If you're looking for lighthearted escapism,
a book you can fly through in a few hours, Jeanette
Baker's "Irish Lady" is not for
you. But if you want a book rich in history and
tradition, one painstakingly detailed and full of complex characters,
then "Irish Lady" is a 'must read'! In a style all
her own, Jeanette Baker has woven an intricate tapestry that
combines strands of Contemporary, Historical and Time-Travel
Romances. The lines between the past and the present are so
finely detailed that generations seem as one. Old world traditions
meld with big city demands and are accented with a language
once nearly extinct.
After many years spent building a reputation
as one of London's topnotch barristers, Lady Sutton is summoned
home to Northern Ireland, where Belfast is in turmoil for
political more than religious reasons. Her past collides with
her present and she is forced to become what she fought so
hard to leave when she was Meghann McCarthy. Growing up in
the Falls, she's witnessed the horrors that civil war can
bring, including the deaths of both her parents in what became
known as "Bloody Sunday", and the heartache and
loss families suffered when sons took up the causes of the
IRA for the "Troubles". Meghann dreamed of the day
when she could finally leave the Falls. Now, 15 years later,
she has come back to defend the only man she ever loved, and
come to terms with her past.
Michael Devlin is less that happy with his
mother's choice of representation. It didn't matter that he
was being held a political prisoner in Northern Ireland's
most notorious prison, Long Kesh. And it didn't matter that
he was being held for murder. But it did matter that Meghann
McCarthy had come home after leaving him nearly 15 years before.
He had been so in love with her. They were soulmates, or so
he believed. They had even been talking marriage. But when
it was apparent to Meghann that he intended to devote his
life to the IRA's causes, she'd left him. When he'd learned
of her marriage to a prominent Protestant English Lord it
was nearly his undoing. Michael buried himself in his work
trying to forget her. He fought for the freedom of Northern
Ireland from British rule, earning himself a reputation as
a patriot who fought with his heart and voice rather than
with the destruction that weapons could bring. He was a hero
in Catholic Northern Ireland. Now, as he sat is prison, his
very life dependent on Meghann's ability to free him, he is
forced to face the feelings he once thought were dead and
buried.
"Nuala O'Donnell is an Irish legend.
(From the age of 14) She kept Ulster out of English hands,
long after everyone else had surrendered to Elizabeth Tudor...She
starved along with her people...Survived the loss of ten children...Suffered
the ravages of war...She was the reason the English Queen
found no toehold in the north of Ireland." 400 years
after her foretold death, Nuala shows herself to Meghann,
telling her story through Meghann's dreams. She shows Meghann
that it's O'Donnell blood that runs through her veins and
it will be there that Meghann finds the strength to fight,
not only for Michael's life, but also for the love she now
demands of him.
"Irish Lady" is probably the most
comprehensive, fascinating and touching story I've read to
date. Each page is filled with gripping scenery, twists and
turns in storyline, and intriguing characters. Baker has ingeniously
parallelled two completely separate books in one intensely
rich story that intersects almost seamlessly at just the right
points. Because of the two leading heroines, I was often unsure
at which was *the* Irish lady the title referred to. I would
have been sorely disappointed that the more traditional romantic
elements had been played down had the book as a whole had
not been so intensely satisfying. Baker's unique storytelling
had me right in the middle of a comprehensive history lesson
without realizing it, living and learning along with each
of her characters. "Irish Lady" is guaranteed to
enthrall even the choosiest of readers. I, for one, can't
wait to read this magnificent book again.
