An Irish Wife: A Novel

The business of coal dramatically transforms life in the bucolic Pennsylvania valley Harry Robinson’s family has called home for generations. Ambitious industrialists reap huge windfalls and Europe’s laborers flock to America’s shores to seek their fortunes. Cultures mix and clash and all too often erupt. When Harry meets Niamh, the newly arrived bride of an Irish miner, he begins to realize the extent of the prejudices that stalk the local immigrants. As he undertakes the job of tutoring her younger brother, a bond begins to grow between Harry and Niamh, and he finds himself falling in love for the first time. When Niamh shows up one day bloodied and bruised, Harry is determined to take her away, despite her religious scruples and the disapproval of his family. Still, he tells himself that love is all that matters. But a disaster in the mine changes everything, offering Harry hope and Niamh heartbreak. And both young lovers must ask themselves: Is love enough?

Through Niamh and Patrick, Harry begins to realize the extent of the prejudices that stalk Irish Catholics and all immigrants. When Niamh’s husband beats her and she escapes, Harry is determined to take her away, though it means overcoming her religious scruples and the disapproval of his family. But Niamh and her brother disappear.