Bittersweet Tapestry: A Novel of Eighteenth Century Europe: 3 (Derrynane Saga)

A dramatic decade has passed since sixteen-year-old Eileen OConnell first departed her familys sanctuary at remote Derrynane on the Kerry coast to become the wife of one of the wealthiest men in Ireland and the mistress of John OConnors Ballyhar - only to have her elderly husband die within months of the marriage.Within a year under the auspices of their uncle a general in the armies of Maria Theresa Eileen and her sister Abigail left Ireland for Vienna and a life at the dizzying heights of the Hapsburg empire and court where Abby became lady-in-waiting to the Empress whilst for nine momentous years she served as governess to the Empresss youngest daughter - during which time Maria Antonia whom Eileen still calls my wee little archduchess has become Marie Antoinette dauphine of France though she continues to refer to her beloved governess as Mama.As Bittersweet Tapestry opens it is the High Summer of 1770. Having escorted the future Queen of France from Vienna to her new life Eileen and her husband Captain Arthur OLeary of the Hungarian Hussars along with their little boy and Eileens treasured friend (and former servant) Anna Pfeffer are establishing themselves in Ireland.Their ties to Catholic Europe remain close and strong; in addition to Abigail and her OSullivan family and General OConnell his wife and young daughter in Vienna their brother Daniel is an officer in the Irish Brigade of the armies of Louis XV whilst their youngest brother Hugh is studying at École Militaire in Paris his path to a commission in the Dillons Regiment of the Brigade. His gentle Austrian friendship with Maria Antonia having inevitably waned Hughs relationship with the strikingly-beautiful young widowed Princess Marie Thérèse Louise of Savoy is blossoming.Though happily ensconced at Rathleigh House the OLeary family estate in County Cork being prominent amongst those families which are the remnants of the old Gaelic order in the area Eileen and Art find that the dark cloud of the Protestant Ascendancy hovers heavily at times threateningly over them. Bittersweet Tapestry is a tale of stark contrasts - between Hugh OConnells life of increasing prominence amidst the glitter and intrigue of the French court and Art and Eileens in English-occupied Ireland - especially as the latter progresses into a dark violent and bloody tale . . . ultimately involving an epic tragedy which along with the events leading up to it and those occurring in its dramatic wake will permanently impact the OLearys the OConnells - and their far-flung circle of family and friends in Ireland and across Europe.With his uniquely-descriptive prose Kevin OConnell again deftly weaves threads of historical fact and fancy to create a colourful fabric affording unique insights into the courts of eighteenth-century Catholic Europe as well as English-ruled Ireland. As the classic story unfolds amongst the OLearys the OConnells their friends and enemies the tumultuously-dangerous worlds in which they dwell will continue to gradually - but inexorably - become even more so.Bittersweet Tapestry joins OConnells well-received Beyond Derrynane and Two Journeys Home as The Derrynane Saga continues - an enthralling epic presenting a sweeping chronicle set against the larger drama of Europe in the early stages of significant - and in the case of France - violent change.