Showing results by author "Jean Grainger" in All Categories

For twenty-one-year-old Grace Fitzgerald, life is finally looking bright. Orphaned as a child and later struck down by polio, she then endured years of cold indifference at the hands of her sister Agnes. Now, with Agnes finally gone, Grace has found love with her handsome young husband and peace surrounded by friends in her home village of Knocknashee and in her ongoing friendship with the American journalist Richard Lewis.

Queensland, Australia, 1936 Sister Claire McAuliffe has been called from Dungarvan, County Waterford, to do God’s work in Jumaaroo, Queensland. Along with four other sisters, she is charged with setting up a Catholic school for the education of the gold rush families. But life between the tropical Australian rainforest and the azure ocean is far from the spectacular paradise it seems. Sister Claire finds life challenging in more ways than she can count—but far more worrying is the constant presence of the much-loved mayor of Jumaaroo, Joseph McGrath.

For eighteen year old Lena O'Sullivan, life is predictable and dull. A future of hard work, marriage to a local boy, and a family of her own one day is all she has to look forward to. People from her background know not to expect too much, but Lena yearns for something different. Malachy Berger was different, for him, the world is at his feet. An only child of a wealthy, if peculiar father, a large inheritance, a beautiful house and a fine education are his due. Nobody is in favour of Lena and Malachy’s friendship, but why not? What harm are they doing? Why is everyone so dead set against it?

The winter of 1942 casts a long shadow over pen-friends Richard and Grace. The world is teetering on the brink of destruction as war consumes continent after continent. When a letter arrives for Grace from a distant land she can scarcely place on a map, it brings news so shocking it reverberates through the entire village, with everyone offering conflicting advice. Meanwhile in bomb-scarred London, Richard is presented with the journalistic opportunity of a lifetime. The potential for career-defining reporting is immense, but so too are the dangers that shadow every step.

Life is calm and fairly predictable. Until something unthinkable happens in our sleepy backwater. A crime, but not like anything I've ever seen before. It's a complete mystery. And it's up to me to solve it.

After years of letters and missed chances, Grace Fitzgerald and American journalist Richard Lewis have at last declared their love and though the world is in the grip of war, their future is bright. But when Richard is shot down over occupied France in 1943, Grace's world shatters. Invited to Savannah for Richard's memorial, Grace finds herself thrust into the rarefied world of his wealthy family—a million miles from her own humble experience.

Kilteegan Bridge, Ireland 1963. On the face of it, life is idyllic for Eli and Lena Kogan. Living in their beautiful house in the Irish countryside, their children are growing up happy and safe surrounded by a loving community. So when a letter arrives one day threatening to shatter their peaceful and prosperous world, Lena and Eli have no option but face the dark reality of their situation. How best to do that, is something that drives a wedge between them.

In 1940, an unlikely friendship bridges the Atlantic. Twenty-year-old Grace Fitzgerald lives in the seemingly peaceful Irish village of Knocknashee, exchanging letters with Richard Lewis, an American war correspondent stationed in London, as World War II engulfs Europe. From their distinct vantage points, Grace and Richard bear witness to a world in turmoil. In Knocknashee, where the conflict is carefully termed "the Emergency," the tight-knit community's unease grows as Ireland's proclaimed neutrality reveals dangerous cracks.

A charming Irish bus driver. A group of disparate American tourists. One life changing week. Take a tour you'll never forget as you navigate the stunning vistas of gorgeous Ireland along with the hearts and minds of a cast of characters who will live with you long after you've finished this audiobook. During a routine tour of Ireland, tour guide Conor O'Shea finds himself on a journey of his own through the lives of his hilarious companions as together they navigate both the Irish countryside and the secrets of their individual lives.

Ireland's neutrality offers little shelter from the war's far-reaching impact, and across the Atlantic, Richard witnesses a nation divided on intervention. Meanwhile, in sleepy Knocknashee, a twelve-year-old mystery surrounding a stolen child resurfaces, shattering long-held beliefs. Fate seems determined to keep Grace and Richard apart, thwarting their plans to meet, and the vast Atlantic is not the only thing separating them.

