Showing results by author "Jean Grainger" in All Categories

In the first book, What Once Was True, two families, one of grandeur and one of the working class, navigate the conflicts associated with the looming war ahead. Despite delusions of grandeur, Lord and Lady Kenefick and their adult children live a life of decayed opulence as the money needed to keep such a house and grounds ever dwindles.

As the dark clouds of war finally begin to break, Grace Fitzgerald and Richard Lewis glimpse the possibility of a future together after years of turmoil. Their hard-won love has withstood so much already. Now, as the Allies launch their final assault on the European continent—determined to rid the world of Nazi terror at whatever cost—Grace must say goodbye once again. Richard has a dual mission: to witness and report on the invasion that will decide the world’s fate, and to fulfil a promise to find someone who vanished without a trace.

Erich Bannon is happy in the small Irish village he has thought of as home since he arrived as a terrified, traumatised seven year old, one of the last Jewish children to escape Berlin in 1939. Now at twenty-three, it feels like all of his friends are drawn to The Promised Land, and he can understand why, but Israel is not for him. One by one, they leave, and Erich is bereft. He feels lost but a chance encounter with an Irish Catholic girl gives him hope.

Carmel, a forty year old Irish woman is living a life that’s fine, not exciting or awful, just fine. She has a house, a husband, it’s all ok. She never had kids, but that’s just life, right? She knows she should be grateful. She’s better off than a lot of people. Then one day, out of the blue, she gets a Facebook message, from a total stranger. With information that could transform her life, for better or for much worse.

Grace Fitzgerald, a fiery-haired dreamer, longs to escape the confines of her windswept Dingle fishing village. Across the Atlantic, Richard Lewis, heir to a Savannah banking fortune, suffocates under the weight of societal expectations he can't quite understand. When their worlds collide through a twist of fate, Grace and Richard uncover a bond so profound it shakes the very foundations of their existence. As Europe inches towards chaos, they find themselves caught in a whirlwind of discovery, challenging everything they thought they knew about themselves and each other.

Liesl and Erich have found a home in Ireland away from the chaos of war-ravaged Europe. As the dark news of what has happened to the Jews filters through, they are torn—love for their mother and their home on one hand, and the profound sense of peace and belonging they have in Ballycreggan on the other. Like all of the other children who escaped Nazi territory on the Kindertransport, they must wait to hear the fate of their loved ones.

Liesl Bannon has never felt like she was truly at home anywhere, not since her mother placed her and her brother Erich on the last Kindertransport out of Berlin in 1939. She’d been so much more fortunate than most Jews, saved from the horrors of the Nazi regime. Being adopted by Elizabeth and Daniel Lieber meant she and Erich spent the war in Northern Ireland, safe and loved, but Liesl always knew something was missing. When an opportunity to return to Berlin to represent her university presents itself, she is so torn.

For eighteen year old Lena O'Sullivan, life is predictable and dull. A future of hard work, marriage to a local boy, and a family of her own one day is all she has to look forward to. People from her background know not to expect too much, but Lena yearns for something different. Malachy Berger was different, for him, the world is at his feet. An only child of a wealthy, if peculiar father, a large inheritance, a beautiful house and a fine education are his due. Nobody is in favour of Lena and Malachy’s friendship, but why not? What harm are they doing? Why is everyone so dead set against it?

The winter of 1942 casts a long shadow over pen-friends Richard and Grace. The world is teetering on the brink of destruction as war consumes continent after continent. When a letter arrives for Grace from a distant land she can scarcely place on a map, it brings news so shocking it reverberates through the entire village, with everyone offering conflicting advice. Meanwhile in bomb-scarred London, Richard is presented with the journalistic opportunity of a lifetime. The potential for career-defining reporting is immense, but so too are the dangers that shadow every step.

Robinswood, Co. Waterford, 1939. The once grand house is home to two very different families. Despite delusions of grandeur, Lord and Lady Kenefick and their adult children live a life of decayed opulence as the money needed to keep such a large house and grounds ever dwindles. Meanwhile, the Murphy family, Dermot, Isabella and their three almost grown-up girls, live and work on the estate and do their best to keep everything running smoothly.

