The Pipes Are Calling by Loretta Murphy

by Loretta A. Murphy
(Ashland, Pennsylvania, USA)

The Pipes Are Calling (2006) is a romantic historical fantasy. A Celtic knot of love, murder, intrigue and whimsy, the tale is woven between the present and the past in a story that spans over one hundred years and the wide Atlantic Ocean.

Its characters tell their story to the distant strains of the haunting and beloved Irish-American tune of Danny Boy. Long subject to debate as to who and what the song was about, The Pipes Are Calling offers one bittersweet possibility.

It is a light contemporary tale of fiery Maggie Carroll and handsome Galen Devlin, born over three thousand miles apart yet sharing a bond that will bring them closer than either thought possible. Their discovery of each other parallels the darker story of Danny Carroll and Brigid Devlin, two young lovers from the famine stricken Donegal region of Ireland, who find themselves torn apart in those turbulent days of the mid-1800's. And linking the two couples across time and space is Thomas Terrance O'Toole, a transatlantic leprechaun, who is charged with the task of righting a wrong that impacted all four.

The modern day story of Maggie and Galen is set in post-911 America. Maggie Carroll is a single American mother of Irish extraction who longs for her roots in the Auld Sod. Galen Devlin, an Irishman living and working in New York, has begun to have second thoughts about his bachelor lifestyle. A contest to win a trip to Ireland manages to thrust the two together in a series of humorous mishaps and meanderings that will have the reader smiling.

Danny Carroll and Brigid Devlin's romance is set against the tyranny of the British induced famine in Ireland and the mournful sage of the Molly Maguires in the Anthracite coal regions of rural Pennsylvania. The Donegal region of Ireland was one of the hardest hit by the horrific An Gorta Mor. Many of the poor emigrated to the shores of Amerikay, some by choice, others by force, settling in the coal regions where they became part of the mining community. Danny Carroll, one of those immigrants with no choice in the matter, soon realizes whether a rebel fighting the English in his homeland or a miner fighting for labor rights in America, he cannot escape the desire for freedom.

The Pipes Are Calling is a story of contrasts - hope versus despair, love versus hate, wrong versus right. It is a dramatic history lesson that brings to light the travesty of justice that occurred in the supposedly civilized East when twenty poor miners of either Irish birth or descent were hung following a series of criminal trials later exposed as a mockery of the American judicial system. It spotlights the true but little known story of the O'Donnell murders, a sad testimony to the consequences that occur when some in a society have too much and others too little.

Nonetheless, time has a way of healing all things. The Pipes Are Calling, despite its twists and turns, portrays that message. It's contemporary fairy tale romance, complete with a modern day fairy, will appeal not only to those of Irish heritage but those craving a good romantic read.

The Pipes are Calling will bring a smile to your heart and a tear to your eye. It will make you remember that bigotry and discrimination have always existed, but there is always hope if even one open heart has the desire to make things better.

The Pipes Are Calling

ISBN 142414826X

Visit me at http://www.freewebs.com/lorettamurphy

Available Online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Waldenbooks, PublishAmerica and others

And watch for Irish Roads, a romantic and whimsical poetic glimpse of Irish life, culture, and love...coming soon