This Irish House

JEANETTE
BAKER

Table of Contents

Begin Reading

Connecticut ● New York ● Colorado

Chesapeake Summer

Copyright Notices

Other Books by Jeanette Baker

Authors Notes

Glossary

CHAPTERS

Prologue

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

Twenty-One

Twenty-Two

Twenty-Three

Twenty-Four

Twenty-Five

Twenty-Six

Twenty-Seven

Twenty-Eight

Twenty-Nine

JEANETTE BAKER
This Irish House

Copyright © 2002, 2012 by Jeanette Baker

Int'l ISBN: 978-1-62071-001-2
ISBN: 1-62071-001-3

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic means is forbidden unless written permission has been received from the publisher

All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

For information address:
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P.O. Box 291
Cheshire, CT 06410-9998

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Chesapeake Tide
Chesapeake Summer
The Delaney Woman
The Lavender Field
A Delicate Finish
Witch Woman

To learn more about Jeanette and
all of her books please visit:
www.JeanetteBaker.com

N
orthern Ireland—or The Six Counties, as the Nationalist/Catholic population calls it—is a land long divided by economics, tradition, religion and bloodshed. Almost five hundred years ago Henry Tudor, surrounded by Catholic Spain, France and Ireland and convinced that England could never be ruled by a woman, was desperate to establish a dynasty, and he decided that Ireland would be his first colony. Displacing the Catholic population, banishing and executing the Catholic aristocracy, and transplanting Englishmen and Scots to lands long held by Catholics, he, and later his daughter, Queen Elizabeth the First, systematically attempted to eradicate the Celtic/Catholic tradition in Ireland. Land, residences, employment, political appointments and education were reserved for Protestants. The Penal Laws became the birthright of Catholics, as did civil rights violations, discrimination, torture and false imprisonment. Even so, because of the fierce nature of Irish independence and the strength of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Henry was unsuccessful at the grassroots level.

Not until forty years ago, when television brought to the world the civil rights movement then taking place in the United States, did the oppressed Irish of the Six Counties find their voice. Out of the ashes of Bloody Sunday and the Belfast and Derry riots rose the Provisional Irish Republican Army. These men and women, most of them not yet thirty years old, were determined that “the croppies of the North” would no longer accept the status quo. As a result, years of bloodshed, murder and martial law ensued, culminating in the Good Friday Agreement, a power-sharing proposal supported by 70 percent of the Irish population. Among the dissenters were the militant, splinter, paramilitary groups on both sides.

At the time of this writing, the Peace Accord hangs by the slimmest of threads. As a result of the IRA's refusal to turn over their weapons, David Trimble resigned as First Minister. Ireland, Britain and the United States scrambled for terms. The IRA relented and agreed to place their weapons beyond use. Loyalist groups, claiming the terms were too nebulous, have refused to accept them. Shortly after, the IRA rescinded the agreement to turn over their weapons, claiming their statement, issued in good faith, was not met by Loyalist decommissioning nor by integration of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, the police force of Northern Ireland, which is 90 percent Protestant—another sticking point of the agreement.

Meanwhile, red, white and blue paint coats the curbstones of Loyalist housing tracts, while Nationalists raise the Irish flag and sport its colors of green, white and orange. July, the marching season, continues to be a time of tension in the North and, despite rabid disapproval on both sides, the bloodshed, although sporadic, continues.

On a more positive note, opportunity for Catholics has increased dramatically in Northern Ireland. Young people are educated together in universities, work together in businesses and, occasionally, live together in the better communities. Violence is frowned upon, as is the discrimination of the past, and the infamous prison, Long Kesh—or the Maze—has become almost obsolete.

The world is aware of the resources to be found in Ireland, not only its enormous economic potential but the charm and resourcefulness of its people. The Irish are like no other population in the world. Cheerful, warmhearted and intelligent, they continue to delight travelers from all over the world with their wry wit, their ability to tell a story and their wonderful toe-tapping, foot-stomping music.

Kate Nolan, her children, her father and Neil Anderson are purely characters of my imagination. Their actions, conversations and opinions are compilations of countless numbers of people I have come to know in the north and west of Ireland. Because all novels have an element of truth, because I am a mother, because marriages do not always run smoothly and because all human experience bears a resemblance to others who share this planet, this novel is based in reality. Although it has political overtones that cannot be ignored in a novel set in the North of Ireland,
This Irish House
is primarily the story of a family struggling to come to terms with loss and change.

This book would not have its flavor were it not for Father John Forsythe of Belfast, who put aside his extremely busy Easter week schedule to educate me on the current situation in the North. I am also indebted to Paula Murphy, a teacher in Belfast, who offered her opinions over lunch in a charming restaurant outside Derry, and Patti Greiner of the Ohio Ulster Project, who graciously offered names, addresses and phone numbers of contacts in the North.

In addition, I would like to thank Patricia Perry, Jean Stewart and Stephen Farrell for their careful critique of my manuscript, their thoughtful comments and their willingness to drop everything and absorb themselves, once again, in my story.

Jeanette Baker

January 2002