A love forbidden by family. A feud spanning generations.
A woman still yearning for freedom.
Twenty years after she was driven away from her family and the only man she ever truly loved, Jo Devereux has returned to the small Irish village where she grew up. And this time, she wants answers.
What happened to her family during the Irish Civil War? Did her great-uncle's best friend really shoot him dead? And what did this "war of the brothers" mean for mothers, sisters and daughters?
Searching through papers bequeathed by her estranged mother, Jo uncovers astonishing truths about her grandmother and great-aunt - secrets of a cold-blooded murder with consequences that ricocheted down the generations into her own life.
Urged on by Rory O'Donovan, her lost love and the son of her family's sworn enemies, Jo is tempted to reignite the fires of rebellion. Can she ever go back to the life she'd made for herself in San Francisco? Or will what she's learning about her heritage incite her to cast off caution - and claim what should have been hers?
In this heart-breaking saga about a young woman, her doomed lover, and the war-torn history that threatens to destroy their future as well as their past, you'll find almost 600 pages of romance, revenge and redemption by the bestselling and award-winning author Orna Ross.
Save 50% in this special bundle deal!
Klappentext
This is a special two-for-one offer on the Centenary edition of this double book, After The Rising & Before The Fall, a historical murder mystery series of love, revenge and redemption.
Twenty years ago, Jo Devereux fled the small Irish village where she grew up, driven away by bitter secrets and division. Now she's back, to uncover the truth.
What happened to her family during the Irish Civil War? Was her uncle really shot and killed by his best friend? If yes, why? And what effect did it all have on her relationship with Rory O'Donovan, her long-lost love?
Over the course of a long hot summer, Jo reads letters and diaries bequeathed to her by her estranged mother full of astonishing truths about her grandmother and great-aunt and their part in the war. And how the consequences of a cold-blooded murder still ricochet down through the generations.
Rory, mired in an unhappy marriage, is urging Jo to rebel again. But reading their family histories has made her cautious. Jo knows from her own life how the passion of rebellion sweeps people up, makes them reckless, but what happens after the rising?
Facing the birth of her child, and single motherhood, Jo can't afford to derail the careful life she has been trying to construct in San Francisco. Now she must face the ultimate truths that lie under her mother's and grandmother's unshakeable silence, and her own guilt and shame at her heritage.
Read this haunting, heartbreaking saga of love, loss, and secrets in two countries and two families ravaged by all kinds of intimate war.