Irish Meadows (36 page)
Authors: Susan Anne Mason
D
EAR
R
EADERS
,
As I came up with the storyline for
Irish Meadows
, many factors blended together to influence the creation of my fictional world. With Irish roots on both sides of my genealogical tree, I knew I wanted to write about a big Irish family. My great-grandparents on my father's side emigrated from County Armagh in Ireland to New York City in about 1890. My great-grandfather, Stewart Moneypenny, worked as a ship captain based out of New York, but unfortunately he died quite young, leaving a widow and many children behind. My great-grandmother remarried a shipmate of her husband's and, for unknown reasons, they ended up leaving New York to live in rural Quebecâthus contributing to half of my Canadian roots. My grandfather, Harry Moneypenny, met my grandmother, Daisy, a farm girl in a small, rural town, and they went on to have five children, my father being the youngest. (I must give a shout-out to Ancestry.com, where I learned much of my family's history.)
In researching Irish immigration to the United States, I learned that the Irish were not well treated when they arrived in America,
and were in fact despised by many. They had a hard time finding work because many employers would simply post signs indicating “No Irish.” So the idea of an immigrant family clawing its way up from poverty and discrimination formed the background for James O'Leary's family and provided the motivation for James's actions. Having attained some degree of wealth and respectability in Long Island, James was not about to slide back into the hard times his father had endured as a new immigrant. This is why James is so determined that his daughters marry well, in order to maintain their status in society.
In choosing the actual setting for the O'Leary farm, I found that around the turn of the century, many of the wealthy New Yorkers built grand country estates on Long Island, which came to be known as the Gold Coast. It seemed a fitting place for the O'Learys to raise and train thoroughbred horses for their elite neighbors.
By accident, when researching horse racing in New York, I discovered that racing had been banned in New York for several years right around the time period I had decided on for my story. This provided additional motivation behind James's desperate actions in making Gil court the banker's daughter to save Irish Meadows from financial ruin.
When I wrote about Rylan's voyage to Ireland, one other tidbit of research led me to learn about the RMS
Olympic
, a transatlantic ocean liner similar to the
Titanic
. The
Olympic
's accident at sea actually occurred on September 20, 1911. However, for the purpose of my story, I took an author's liberty and had the incident occur several weeks earlier, so it could tie in with Rylan's return from Ireland and wreak a little more havoc for my characters!
I hope you enjoyed the saga of the O'Leary family, and of Brianna and Colleen's journey to happiness. If you did, please look for Adam O'Leary's story coming out in 2016!
Blessings and happy reading!
Susan
M
ANY
WONDERFUL
PEOPLE
and events came together to bring about my dream of one day seeing
Irish Meadows
in print.
First and foremost, I thank God for the gift of this wonderful story that seemed to pour forth from my subconscious. I fell in love with the characters, the setting, and the historyâand many times, through divine inspiration, came upon the right research at the right time.
Secondly, a most profound thank you to Dave Long for choosing this story from a contest win, and for loving it enough to take a chance on a new writer. His support and encouragement continue to amaze and humble me. Thank you so much, Dave.
Thank you also to Charlene Patterson for her excellent editorial input that made this story so much better!
My critique partners, Julie Jarnagin, CJ Chase, and Sally Bayless, have been an incredible blessing to me. I am so grateful for their input in making my story stronger and for their friendship and support. Thank you, guys!
Last, but never least, I must thank my familyâmy husband, Bud, and my children, Leanne and Ericâfor allowing me to
pursue my passion and for not complaining about the occasional burnt dinners or the crazy amount of hours I spend on my laptop! I love you all.
I am honored to be a part of such a distinguished publishing house and to share this journey with such amazing fellow authors. I feel blessed to be able to do what I love, to write beautiful stories of romance, and to share God's message of hope and love with my readers.
Susan Anne Mason
describes her writing style as “romance sprinkled with faith.” She particularly enjoys exploring the themes of forgiveness and redemption in her stories.
Irish Meadows
is her first historical novel and won the Fiction from the Heartland contest sponsored by the Mid-American Romance Authors chapter of RWA. Susan lives outside Toronto, Ontario, with her husband, two children, and two cats. Learn more about Susan and her books at
www.SusanAnneMason.com
.
