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    Wild Irish: A Novel of Elizabeth I and the Pirate O'Malley
    Unavailable
    Wild Irish: A Novel of Elizabeth I and the Pirate O'Malley
    Unavailable
    Wild Irish: A Novel of Elizabeth I and the Pirate O'Malley
    Ebook572 pages8 hours

    Wild Irish: A Novel of Elizabeth I and the Pirate O'Malley

    By Robin Maxwell

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Two female titans -- perfectly matched in guts, guile, and political genius.

    Elizabeth, queen of England, has taken on the mighty Spanish Armada and, in a stunning sea battle, vanquished it. But her troubles are far from over. Just across the western channel, her colony Ireland is embroiled in seething rebellion, with the island's fierce, untamed clan chieftains and their "wild Irish" followers refusing to bow to their English oppressors.

    Grace O'Malley -- notorious pirate, gunrunner, and "Mother of the Irish Rebellion" -- is at the heart of the conflict. For years, she has fought against the English stranglehold on her beloved country. At the height of the uprising Grace takes an outrageous risk, sailing up the Thames to London for a face-to-face showdown with her nemesis, the queen of England.

    In this "enthralling historical fiction" (Publishers Weekly), Robin Maxwell masterfully brings to life these strong and pugnacious women in order to tell the little-known but crucial saga of Elizabeth's Irish war.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 13, 2009
    ISBN9780061853234
    Author

    Robin Maxwell

    Robin Maxwell began writing novels about the historical figures she had been obsessing about since graduating from Tufts University with a degree in Occupational Therapy. Her bestselling first novel The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn,  won two YA awards and has been translated into fourteen languages. The Wild Irish —an epic tale of Ireland's rebel queen, Grace O'Malley—closed out her Elizabethan Quartet and is now in development for a television series. Signora Da Vinci and Jane: The Woman Who Loved Tarzan are tales of the remarkable women behind two of the world's most beloved wildmen, Maestro Leonardo and Lord Greystoke. Robin lives with her husband of forty years, yogi Max Thomas, at High Desert Eden, a wildlife sanctuary in the Mojave Desert.

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    Reviews for Wild Irish

    3.5/5

    5 ratings3 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Interestingly imagined tale which veers wildly from the recorded facts at times. I'm interested in Grace O'Malley now that I've read this fictionalized tale, and I'm planning to find other, more true-to-life biographies.
    • 3/5
      bookshelves: read [edit]recommended for:historical fiction enthusiastsI got several chapters into this book before realizing that I'd read it a few months ago. I'm not sure whether that says more about me or the book. Stories of Grace O'Malley (the Irish pirate) are few and far between, which is why I gravitated towards this one (twice!). Sadly, Maxwell's version of the epic meeting between O'Malley and Elizabeth I struggles with accuracy. Whether Elizabeth and Essex really "got it on", I suppose is up for debate, but Grace would not have thought of the Queen as "the first Elizabeth", as she had no idea that there would be another. (Sheesh! Didn't Maxwell read Encyclopedia Brown?) So, seek out this book if you want to hear a story about two fascinating women (one of whom has very little recorded history), but don't expect historical fact, airtight accuracy, or even terrific writing.
    • 2/5
      I have to admit that I just didn't like this book. None of the characters struck a chord with me or even seemed remotely sympathetic. I could admire Grace, but did not much care if she lived or died. I feel as though this was meant to be tragic - we are meant to lament Elizabeth's decision at the end - but I didn't care about Essex, either.As for the writing, that failed me as well. Maxwell uses a reminiscence style that I find irritating and which kills the present-day tale completely. Things don't just happen - we skip forward several years and then are told what happened by whatever character the focus is currently on. This may work in general, but it does not work here. It saps the story of action and makes reading it more like drudgery, as I was anxious to get back to the actual story of the novel.I also am extremely doubtful of Grace O'Malley's part in the relationship between Elizabeth and Essex, but as there are spoilers in my complaint and because I know little of the history, I will keep quiet and only say that I find some events described to be extremely unlikely, and even if I am reading fiction, I prefer the story to be plausible.I will be avoiding this author's work in future.