gran had kept in touch with a few people around Leap, so Maura contacts the only one she can identify, Nora's long-time friend Bridget Nolan. Bridget writes back immediately to tell Maura to come ahead, and directs her to stop in at Sullivan=s, a pub in the center of Leap, where someone will meet her. When Maura finally arrives, late on a dark, wet day, she's disappointed: Sullivan=s is smaller and dirtier than she expected, and not at all Maura=s idea of a cozy Irish pub--and there's nobody there to greet her.

My father's parents came from Ireland, and it's a place that I love. Since I can't tell you more about the coming books, I'll give you pretty pictures: