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, 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 in America 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 for 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 discrimination during the 1880s. 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.
About the Author: Judy Leslie has studied both literary and popular fiction at the University of Washington. For The Love of Ireland is her debut novel. Inspired by her days as owner of an antique shop in the historical town of Bellingham, Washington, she decided to focus her writing on historical fiction.
She discovered that throughout history people held onto a variety items just for sentimental reasons: a lock of hair or a ribbon from a loved one, even old lace and hat pins. That's how she came up with the idea of having Margaret collect buttons in her novel For the Love of Ireland.
Surrounding herself with antiques also moved her to think about women and how far they had come, as well as all the unsung female heroes who had risked their lives, so she could enjoy the freedoms that she does now. She wrote For the Love of Ireland about the life of one these women, Margaret Sullivan the unknown woman journalist behind many popular articles in the New York Times and Chicago Tribune during the 1880s.
Judy believes that today women are still wrestling with the same issues of finding love, happiness and meaning in the world, just as their great-grandmothers did over a hundred years ago.
To learn more about Judy Leslie and the characters in her story go to her website at www.for-the-love-of-ireland.com.
