Date Published: December 10, 2024 (Paperback) / March 11, 2025 (Audiobook)
Publisher: She Writes Press/Tantor Media
Narrator: Aoife McMahon
Run Time: 9 hours and 39 minutes
Thirteen-year-old Mary Agnes Coyne, forced from her home in rural Ireland in 1886 after being accused of incest, endures a treacherous voyage across the Atlantic alone to an unknown life in America. From the tenements of New York to the rough alleys of Chicago, Mary Agnes suffers the bitter taste of prejudice for the crime of being poor and Irish.
After moving west to Colorado, Mary Agnes again faces hardships and grapples with heritage, religion, and matters of the heart. Will she ever find a home to call her own? Where?
AES: The Irish Girl chronicles the life of my great-grandmother, Mary Agnes Coyne, as she travels alone from rural western Ireland to America in 1886. Young, naΓ―ve, and inexperienced, Mary Agnes navigates an arduous sea journey, tenements of New York, train passage to Chicago, and the scorn of employers for being poor and Irish. After she finds love, tragedy strikes, and she is forced to carve out a new life for herself in the American West. Currently under contract for foreign rights, and already an audiobook, The Irish Girl continues to touch readers through its message of indomitable hope even under the gravest of circumstances.
When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
AES: In 6th grade I told my teacher I was writing a novel. Ha! All ten pages of it! From that time to the present, I’ve never been out of the world of words, first as a journalist, then as an English teacher and GED instructor, and now as a novelist.
Have you published any previous books?
AES: Yes, The Irish Girl is my fourth novel. My previous novels include Eliza Waite (2016), the story of a disenfranchised widow who reinvents herself during the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898; Answer Creek: A Novel of The Donner Party (2020); and Hardland (2022), the story of a quick-witted sharp-shooter who kills her abusive husband to save her sons in early 20th century Arizona Territory. To date, the titles have won 20 literary awards, including the Nancy Pearl Book Award.
What can we expect to see from you in the future, any books on the backburner?
AES: So many ideas, so little time! At present, I am working on a braided novel told from three points of view at an elite boarding school for girls in the mid-1930s in the Desert Southwest, due to be completed in mid 2026. After that, I have four ideas burbling in the background . . .
What do you like to do when you're not writing?
AES: Gardening, reading, traveling, art quilting, mosaic.
Did you learn anything from writing your book? What was it?
AES: This answer could take volumes to answer! The most challenging task for me as a novelist has been writing believable and captivating dialogue. As a former journalist, who could only report quotes verbatim, learning the art of dialogue has been the most challenging. I hope to think I’ve improved in this area since my early novel-writing days.
Some writers have something playing in the background, do you and what?
AES: Yes, I listen to a variety of classical, blues, and jazz, as well as movie soundtracks, anything without words.
Tell us a little about yourself. Perhaps something not many people know about?
AES: I’m a native New Yorker, and proud of it. When I think of summers growing up on Long Island in the 1960s and 1970s, I yearn for a return to those simpler days, although I’m fully present in the 21st century and working for a more equitable future for women and girls everywhere.
What do you hope your writing brings to your readers?
AES: When I sit at my desk, I understand the great responsibility I have to my readers. What I hope readers take away runs the gamut from appreciating the ethereal—i.e. a sense of wonder at the writing/setting/complexity of characters—to the practical—i.e. the courage to break out of a toxic relationship and/or stand up for oneself. I can’t tell you how many readers have written me about both ends of this spectrum. Hearing from readers is an author’s greatest reward, not money or fame or awards.
Author, The Irish Girl, Hardland, Answer Creek, and Eliza Waite
Winner, 2023 Independent Press Award for Western Fiction, 2023 NYC Big Book Award for Western Fiction, 2021 New Mexico-Arizona Book Award, 2021 Independent Publisher Book Award, 2021 Next Generation Indies Book Award, 2020 Arizona Authors Association Literary Award, 2017 Nancy Pearl Book Award
Finalist, 2025 IBPA Award for Historical Fiction, 2025 Independent Press Award for Historical Fiction, 2023 WILLA Literary Award for Historical Fiction, 2023 New Mexico-Arizona Book Award, 2023 Independent Publisher Book Award, 2023 Next Generation Indies Book Award, 2022 Arizona Authors Association Book Award, 2021 WILLA Literary Award for Historical Fiction, 2021 Western Fictioneers Peacemaker Award, 2017 WILLA Literary Award for Historical Fiction, 2016 Sarton Women's Book Award, 2016 International Book Award, 2016 US Best Book Award
A native New Yorker, Ashley E. Sweeney is the multi-award-winning author of four novels, The Irish Girl, Hardland, Answer Creek: A Novel of The Donner Party, and Eliza Waite. She graduated from Wheaton College in Norton, Mass. with a degree in American Literature and American History and spent her career as a journalist and educator before turning to writing full-time. When she is not chained to her writing desk, Sweeney is an avid gardener, art quilter, and mosaic artist. She lives in the Pacific Northwest and Tucson.
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