Dublin, Ireland 1915. Eighteen-year-old May Gallagher is beautiful but restless, and longs for the freedom to live her own life, to decide her own destiny. Mollycoddled as the only remaining child of middle-class parents in the suburbs, she sneaks out to the theatre when she can. She is mesmerised by the captivating actor Peter Cullen, and wishes she could enjoy a more bohemian life. The Great War is taking all the boys away, and the promise that it will all be over by Christmas is ringing more hollow with each passing month.

After years of letters and missed chances, Grace Fitzgerald and American journalist Richard Lewis have at last declared their love and though the world is in the grip of war, their future is bright. But when Richard is shot down over occupied France in 1943, Grace's world shatters. Invited to Savannah for Richard's memorial, Grace finds herself thrust into the rarefied world of his wealthy family—a million miles from her own humble experience.

When her husband doesn’t come home one day, Ariella realises that the only way she can ensure her Jewish children’s safety is to avail of the Kindertransport, but can she bear to let them go? A thousand miles away, Elizabeth Klein has closed herself off from the world. Losing her husband on the last day of the Great War, and her child months later, she cannot, will not, love again. It hurts too much. But she is all Liesl and Erich Bannon have.

Life is calm and fairly predictable. Until something unthinkable happens in our sleepy backwater. A crime, but not like anything I've ever seen before. It's a complete mystery. And it's up to me to solve it.

Years of neglect and abandonment have left the family seat of the Keneficks almost derelict, but the new Lord Kenefick and his charming young wife Kate are determined to breathe life into the old house once more. The war is over, and they have survived, so now they must set about making a bright future for themselves and their family. But the shadows of the past are ever lurking, and there are many who are not willing to see the new Lady Kenefick as anything more than the housekeeper's daughter.

A charming Irish bus driver. A group of disparate American tourists. One life changing week. Take a tour you'll never forget as you navigate the stunning vistas of gorgeous Ireland along with the hearts and minds of a cast of characters who will live with you long after you've finished this audiobook. During a routine tour of Ireland, tour guide Conor O'Shea finds himself on a journey of his own through the lives of his hilarious companions as together they navigate both the Irish countryside and the secrets of their individual lives.

Ireland's neutrality offers little shelter from the war's far-reaching impact, and across the Atlantic, Richard witnesses a nation divided on intervention. Meanwhile, in sleepy Knocknashee, a twelve-year-old mystery surrounding a stolen child resurfaces, shattering long-held beliefs. Fate seems determined to keep Grace and Richard apart, thwarting their plans to meet, and the vast Atlantic is not the only thing separating them.

Lena Kogan is thrilled when her son Emmet invites her to the opening of his first building in San Francisco. It’s awkward that she will be staying with Emmet’s father Malachy Berger, but he’s in a serious relationship now, and anyway, he knows how Lena feels about Eli, so surely they can just be friends. Her sister Emily, is less adventurous. She's happy to stay at home with her family and a thriving business, that is until her daughter Nellie drops another bombshell on her about what she plans to do next. A move nobody could have anticipated and few support.

When Cullen’s Celtic Cabaret rolls into a sleepy Irish seaside town, their eccentric and theatrical presence stirs up a flurry of excitement—the public clamouring to buy tickets for the greatest show in Ireland. Set against the backdrop of a relentless war for Ireland’s freedom, the stakes are higher than ever for Peter Cullen and his troupe as they try to stay out of the conflict. But as they soon discover, that’s a luxury nobody can afford. As well as fighting the forces of occupation, some people are using this time of chaos to settle old scores.

The Great War is over, and the Roaring Twenties are promising a bright new future. Young people have broken free of the bonds that tied them to propriety and for the members of Cullen’s Celtic Cabaret it’s an exhilarating time to be alive. England offers a world of possibilities, but with audiences desperate to hear them perform, everyone only too happy to put the awful war years behind them, the Irish troupe finds themselves facing their biggest challenge yet.