The Irish Girl

Featured in BookBub's "The Best Historical Fiction of Winter 2024"

“For readers of historical fiction featuring resilient women.”—Booklist

“The novel follows the story of Mary Agnes Coyne as she emigrates to America. . . . While it is fiction, the author relies extensively on oral history and memorabilia from her grandmother, whose mother's story this is. The selection and portrayal of details and the emotion they generate drive home the immediacy of the immigrant experience. The author shares encounters, perceptions, and feelings of one young woman facing exceptional difficulties. She makes us feel part of that life and those times.”—Historical Novels Review

“ . . . vivid and compelling . . . with a strong female lead who shines with resilience.”—Kirkus Reviews

“The Irish Girl is a story of resilience amidst trauma, love amidst loss, self-acceptance amidst rejection. Reminiscent of our immigrant ancestors and the unfathomable hardships they undoubtedly faced, I read this story in one sitting and found myself thinking about this fiercely strong girl long after I finished.”—Kelli Estes, USA Today best-selling author of The Girl Who Wrote in Silk
 

“Lyrical and powerful, The Irish Girl celebrates the tenacity of the human spirit. A novel to savor, an immersive and moving story of love and courage.”—Ginny Kubitz Moyer, author of A Golden Life 

“Mary Agnes Coyne will be a girl after your own heart. Though too young, she must leave her village home in County Galway alone, and sail to America. Upon arrival in big cities of the U.S., nothing is easy, as is the case for many Irish in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. But Mary Agnes has gifts: intelligence, clever humor, beauty, a clear sense of self, and Ashley E. Sweeney to exquisitely describe her story of struggle, perseverance, and optimism. Couldn’t put it down, and at the end, was left wanting more of The Irish Girl.”—Francine Falk-Allen, author of A Wolff in the Family and Not a Poster Child

“The heart-rending story of one young immigrant's search for home blooms into a redemptive and unforgettable tale in the capable hands of Ashley E. Sweeney. She effortlessly balances the harrowing misfortunes of being alone with moments that savor the sweetness of freedom, stitching the universal truths of self-determination and desire for a better life that tie us all together.”—Joanne Howard, author of Sleeping in the Sun

“The Irish Girl captured me from the very first page! At times both tragic and hopeful, this sweeping literary drama is ultimately a story of perseverance—one to which we can all relate somewhere in our immigrant past.  Brimming with rich historical details and beautiful, lilting prose, this addictive book is a delight!”—Michelle Cox, author of The Henrietta and Inspector Howard series
 

“With the spunk of the Irish, Mary Agnes wins your heart from the start. With writing as lush as the Connemara countryside, The Irish Girl is a powerful story of a young woman’s discovery of hidden strengths against all odds—a story emblematic of the resilient American emigrant spirit that keeps the love of home country while embracing, wholeheartedly, the new.”—Debra Thomas, author of Luz
 

“Singing with drama, rooted in history, and rich in action, The Irish Girl’s independent and bold protagonist makes her way from Ireland to America at age thirteen in 1886. Pitted against the challenges of poverty, misogyny, and abuse, Mary Agnes Coyne navigates the twisty streets of New York and Chicago and expansive cattle ranches of Colorado and Santa Fe. But her longing for family and home is deep, and her search to find both leads to a gutsy conclusion. Sweeney’s fourth winner!”—Gretchen Cherington, author of Poetic License