Erin’s Children
Historical Fiction
The Sequel to Kelegeen
BWL Publishing, Inc. (December 1, 2020
Paperback: 412 pages
Synopsis
In 1851 Irish Famine survivor, Meg O’Connor, buys passage to America for her younger sister, Kathleen, and arranges employment for her as a maid. Kathleen’s feisty spirit soon puts her at odds with her employers, the bigoted and predatory Pratts. Driven from their home, Kathleen ends up on a wild adventure taking her to places she could never have imagined.
As a domestic servant in the Worcester, Massachusetts home of the kindly Claprood family, Meg enjoys a life beyond her wildest imaginings. Yet she must keep her marriage to Rory Quinn a secret. Rory, still in Ireland, eagerly awaits the day he will join her. But as the only jobs open to Irish men pay poorly, Rory’s imminent arrival threatens to plunge her back into dire poverty.
On the eve of the Civil War, while America is being rent asunder by the fight over slavery, Irish Catholics wage their own war with the growing anti-immigrant Know Nothing party. Through grave doubts, dangers, and turmoil, Meg and Kathleen must rely on their faith and the resilient bonds of sisterhood to survive and claim their destinies in a new and often hostile land.
Guest Post
How Long Have You Been Writing?
That’s a question I’m often asked in interviews. It’s not easy to answer. I suppose it depends on how one defines writing. Does it mean actually putting words on paper in the form of a story or does it mean the creative process of forming stories in the mind before they ever reach paper or screen?
If it’s the former, then it must have been when I was in junior high school. We had to write a story for an English class. Mine was chosen to be published in the school’s newspaper. Two English teachers pulled me out of another class and brought me to the empty cafeteria to work with me on polishing the story for publication. It was the first time I felt as though there might be something special about my writing. It was a very good feeling.
Throughout high school whenever we had a writing assignment for an essay or short story, mine was almost always the one the teacher would pick to read aloud. In an environment where I often felt invisible (or in some cases, wished I could have been) this was a huge boost to my self-esteem.
I kept writing off and on during and after high school. I started college with the plan of becoming an elementary school teacher, but due to a perfect storm of problems, I dropped out and got a job. But I kept writing. I wasn’t great at it. All the short stories I sent to publications were rejected and with good reason. I also wrote a middle grade novel that never saw the publishing light of day, but I did prove to myself that I could complete an entire novel. I had the imagination and creativity for writing, but I had not yet learned the craft and technique. But I wanted to so I read books on writing and took courses.
In my mid-twenties I went back to college and earned my undergraduate degree in history. History has always been one of my greatest loves. I was thrilled to put that degree to use as a Museum Assistant in the Department of Research, Collections, and Library at Old Sturbridge Village, a living history museum that depicts life in an 1830s New England village. I worked with top-level research historians, museum curators, and costumed interpreters. It was an invaluable experience that would benefit me greatly by teaching me how to do the research necessary for writing historical fiction.
Shortly before I landed the job at Old Sturbridge Village I joined the Worcester Writer’s Workshop. I spent the next several years meeting on a weekly basis with a group of dedicated writers. We wrote together and critiqued each other’s work. That’s where I really learned the craft of writing. I will be forever grateful to the group. It was there that I wrote the first draft of what would become Kelegeen, my debut novel.
If by writing one means the creative process of conjuring stories in the mind, which, of course, is essential as one cannot write a story one has not thought about at least a little, then I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember.
I’ve no idea when it first started, but I can recall spending countless hours imagining all sorts of stories. It seemed to happen naturally. It was never something I purposely decided to do. Often it began with a picture. I’d see a photograph in a magazine, a catalog, a book, wherever and something about it would capture my imagination. Without realizing it, my mind would be begin creating a story around the picture complete with plot and characters. It still happens, but to this day I cannot explain why some images trigger that involuntary daydream response and others do not.
Besides pictures, the place I happened to be at the time might also lead to a “mind story.” This was especially true when I was very young. I remember being in a department store with my parents. They were taking a long time picking out whatever they were there to buy and I was bored. Before I knew it my mind had turned the store into a palace and I was a princess. Invaders were attacking and I had to take charge.
