Tipperary: A Novel of Ireland-Quality Guarantee

Description

“My wooing began in passion, was defined by violence and circumscribed by land; allthese elements molded my soul.” So writes Charles O’Brien, the unforgettable heroof bestselling author Frank Delaney’s extraordinary novel—a sweeping epic ofobsession, profound devotion, and compelling history involving a turbulent era thatwould shape modern Ireland.

Born into a respected Irish-Anglo family in 1860, Charlesloves his native land and its long-suffering but irrepressible people. As a healer,he travels the countryside dispensing traditional cures while soaking up storiesand legends of bygone times–and witnessing the painful, often violent birth of land-reformmeasures destined to lead to Irish independence.

At the age of forty, summoned toParis to treat his dying countryman–the infamous Oscar Wilde–Charles experiencesthe fateful moment of his life. In a chance encounter with a beautiful and determinedyoung Englishwoman, eighteen-year-old April Burke, he is instantly and passionatelysmitten–but callously rejected. Vowing to improve himself, Charles returns to Ireland,where he undertakes the preservation of the great and abandoned estate of Tipperary,in whose shadow he has lived his whole life–and which, he discovers, may belong toApril and her father.

As Charles pursues his obsession, he writes the “History”of his own life and country. While doing so, he meets the great figures of the day,including Charles Parnell, William Butler Yeats, and George Bernard Shaw. And healso falls victim to less well-known characters–who prove far more dangerous. Tipperary also features a second “historian:” a present-day commentator, a retired and obscurehistory teacher who suddenly discovers that he has much at stake in the telling ofCharles’s story.

In this gloriously absorbing and utterly satisfying novel, a man’ s passion for the woman he loves is twinned with his country’s emergence as a storytelling as sweeping and dramatic as the land itself, myth, fact, and fictionare all woven together with the power of the great nineteenth-century novelists.Tipperary once again proves Frank Delaney’s unrivaled mastery at bringing Irish historyto life.

Praise for Tipperary

“The narrative moves swiftly andsurely. . . . A sort of Irish Gone With the Wind, marked by sly humor, historical awarenessand plenty of staying power.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Another meticulously researchedjourney…Delaney’s careful scholarship and compelling storytelling bring it uniquelyalive. Highly recommended.”
—Library Journal (starred)