Would you have applied for a job as a plant hunter in the 19th century? The first skill you would have needed was an adventurous spirit. Plant hunting botanists had to survive shipwreck, pirates, numerous accidents and foreign diseases, such as dysentery and yellow fever. Some never came home. I’ve been doing some research on medicinal plants and popular Victorian garden trees and, in this month’s blog, I take a look at a few of the specimens these brave, intrepid men brought back with them that still adorn our gardens today…
Tall ships, tall tales and an Irish female pirate
Have you heard of Anne Bonny - the Irish female pirate?
I've recently listened to two compelling audio books by Daphne du Maurier: Jamaica Inn and Frenchman's Creek, both very different as the first is dark and dramatic and the second is humorous and romantic. Both have du Maurier suspense and both are about pirates in Cornwall.
Cornish pirates inspired me to research Irish pirates and I discovered Anne Bonny. She was a young Irish woman who was born Anne Cormac in Cork at the end of the 17th century. Apparently she was the illegitimate daughter of a well-to-do lawyer and his housemaid. There are many stories and myths about this reckless woman pillaging treasure ships on the high seas.
The Family Shadow is here
It’s been a busy few weeks but The Family Shadow is here and is available as a Kindle ebook, paperback and in Kindle Unlimited. It’s a historical mystery with dual timeline suspense and is set on the sweeping Wexford coast in Ireland in the late nineteenth century and also in 2019.
I’ve always loved that area of Wexford. It’s near Curracloe with its seven mile long sandy beach and dunes, backed by Raven Wood, a spine of Corsican pines. Even on summer days, the beach never seems crowded. Around the far bend is the famous Wexford Slobs wildfowl reserve where geese and swans fly in for the winter months.
New beginnings in January
It’s January, the month of new resolutions and new beginnings. If you’ve made any New Year resolutions, I hope they are going better than mine. However, I’m happy I’ve got three new beginnings to tell you about this month.
The first is my new historical mystery novel, which is due to be published in February on Amazon and other online bookstores worldwide. It has a dual timeline and is set on the sweeping coastline of County Wexford in Ireland, with a modern day story in an old rambling house and a mystery set in late Victorian Ireland in the 1890s. You can read the book description here.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...
Festive greetings to you all! I’d like you to meet Archie, a Jack Russell terrier from my new novel The Family Shadow. Archie has been busy making a snowman but he’s also been helping Fiona Foley solve a Victorian mystery and dig up long-buried family secrets.
2020 has been an unforgettable year for all of us. As Charles Dickens says: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity.” (A Tale of Two Cities) Imagine looking at the newspaper headlines we are bombarded with now and turning back the clock one year. We simply would not have believed what we are going through.
But 2020 wasn’t all bad. I am lucky to live in the country and have animals and a garden. I have to tell you that our normally unruly garden here has never looked so tidy. Even the lawns have neat edges now! And I’ve had plenty of time to write without distractions.
Five Ghostly Tales for Halloween
It’s Halloween or All Hallows’ Eve. I have to admit that I’ve never seen a ghost – at least not knowingly - but I’ve met people who claim they have. Ireland is apparently alive with phantoms and spirits. I went to visit an elderly man in England, once married to my great-aunt who died young. His second wife told me she visited Ireland on one occasion and would never risk it again. I thought this was an unusual comment and asked her why. She said it was because she could see spirits and was overwhelmed by the sheer numbers that appeared on Irish roads wherever she and her husband went. I have five ghost stories for you today and I’ll start with the one in our Victorian house in Dublin.
Walking in footsteps from the sixth century
We finally got away from home for a brief two day holiday on a boat on Lough Erne in County Fermanagh. We explored the lower lake which is dotted with wooded islands. One of the largest islands is Devenish, a monastic settlement for over one thousand years from the sixth to sixteenth century. The name in Irish is Daimh Inis meaning ‘Ox Island’.
A garden oasis and audio books
My garden has certainly got a lot more love this year and has provided a relief in these strange, unusual months. Our county is one of three in Ireland to have just gone back into a sort of lockdown - not as severe as the first country-wide one from mid-March to the beginning of June in Ireland but we’re not allowed to travel out of our county for the next two weeks unless it’s for vital reasons.
Miss Scarlett in the dining room with the candlestick?
Dreaming of the sea during Ireland's lockdown
I'm dreaming of the sea now that we are on Day 3 of the lockdown in Ireland due to the Covid-19 virus. We live in the midlands and are only allowed to travel 2 km from our home so the sea is a faraway memory at the moment. I took this photo in Arthurstown, which is a quiet village on the Wexford peninsula. If you look closely, you'll see a tall ship in the distance.