I was often rightly accused of daydreaming in school when I should have been doing my schoolwork. I couldn’t help it. If something I read or saw caught my fancy I’d suddenly become preoccupied with the story taking shape in my mind. It got me into a fair amount of trouble at times. Now I am grateful that I was given the gifts of imagination and creativity. They are part of me for a reason. I’ve made a promise to myself that I will always use them to create, to the best of my ability, stories that my readers will become utterly lost in, that will take them to another time and place, stories they wish would never end.
About the Author
Eileen O’Finlan calls her writing “history with a twist” because she is intrigued by the unusual and little known aspects of history – the stories on history’s margins, the things rarely taught in the classroom. For her, that’s where history really gets fun.
Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, her family moved to Worcester when she was two. Four years later they moved to Holden where Eileen grew up and where she now resides with her 93 year old mother and two cats.
Eileen holds a Bachelor’s degree in history and a Master’s Degree in Pastoral Ministry. She works full time for the Diocese of Worcester and teaches online courses in Catholic studies for the University of Dayton, Ohio. She is proud to say that Pope Francis owns a copy of her debut novel, Kelegeen. Erin’s Children is her second novel and the sequel to her debut novel, Kelegeen.
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Giveaway
For as long as she could remember, Kelly Brady Channick loved making up stories and leaving her listeners/readers on the edge of their seats.
Emma Dakin lives in Gibsons on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. She has over twenty-five trade published books of mystery and adventure for teens and middle-grade children and non-fiction for teens and adults. Her love of the British countryside and villages and her addiction to cozy mysteries now keep her writing about characters who live and work in those villages. She introduces readers to the problems that disturb that idyllic setting.
Victoria Tait is an exciting new author launching her Kenya Kanga Mystery series. She’s drawn on 8 years living in rural Kenya with her family to transport her readers to a world of curiosity, community and conspiracy. The Kenya Kanga Mystery series brings to life the beauty of the Kenyan landscape, the magic of its wildlife, and the warmth of its people.
Melissa Bourbon is the national bestselling author of nineteen mystery books, including the brand new collaborative Book Magic mysteries, the Lola Cruz Mysteries, A Magical Dressmaking Mystery series, and the Bread Shop Mysteries, written as Winnie Archer. She is a former middle school English teacher who gave up the classroom in order to live in her imagination full time. Melissa, a California native who has lived in Texas and Colorado, now calls the southeast home. She hikes, practices yoga, cooks, and is slowly but surely discovering all the great restaurants in the Carolinas. Since four of her five amazing kids are living their lives, scattered throughout the country, her dogs, Bean, the pug, Dobby, the chug, and Jasper, a cattle dog/lab keep her company while she writes. Melissa lives in North Carolina with her educator husband, Carlos, and their youngest son. She is beyond fortunate to be living the life of her dreams.
Lauren Carr is the international best-selling author of the Mac Faraday, Lovers in Crime, Chris Matheson Cold Case, Thorny Rose Mysteries, and the Nikki Bryant Cozy Mysteries—close to thirty titles across five fast-paced mystery series filled with twists and turns!
Hilary Levey Friedman is the author of Here She Is: The Complicated Reign of the Beauty Pageant in America. She is a sociologist at Brown University, where she has taught a popular course titled “Beauty Pageants in American Society.” She is a leading researcher in pageantry, merging her mother’s past experiences as Miss America 1970 with her interests as a glitz- and glamour-loving sometime pageant judge, and a mentor to Miss America 2018. Friedman also serves as the president of the Rhode Island chapter of the National Organization for Women. Her first book, Playing to Win, focused on children’s competitive afterschool activities.
A. R. Kennedy lives in Long Beach, New York, with her two pups. She works hard to put food on the floor for them. As her favorite T-shirt says, ‘I work so my dog can have a better life’. She’s an avid traveler. But don’t worry. While she’s away, her parents dote on their grand-puppies even more than she does. Her writing is a combination of her love of travel, animals, and the journey we all take to find ourselves.
