Sean McCarthy has a beautiful voice, a handsome face, and a dark secret in his past. When Rose Sullivan, a girl from rural Ireland, meets him the night before she leaves for America in 1880, he steals a kiss and wins her over, then disappears into the night. Eight years later Sean reunites with Rose in America, but now he's using a different name. He won't talk about his past, but his kisses are still thrilling. Will Rose find romance or heartache with him? Follow Rose and Sean through the years as their lives take unexpected twists and turns, and they discover the many surprises hidden in the human heart. The Rose Of Skibbereen series shows the ripple effect of emotions like love and anger, and how so many lives can be affected by a chance encounter. Meet characters you'll grow to love as they deal with love, loss, tragedy, joy, and the tumult of the 20th century.The Rose Of Skibbereen series is based on my family history, and an old photograph in a family album. The person in that photograph was my great-grandmother, who was born in Skibbereen, County Cork, Ireland. She took a ship to Philadelphia in 1880, looking for a better life, and she never went back. Like so many Irish women at that time in America, she faced discrimination, poverty, and hardship. I wanted to tell the story of these Irish serving girls, who came to work in the houses of the rich families in America, and I thought I could do it through the prism of my great-grandmother's life. I'm a big fan of Irish writers like Jean Grainger and Maeve Binchy, and Rose Of Skibbereen is written in that style. The story turned out to have a life of its own, as stories do, but although I used my imagination a great deal, Rose Of Skibbereen is true to the passions at the root of the story. I hope you enjoy every one of the six books in the series, and I am always happy to hear feedback from readers. My email address is listed in the books -- let me know what you think John McDonnell