Let us Talk of Many Things; of Books and Queens and Pirates, of Mystery and Kings...: My Coffee Pot Book Club Guest Today: Juliane Weber takes us to Ireland...

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Location, location, location…

When I first decided I would write a novel, I had only the vague notion that I would write historical fiction, but no exact idea of when or where the story would take place. In my search for inspiration, I eventually came across the Irish Famine, which immediately appealed to me as a setting for my book. I liked the idea of the 19th century and was particularly drawn to Ireland’s beautiful scenery and its myths and legends, which I thought would make a nice backdrop for my hypothetical novel.

I had found my setting at last!

But where exactly in Ireland to have my story unfold? After some background reading, I decided to set the novel in Ulster Province, as this fairly prosperous region was less severely affected by the Famine than some other areas in Ireland, although it was by no means spared! While I didn’t want to downplay the horrors of the Famine, I wanted to avoid the book becoming overly gloomy.

The Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology further drew me to Ulster Province. Tales such as those of the hero Cú Chulainn and his horse-drawn chariot would presumably have been widely known in the region, allowing me to include bits of such folklore throughout the book. Having thus decided on Ulster Province, I further narrowed down the setting to County Tyrone, which is home to some of the best farmland in Ireland—again, to prevent the overall tone of the novel becoming too morose.

A bit of city living

Although I had decided on County Tyrone as the main setting of my novel, I also wanted to be able to examine Anglo-Irish relations in 19th century Ireland more closely, as well as to include the British government’s response to the Famine in more detail than might be possible from a rural perspective. For these and other reasons I chose an Englishman and an Irishwoman to be my main characters, both of the upper classes, allowing them access to easy travelling. In Under the Emerald Sky, the protagonists visit Dublin, where troops of the British Army were stationed, giving the reader some idea of the political situation at the time, as well as providing some interesting anecdotes of life in 19th century Dublin. While Under the Emerald Sky takes place over the two years preceding the Famine, the potato harvest actually starts to fail in the second book of the series. A return trip to Dublin in that book allows Quin to attend the Mansion House Meeting in October 1845, which was one of the earliest gatherings to discuss the British government’s response to the blight, setting the scene for ongoing relief efforts (or the lack thereof…).

Part of the second book of the series also takes place in London, where Quin visits his family after the first failed potato harvest. I had wanted to include such a trip to better explore the prevailing opinions of the English regarding the Irish Famine, on the home front as it were. Besides this, 19th century London was a hub of modern activity and housed many of the most famous thinkers of the time, including scientists. Being a scientist myself, I was fascinated to read about the scientific discoveries made in the 1840s, immediately making me want to include some scientific anecdotes in the second book, which I hope will be both entertaining and enlightening to the reader.

Having carefully chosen these and other locations has allowed me to explore multiple facets of the complex political, social and agrarian factors that contributed to the disaster that was the Great Famine. At the heart of the tragedy, though, are not the sprawling manor houses scattered throughout Ireland, nor the aristocrats’ haunts in Dublin or London, but those homes that were stashed away at the far edges of the Irish estates, out of sight of the rich landlords—cottages that often had no windows or chimneys and housed whole families and their animals, all of whom were dependent on the potatoes grown on tiny plots of land. These are the people who suffered most during the Famine, even as Ireland continued to export massive amounts of food, and it is their suffering that should not be forgotten.

I hope that my book(s) will in some way keep their memory alive.

Thank you, Helen, for letting me share a little about my writing on your blog today.

Juliane

[my pleasure Juliane]

Under the Emerald Sky

The Irish Fortune Series, Book 1

He’s come to Ireland to escape his past. She’s trying to run from her future.

It's 1843 and the English nobleman Quinton Williams has come to Ireland to oversee the running of his father’s ailing estate and escape his painful past. Here he meets the alluring Alannah O’Neill, whose Irish family is one of few to have retained ownership of their land, the rest having been supplanted by the English over the course of the country's bloody history. Finding herself drawn to the handsome Englishman, Alannah offers to help Quin communicate with the estate’s Gaelic-speaking tenants, as much to assist him as to counter her own ennui. Aware of her controlling brother’s hostility towards the English, she keeps her growing relationship with Quin a secret – a secret that cannot, however, be kept for long from those who dream of ridding Ireland of her English oppressors.

Among the stark contrasts that separate the rich few from the plentiful poor, Under the Emerald Sky is a tale of love and betrayal in a land teetering on the brink of disaster - the Great Famine that would forever change the course of Ireland's history.

Trigger Warnings:

Violence, sexual content.

Buy Links:

This novel is available to read for free with #KindleUnlimited subscription.

Universal Book Link: https://books2read.com/u/4DxvLA

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08LSC6HN3

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08LSC6HN3

Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08LSC6HN3

Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B08LSC6HN3

About the author:

Juliane is actually a scientist. She holds degrees in physiology and zoology, including a PhD in physiology. During her studies she realised, however, that her passion lay not in conducting scientific research herself, but in writing about it. Thus began her career as a medical writer, where she took on all manner of writing and editing tasks, in the process honing her writing skills, until she finally plucked up the courage to write her first historical novel, Under the Emerald Sky. The book is the first in The Irish Fortune Series, which is set in 19th century Ireland around the time of the Great Famine.

Juliane lives with her husband and two sons in Hamelin, Germany, the town made famous by the story of the Pied Piper.

Social Media Links:

Website: https://www.julianeweber.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Writer_JW

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JulianeWeberAuthor

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.de/Juliane_Weber

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/juliane-weber

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Juliane-Weber/e/B08M3DYY22

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21207265.Juliane_Weber

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