Wild Irish Women

From patriots to pirates, warriors to writers, and mistresses to male impersonators, this book looks at the unorthodox lives of inspiring Irish women. In times when women were expected to marry and have children, they travelled the world and sought out adventures; in times when women were expected to be seen and not heard, they spoke out in loud voices against oppression; in times when women were expected to have no interest in politics, literature, art, or the world outside the home, they used every creative means available to give expression to their thoughts, ideas and beliefs. In a series of succinct and often amusing biographies, Marian Broderick tells the life stories of these exceptional Irish women.

From every county in Ireland Bold, Brilliant & Bad draws together the stories of over 120 amazing Irish women. Marian Broderick is back to explore the histories of remarkable Irish Women in history. From creative craftswomen to singing sensations, poets to sporting champions. From Lilian Bland to Maeve Binchy and from Anne O'Brien to Professor Sheila Tinney, these women paved the way for the future and made massive changes in their various fields. Meet the women from history who went against the grain and challenged the expectations of the world. There were and are a force to be reckoned with.

Tales of passion and romance, love on the battlefield, affairs kept secret on pain of death ... From the bride who married in a prison cell, to the leader caught in a love triangle, to the revolutionaries who did their loving on the run, the romantic lives of Ireland's most famous characters have been predictably turbulent. Some Irish lovers have shocked a nation and brought down governments, some have produced the world's most beautiful poetry, some have reached across oceans – not to mention deep divisions at home – to find love. Marian Broderick views historical Irish romances through a contemporary lens, from the legendary lovers of prehistory to more modern convention-defying pioneers. The greatest Irish romances from history. With chapters on Inspirations, Love & War, Love Across the Divide, Secrets & Scandals and When Love Goes Wrong, among others, Marian Broderick tells of the men and women whose passions drove them to be together: often in the face of society, family, and even their own safety. From the legendary Deirdre and Naoise to WB Yeats and Maud Gonne, Charles Stuart Parnell and Katherine O'Shea to Hilton Edwards and Micheál MacLiammóir, romantic Ireland is far from dead and gone!

A look at the wild Irish women throughout history from the ancient warrior queens Morrigan, Macha, and Badbh, to the labor-movement maven Mother Jones. The women in Wild Irish Roses are not always nice girls or even good girls. However, they are women with backbones of steel who know how to get things done, whether on the battlefield or in the bedroom. These are women who preserved and handed down the old stories. They are women who fought in revolutions with either gun or pen, wrote books, starred in books others wrote, and stormed heaven itself. Author Trina Robbins is an impeccable researcher whose knack for telling stories and embellishing them with engaging illustrations and photos, brings each of these Wild Irish Roses to life, including:Maeve and six other warrior queensGrania and Deirdre, who ran away from kings for the love of younger menFive women who turned themselves into birds to get the job done rightSaint Brigit and the saintly Kathleen O’SheaCultural revivalist Maude Gonne and friendsIrish American beauty roses, including Scarlett O’HaraAnd warriors in their own right, such as Mother Jones and company Wild Irish Roses is a celebration of tough, independent, beautiful Irish women from myth to modernity. It’s a book that is sure to entertain, inform, and inspire readers of every background to find the Irish rose in themselves—to discover what they want and have the courage to go out and get it.