Before the Fall: Centenary Edition

"A highly ambitious, engaging, and evocative novel and a hauntingly captivating read."- The Sunday Independent

What happens when a woman is haunted by the sins of her foremothers–and the men who betrayed them?

Facing the birth of her child, and single motherhood, Jo Devereux has spent the last six months in Mucknamore, the Irish village she fled twenty years ago.

A trunk of letters and diaries left by her grandmother and great-aunt has revealed a heartbreaking legacy of bitter secrets that have haunted the women of her family for four generations.

Now she must find out the ultimate truth: What other secrets and lies lie under her mother’s and grandmother’s unshakeable silence? How does it connect with her failed life as a gender-bending agony aunt in San Franciso? And what of Rory… her lost love, son of her family’s sworn enemies?

Will Jo’s mission to uncover the past unlock a possible future together? Or are they about to lose everything all over again?

As she pieces together the poisonous fragments of the past, Jo must now face into the guilt and shame that were her legacy and see how she might best redeem them in her own life.

Orna Ross is an award-winning Irish novelist, poet, and advocate for self-publishing authors. Born and raised in Wexford, in the south-east corner of Ireland, she now lives in London and St Leonard's-on-Sea, in the south-east corner of England. She writes historical fiction and inspirational poetry, as well as creative publishing guides for authors as Orna A Ross. When she's not writing, you'll probably find her reading.

Tweet her @ornaross
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"My writing inspirations are Irish history, the lives of women and other outcasts, and the mysterious movements of the creative spirit itself. I leap on vision but rely on revision. I agonise over word choices and punctuation. I believe in the magic of two human imaginations intermingling across space and time in a book.

"I know I'm not just a better writer but a better human being for being a reader. For me, literature is a gift, a calling, and our best gateway to a better world."