by Evelyn Blaine Durkin

As a child in the Washington Heights NYC “céilí house” of her parents Patrick and Mary, Evelyn Blaine heard from her mother and Mary’s sisters Lena and Sally their stories of Donegal, her grandparents and great grandparents. The stories were told and retold, embellished and backgrounded against a context of poverty, colonial suppression, rebellion and the hope of better things in America.

And while the drama and tension of these stories often centered on Donegal menfolk striving to feed families through farming or fishing while waging guerrilla resistance against the English, it is Donegal women who preserve Irish community and culture and who always, always drive back despair with their love and loyalty. The strongest women in the world – the Daughters of Donegal carry on.

Paperback: 237 pages