Queen Sive Rising (The Mary Cullen)

In this first book of The Mary Cullen Series, young Mary enters service, as a maid, for the powerful, Protestant Lord William Despard family in Queen's County, Ireland. It is the mid-eighteenth century in Ireland and the landed classes continue to squeeze the powerless and poverty stricken Catholic majority by divesting the land and creating legal impediments to any social or political advancements. There is rebellion in the wind. Bands of Irish youth, claiming allegiance to the mythical Celtic Queen Sive, roam the countryside destroying fences, burning barns, hamstringing animals and worse. Mary's brother becomes ensnared in the Queen Sive movement and is accused, unjustly, of treasonous acts. Lord Despard, Mary's employer, has the power to absolve Mary's brother of all charges. But, will he? Mary's life and the lives of her family members hang in the balance.