From multi-award-winning historical fiction author Ashley E. Sweeney comes a family saga about the Irish immigrant experience spanning New York, Chicago, and Colorado so compelling that, USA Today best-selling author Kelli Estes says, ‘I read this story in one sitting.’
Thirteen-year-old Mary Agnes Coyne, forced from her home in rural Ireland in 1886 after being accused of incest, endures a treacherous voyage across the Atlantic alone to an unknown life in America. From the tenements of New York to the rough alleys of Chicago, Mary Agnes suffers the bitter taste of prejudice for the crime of being poor and Irish.
After moving west to Colorado, Mary Agnes again faces hardships and grapples with heritage, religion, and matters of the heart. Will she ever find a home to call her own? Where?
Genre: Historical
Thirteen-year-old Mary Agnes Coyne, forced from her home in rural Ireland in 1886 after being accused of incest, endures a treacherous voyage across the Atlantic alone to an unknown life in America. From the tenements of New York to the rough alleys of Chicago, Mary Agnes suffers the bitter taste of prejudice for the crime of being poor and Irish.
After moving west to Colorado, Mary Agnes again faces hardships and grapples with heritage, religion, and matters of the heart. Will she ever find a home to call her own? Where?
Genre: Historical
Praise for this book
"The Irish Girl captured me from the very first page! At times both tragic and hopeful, this sweeping literary drama is ultimately a story of perseverance - one to which we can all relate somewhere in our immigrant past. Brimming with rich historical details and beautiful, lilting prose, this addictive book is a delight!" - Michelle Cox
"The Irish Girl is a story of resilience amidst trauma, love amidst loss, self-acceptance amidst rejection. Reminiscent of our immigrant ancestors and the unfathomable hardships they undoubtedly faced, I read this story in one sitting and found myself thinking about this fiercely strong girl long after I finished." - Kelli Estes
"Mary Agnes Coyne will be a girl after your own heart. Though too young, she must leave her village home in County Galway alone, and sail to America. Upon arrival in big cities of the U.S., nothing is easy, as is the case for many Irish in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. But Mary Agnes has gifts: intelligence, clever humor, beauty, a clear sense of self, and Ashley E. Sweeney to exquisitely describe her story of struggle, perseverance, and optimism. Couldn't put it down, and at the end, was left wanting more of The Irish Girl." - Francine Falk-Allen
"The heart-rending story of one young immigrant's search for home blooms into a redemptive and unforgettable tale in the capable hands of Ashley E. Sweeney. She effortlessly balances the harrowing misfortunes of being alone with moments that savor the sweetness of freedom, stitching the universal truths of self-determination and desire for a better life that tie us all together." - Joanne Howard
"Lyrical and powerful, The Irish Girl celebrates the tenacity of the human spirit. A novel to savor, an immersive and moving story of love and courage." - Ginny Kubitz Moyer
"With the spunk of the Irish, Mary Agnes wins your heart from the start. With writing as lush as the Connemara countryside, The Irish Girl is a powerful story of a young woman's discovery of hidden strengths against all odds - a story emblematic of the resilient American emigrant spirit that keeps the love of home country while embracing, wholeheartedly, the new." - Debra Thomas
"The Irish Girl is a story of resilience amidst trauma, love amidst loss, self-acceptance amidst rejection. Reminiscent of our immigrant ancestors and the unfathomable hardships they undoubtedly faced, I read this story in one sitting and found myself thinking about this fiercely strong girl long after I finished." - Kelli Estes
"Mary Agnes Coyne will be a girl after your own heart. Though too young, she must leave her village home in County Galway alone, and sail to America. Upon arrival in big cities of the U.S., nothing is easy, as is the case for many Irish in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. But Mary Agnes has gifts: intelligence, clever humor, beauty, a clear sense of self, and Ashley E. Sweeney to exquisitely describe her story of struggle, perseverance, and optimism. Couldn't put it down, and at the end, was left wanting more of The Irish Girl." - Francine Falk-Allen
"The heart-rending story of one young immigrant's search for home blooms into a redemptive and unforgettable tale in the capable hands of Ashley E. Sweeney. She effortlessly balances the harrowing misfortunes of being alone with moments that savor the sweetness of freedom, stitching the universal truths of self-determination and desire for a better life that tie us all together." - Joanne Howard
"Lyrical and powerful, The Irish Girl celebrates the tenacity of the human spirit. A novel to savor, an immersive and moving story of love and courage." - Ginny Kubitz Moyer
"With the spunk of the Irish, Mary Agnes wins your heart from the start. With writing as lush as the Connemara countryside, The Irish Girl is a powerful story of a young woman's discovery of hidden strengths against all odds - a story emblematic of the resilient American emigrant spirit that keeps the love of home country while embracing, wholeheartedly, the new." - Debra Thomas
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