When, as a young girl in County Cavan, the author wanted to have an excuse to give to her mother when she came home from her ramblings, she would tell her, "I've just been over to Connolly's." The Connollys didn't exist-they were an invention of young Jessica's fertile imagination. So, when she came to write her first novels, what better than to make them come to life? In Connolly's Pass, we begin to follow the story of Rosie Connolly. After the tragic death of her husband, she sets about raising her six children in a small Irish village, with her pride in their achievements overshadowed only by the involvement of one of them in the Provisional IRA. In The Connolly Connection, we renew our acquaintance with Rosie Connolly and her family, following them on through bad times and good. These heart-warming stories are told with great charm, and vividly capture the conventions and beliefs of a closely-knit rural community.