A Terrible Beauty

By Katie Hanrahan

On the voyage to Western Australia, Mary Claire is pressured by Simon Plowman to work for him as a covert spy, but the man who crushed the Fenian uprising in 1867 will inadvertently train her in the art of espionage and deception. She wastes no time in organizing a jail break.
In the U.K., Simon is seen to undermine every important Irish movement. Whether he is manipulating Charles Stuart Parnell or blackmailing Lord Salisbury, he appears to be an agent for the Crown, and when he casts his lot with Edward Carson's Ulster Volunteers, his loyalty goes unquestioned. At the same time, his daughter develops into a radical revolutionary, sneaking around behind her father's back to support the workers during the Dublin Lockout of 1913 and expanding into gun-running for the Citizen Army.
Aware that her mother left a record of her time in Fremantle, Eireann never stops searching, while her father never stops holding her at arm's length. What she perceives as political differences or lack of love is far removed from Simon's real motives. Only when she believes that she may soon face her father across battle lines will Simon introduce her to her parents, and demonstrate just how deceiving appearances can be.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Newcastlewest Books
• Release date: Aug 30, 2011
• ISBN: 9780983819509

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Reviews for A Terrible Beauty

[P. L. O'Sullivan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Convict transportation, a prison break, a revolution...these events are linked in this novel, which follows one Irish family through a tumultuous time. This is the sort of story that grabs your attention and you cannot put it down.