Leara’s Lore #21: Irish Historical Fiction

Recently I learned that I write Irish historical fiction. I have been saying I write historical fiction about Irish immigrants in the early 1900s. However, Claran Connolly cleared up what I write by defining Irish historical fiction on his website Connolly Cove. He explains: 

“Historical fiction is a story that takes place during past events but is fictional. Characters can be a mix of fictional personas and real-life notable figures. The main goal of Irish historical fiction is to capture what life was like at the time, the way people interacted, the law, societal classes, relationships and religious beliefs. Historical fiction aims to immerse the reader in the past, allowing them to feel what a person living in that time actually experienced. Through exploration of the past in historical fiction, society can be viewed objectively and issues shared from the past.”

My books are exactly this. I write about past events using fictional characters and researching each fact I include for accuracy. I try to capture what life was like in the early 1900s for Irish immigrants, again based on my research and reading. Included in my books are traditional Irish music, culture, religious events, proverbs, myths, stories, food, newspaper events for the period, and how people interact. 

To write Irish historical fiction, I thought I had to be Irish. My grandfather, born in Virginia, came from parents who had immigrated from Ireland. Again, Connolly cleared the distinction for me. From his article I saw that a writer can be from anywhere but have ties to Ireland and write historical fiction about Ireland with good research and a good story. In a long list of writers who write Irish historical fiction, Connolly included many Americans. 

Heather Terrell in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania received a double degree from Boston University, one from Law School and the other from Art and History. Her stories include mythology (Brigid of Kildare). Kate Horsley, born in Richmond, Virginia in 1952, wrote under her pen name of Alice Horsley Parker (Confessions of a Pagan Nun). Leon Uris wrote about the epic journey of Ireland’s struggle to gain freedom (Trinity). Mary Pat Kelly wrote about the history of Irish Americans, an experience, Connolly says, is a part of Irish history rarely written about (Galway Bay). Morgan Llywelyn supported Irish freedom in her books (Bard, The Horse Goddess, and Lion of Ireland). She received the Exceptional Celtic Woman of the Year in 1999. Nora Roberts with over 200 books to her name, wrote an Irish historical fiction trilogy (Dark Witch, Shadow Spell, and Blood Magick). Robin Maxwell wrote about the Tudor period of Irish history (The Wild Irish). Tomas Flanagan, born in Greenwich, Connecticut, wrote about the downfalls and triumphs of several historical events (The Year of the French, The Tenants of Time, The End of the Hunt).

All of my books have been about an Irish person’s experience as an immigrant until I wrote the fourth book in the series, Remembering Ireland. The fourth book’s protagonist is Irish and is set mostly in County Wexford, Ireland. The story does include Irish immigrants returning for a visit to Ireland from Savannah, Georgia but the main story is about an older Irish man who owns a shipping firm and the challenges he has in making his life work in Wexford, Ireland in 1907. Meeting of the Waters is a book about events that happen in a person’s life that changes everything.

I now know that I write Irish historical fiction.