IRRESISTIBLE: Joelle and the bittersweet saga of the Panama Canal is the second novel in Mirna Pierce's Panama Canal trilogy based on the 34-year history of building one of the SEVEN WONDERS OF THE MODERN WORLD -- THE PANAMA CANAL. IRRESISTIBLE continues the historical saga that began in 1880 with sweeping panaromas in INSEPARABLE, the "Gone with the Wind" of the Americas, about the failures and triumphs that marked the dramatic history of the building of this marvelous engineering feat -- a canal from Atlantic to Pacific -- from 1880 until August of 1914 -- and which even today influences the commerce of the world and the lives of people in many parts of the globe. IRRESISTIBLE begins at the turn of the century. The year is 1901. Two decades have gone by of failures to build the French dream of a canal from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific across Panama. Torn from her lush tropical home on the skirts of Ancon Hill, lovely and aristocratic Joelle Delaville is little more than a French colonial schoolgirl when she is swept into the glitter of Parisian society and into the arms of bold Captain Michael Bainbridge, the man who awakens in her daring desires . . . but refuses to exchange an adventurer's freedom for her innocent hand. Joelle returns brokenhearted to Panama to find her adopted homeland deep in civil war - the Thousand Days War, a war that would bring consequences to bear on the potential of a future canal. Joelle's hope of raising the child born of one night of passion in Paris is crushed when she is abducted and then held hostage by a vengeful rebel leader. Forced to survive in the treacherous hills and jungles of Panama, using all the skills she had learned about nature from her botanist and engineer father, Joelle is sustained only by her belief that the man she loves will leave behind the international political intrigues he's involved in because of a possible future canal in Panama, and find her, save her from the savagery of war and soar with her once more to the thrill of their IRRESISTIBLE love.
About the Author: Mirna Pierce was born and raised on the Isthmus of Panama, though she writes her novels in English. She was educated in the former Canal Zone schools on the Isthmus from the tender age of 5 in kindergarten through graduation from Balboa High School. After university studies in Texas, California, Mississippi and Louisiana in languages and Spanish and French literature, through graduate work, she moved to Europe with her husband and children, and remained there for almost thirty years, returning often to Panama and the United States. This globe trotting existence is reflected in the ease with which she forms the lives and personalities of the varied characters in her novels. This variety of personalities is something to which the author refers as the most important facet of her writing, second only to molding the events in the story so that they elicit strong emotions from the readers even as they subtly learn well-researched history. The author grew up in both Panama itself and in the Canal Zone, learning in this bi-cultural environment so many different ways of looking at life and even at the Panama Canal. Her happy childhood in both places, where nature at that time had remained relatively pristine, taught her to love the tropics, its flora and fauna, something that is strongly reflected in her romantic novels that directly and indirectly teach us rich details about the Panama Canal that were not taught in school. IRRESISTIBLE is no exception.