American author travelling to Doneraile for launch of locally-based book

Author Kathleen Aldworth Foster will travel to Ireland in April to officially launch her historical fiction novel about the first female freemason, Elizabeth St Leger Aldworth.

Doneraile Court: The Story of The Lady Freemason is based on true events that took place at Doneraile Park estate in County Cork back in 1712.

The book brings to life the perilous night Elizabeth was caught spying on freemasons in the middle of an initiation ritual, forcing them to make a life-or-death decision, Kathleen said.

They chose life and trailblazing Elizabeth became one of the most generous philanthropists of her time, she added.

Elizabeth received a full masonic funeral upon her death in 1775.

According to Kathleen, she first heard about the lady freemason while visiting the Pyramids of Giza on New Years Eve 2000 (y2k).

There, a man studying Egyptian ties to freemasonry told me I share the Aldworth name with the first female mason.

That sparked a genealogical quest that confirmed Elizabeth is not one of my great-great-grandmothers. However, my research led to the birth of this book, she said.

Foster is now a certified lecturer on the life of the lady freemason with the Masonic Instruction Speakers Bureau.

She presents to masons and non-masons alike worldwide. She will appear at Freemasons Hall in Cork on Friday, April 14 at 7pm. Dinner tickets are sold out, but lecture-only tickets are still available.

For more information, email Eamonn Connaughton at e.Connaughton@ucc. Ie. Book sale proceeds will go to the freemasons hall building fund.

There are a handful of events on Saturday, April 15 including a book signing at Philips Bookshop in Mallow from 12-1pm.

A small, private reading will take place in the library at Doneraile Court at 3:30pm. From 5 to 7pm, a book signing and launch party will take place at Cafe Townhouse, Doneraile.

Space is limited. RSVP is required via Facebook or email. Proceeds from book sales will go to Doneraile Tidy Towns.

Kathleen grew up in Philadelphia and she now lives outside New York city, however, her Aldworth family immigrated to the US from Bandon, County Cork in the early 1800s.

Her great-grandfather, Frank Cunnane, was an IRA volunteer from Castlerea, Roscommon who spent 5 years on the run before immigrating to Pennsylvania in 1925.