Rating: 5 out of 5 stars.Margaret Sullivan dines with politicians, rebels, and spies. She is an admired journalist with the Chicago Tribune publishing under a male nom de plume. Her unscrupulous husband is a prominent attorney and power broker with aspirations of his own. They are well-connected members of Chicago’s 1880s Irish elite.
On her trip to Ireland to do research for a book she is writing, Margaret meets a charming one-armed Irish rebel named Michael and finds herself attracted to him and his ideas for liberating Ireland. While traveling through the stone-walled back roads of the island, Margaret sees for herself how the poor are treated. She breaks her vow never to get involved, and soon questions if she can ever go back to her old superficial life in Chicago again. Overcome with her new found emotions and strong desire to help the poor Irish tenants, Margaret finds herself easily convinced by Mrs. Delia Parnell that women can be just as crucial in the fight for Ireland’s independence as men.
Back home in Chicago Margaret publishes articles hoping to gain support for Michael’s cause. That is until he is arrested. Desperate, she turns to her jealous, devious husband for help...but he has a hidden agenda of his own.
Torn between her career as a journalist and compassion for those overseas, she finds herself trapped by her own aspirations. Soon things spin out of control both at home and abroad, and Margaret has to decide how much she is willing sacrifice for Michael and her love of Ireland.
For The Love of Ireland is a historical novel of love and loyalty, deception and honesty. It is about women fighting against traditional roles and gender prejudice, while trying to carry out humanitarian efforts in Ireland. For The Love of Ireland is a work of fiction woven around actual events of the Irish Land League, a Chicago couple and the covert activities of the Clan na Gael.
(Summary from Goodreads.com)
This is the author's debut novel. I read it in two days and being proud of my Irish heritage, I found myself having a hard time putting it down. It brought to light more of Ireland's history that I didn't know much about. The story of Margaret Sullivan was beautifully written and I can only imagine the trails she must have faced in her day. And because of this book I looked into the lives of all the character mentioned and at the same time had myself a history lesson. My goal now is to find a copy of Mrs. Sullivan's book Ireland of To-day: The Causes and Aims of Irish Agitation. If you like historical fictions with a bit of a love story mixed in then I highly recommend this book to you.