Carmel, a forty year old Irish woman is living a life that’s fine, not exciting or awful, just fine. She has a house, a husband, it’s all ok. She never had kids, but that’s just life, right? She knows she should be grateful. She’s better off than a lot of people. Then one day, out of the blue, she gets a Facebook message, from a total stranger. With information that could transform her life, for better or for much worse.

As someone raised in an orphanage, Carmel knows she should be grateful for a roof over her head and a respectable family, but she would love nothing more than to escape Birr, Co Offaly and get away from her husband, the monosyllabic Bill and his horrible sister forever. Life as Mrs. Sheehan should be bearable, all she had to do was look after the house and cook Bill’s meals. She didn’t even need to speak to him, in fact, he preferred that she didn't. But, as her fortieth birthday approaches, Carmel knows the change must be now or never.

The opportunity of a lifetime lands in Peter Cullen’s lap and nothing is going to stop him taking full advantage, not even the misgivings of his wife. Cullen’s Celtic Cabaret has been flying high, but the real goal, the secret desire of Peter’s heart, America, is finally, incredibly, looking like a reality. The troupe are not at all prepared for what awaits them in prohibition era Atlantic City and they are dazzled by the bright lights. Keeping discipline and ensuring everyone remains focused drives Peter to the edge of his patience, but he soon realises that this is the least of his problems.

When Cullen’s Celtic Cabaret rolls into a sleepy Irish seaside town, their eccentric and theatrical presence stirs up a flurry of excitement—the public clamouring to buy tickets for the greatest show in Ireland. Set against the backdrop of a relentless war for Ireland’s freedom, the stakes are higher than ever for Peter Cullen and his troupe as they try to stay out of the conflict. But as they soon discover, that’s a luxury nobody can afford. As well as fighting the forces of occupation, some people are using this time of chaos to settle old scores.

Grace Fitzgerald, a fiery-haired dreamer, longs to escape the confines of her windswept Dingle fishing village. Across the Atlantic, Richard Lewis, heir to a Savannah banking fortune, suffocates under the weight of societal expectations he can't quite understand. When their worlds collide through a twist of fate, Grace and Richard uncover a bond so profound it shakes the very foundations of their existence. As Europe inches towards chaos, they find themselves caught in a whirlwind of discovery, challenging everything they thought they knew about themselves and each other.

The Great War is over, and the Roaring Twenties are promising a bright new future. Young people have broken free of the bonds that tied them to propriety and for the members of Cullen’s Celtic Cabaret it’s an exhilarating time to be alive. England offers a world of possibilities, but with audiences desperate to hear them perform, everyone only too happy to put the awful war years behind them, the Irish troupe finds themselves facing their biggest challenge yet.

As long as Carmel stays in London, nothing can happen to shatter her perfect life. She has a wonderful marriage, a rewarding career and a great bunch of friends. As far as she's concerned, the sadness of her past can stay back in Ireland, where it belongs. For Carmel, Ireland only means misery, loneliness and fear and she never wants to return. The new, confident and happy Carmel only exists on the cosmopolitan streets of Britain's capital. If she ever was forced to return, she fears she would revert to the mousey downtrodden woman she once was.

In the quirky Irish town of Ballycarrick, Sergeant Mags Munroe is busy. When Chance Your Arm, an internationally acclaimed showjumper, mysteriously vanishes and a troubled celebrity seeks refuge in a luxury Irish castle, Mags finds herself reluctantly drawn into two high-profile cases.

In the first book, What Once Was True, two families, one of grandeur and one of the working class, navigate the conflicts associated with the looming war ahead. Despite delusions of grandeur, Lord and Lady Kenefick and their adult children live a life of decayed opulence as the money needed to keep such a house and grounds ever dwindles.

Erich Bannon is happy in the small Irish village he has thought of as home since he arrived as a terrified, traumatised seven year old, one of the last Jewish children to escape Berlin in 1939. Now at twenty-three, it feels like all of his friends are drawn to The Promised Land, and he can understand why, but Israel is not for him. One by one, they leave, and Erich is bereft. He feels lost but a chance encounter with an Irish Catholic girl gives him hope.