Excerpt – Yankeeland by Lacy Fewer
Synopsis
Fiercely independent and passionate, Brigid feels hindered by her family and the strict society of her small Irish town in the early 1900s.
Brigid and her cousin Molly, who is more like a sister, dream of a new life in the seemingly unlimited land of opportunity they call Yankeeland—America. Brigid gets her chance when she emigrates with her husband Ben and her brother James, while Molly stays in Ireland.
But when Brigid’s quest to have a child leads her to seek unconventional help, her mental stability is questioned. She is soon caught up in a patriarchal medical establishment she has little power to fight. The new life in America Brigid dreamed about takes a drastic turn.
Decades later Brigid’s grandniece discovers a sack full of letters between the two cousins. She unravels the story and vows to tell the tale of what really happened to Brigid in Yankeeland.
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Excerpt
I’ll never know why fate handpicked me that beautiful midweek East Coast morning. Sitting on the floor, two large black sacks sat by my side. I was told I could do as I wished with them, as they had brought nothing but sadness to the previous finder.
The bags, you see, held their story.
Closing my eyes, inhaling the smells of the past, I smiled as they enveloped me.
I had always carried a passion for a story; no doubt the lure was the escapism. A great lover of history, I held a particular fascination with my own. With each envelope their lives shed their shadows, their truth no longer needing to hide.
The “To whom it may concern” from the parish priest in Ireland attesting to their character. The agent’s receipt for the first-class passage aboard the Lusitania, postcards from across Europe, the travels of a chaperone. Snapshots of somber, gray, distinguished, and disheveled-looking people. Picture cards of famous Hollywood stars, letters from attorneys, doctors’ reports, state of California police testimonies. Bundle after bundle, so carefully preserved.
Time stood still as I sat on the basement floor watching the purposeful feet of the passersby as they rushed about their day through the small casement windows that ran along the top of the wall.
The beams of the sun caught the dust of the past.
I had never been in a basement office. I had never been in a Brownstone. Warm, comforting mahogany furniture was placed thoughtfully throughout the main floor, heavy Irish lace curtains dressing the windows and tables. A Waterford crystal chandelier hung in pride of place above the dining table, a wedding gift from Ireland. A staircase that went up and then down again dominated the center of the home, an ornate lamp on the post of the banister. It all seemed like a grand hotel.
I took the obligatory photographs; it would not do to arrive home without pictures of this home few had visited before me.
Cosseted in the coziness of the basement, I sat on the floor, the contents of the bags spread across the checkered carpet. I was in my happy place. Lost in their story—my story. Piecing it all together with each envelope, discovering the people and the places. I was humbled and ecstatic that it was I who was seeing some of these letters for the first time since they had been penned.
I was undeterred by his mumbling. “All that stuff. Don’t know why she ever kept it.” I just thanked every lucky star that she had. But these papers led to so many questions: who had been the chaperone to young Lady Doyne? Who was “fond cousin Molly”? Why had James disappeared?
I sensed an uncomfortable familiarity catching me unawares as I opened and read the letters written and sealed all those years ago, some of which were never posted, never sent to fond cousin Molly. What had happened?
The generations of pain overwhelmed me.
A pain that was familiar.
I grieved for a life lived of the unspoken word.
That is just how it was.
About the Author
Lacy Fewer is a native of Dublin, Ireland. A graduate of University College Dublin, she has enjoyed a career in banking and finance. Following her passion for storytelling, she has shifted her focus to writing. Yankeeland is her debut novel and was inspired by the discovery of her grandaunt’s letters, which haunted her. She lives in Dublin with her husband and children.
