All Good Reason

Set in Ireland, America and Canada, this true story of Barbara Heck from Limerick, Ireland, is recreated with meticulous use of historical sources and inherited details to bring history alive for every reader. Written in the present tense, she emerges as a stoic, forthright and mindful woman who has a claim to fame in the British colonies of America in the 1760s and who encapsulates the lives of women amongst the loyal supporters of their King of Great Britain and Ireland. Her story blends immigration experiences with dominant Palatinate family heritage that calls for her community's loyalty in their host countries with dire consequences. She keeps their morale under-girded with revitalized identity in New York by introducing Methodism to America. She holds respect and standing in a male world with a sense of reality yet she burns with frustrations. A stoic personality keeps her marriage vows intact when under attack from attraction and hurtful judgment. When historically-significant scenarios hurt her fellow "Irish Palatines", she nearly buckles under the strain, Canada becomes the last place of refuge where loyalty has a result. Hindsight and accountability are quantified; overall, did the four countries of heritage and refuge deceitfully influence their lives?