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Two siblings. Two struggles. Two countries. One city on the brink.
Cleveland, 1919. Irish immigrant Moira Conway never wanted to cross the Atlantic. While her ambitious brother John dreams of making a fortune in America, Moira longs for the home she left behind. But in a city simmering with political upheaval and worker unrest, she finds a renewed sense of purpose through two perilous causes. As Cleveland becomes a crossroads of industrial strife and Irish nationalism, the conflicts on both sides of the Atlantic begin to collide.
Working for a Cleveland manufacturer, Moira is recruited into a clandestine effort supporting Ireland’s fight for independence. Falling for a charismatic steelworker and labor organizer, she finds herself at the center of mounting tensions that erupt in the May Day clashes and the Great Steel Strike of 1919.
While laborers battle industrial titans in the streets, John’s hunger for success leads him into bootlegging under pressure from his corrupt-cop uncle, placing him squarely in the path of Cleveland’s emerging criminal underworld.
As the steel strike descends into bloody riots and the war in Ireland intensifies, Moira must choose between a life in America and returning to a homeland fighting for its own freedom.
Inspired by real historical events, Her Own Country is a sweeping novel of Irish immigration, the Great Steel Strike of 1919, and the Irish War of Independence.
Perfect for readers of richly researched historical fiction, immigrant family sagas, and political intrigue.
About the Author
James C. Sulecki is a lifelong journalist and former chief content officer of a business media company. An avid researcher of local lore, he is the author of an award-winning nonfiction book on sports history, The Cleveland Rams. His deep connection to the city shapes his fiction; he resides in a Cleveland neighborhood just steps from Irishtown Bend, Ohio City, and Whiskey Island, where his debut novel is set. Inspired by his great-grandmother’s Irish heritage and the quiet personal dramas behind massive historical turning points, he applies to Her Own Country a journalist’s eye to bringing Cleveland’s gritty past of industry, the fight for workers’ rights, and Prohibition bootlegging to life.
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