Lily at Lissadell

by Judi Curtin

  ‘So it was all your fault?’

  ‘Yes,’ she said, looking embarrassed. ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘Don’t be sorry,’ I said. ‘That was the funniest afternoon of my life. When I’m an old woman with a bad back and creaky bones I’ll still remember how the three of us laughed as we chased that mad animal half way across the county.’

  After that, things were easier. I talked about Christmas at Lissadell, and all the fine things I’d seen there, and Hanora told me how she was looking forward to seeing her big brothers and sisters in America.

  When we got back to Hanora’s house, I didn’t want to say goodbye. I didn’t know when I’d see her again – lots of people who went to America never came back. Would my dear friend grow up and marry a man I’d never met, and have babies who would grow up to be children with American accents?

  ‘Oh, Hanora,’ I said. ‘Everything’s changing much too fast for me. I don’t want you and Rose to leave. I want things to be like they were, with the three of us spending hours together every day.’

  She hugged me. ‘I know,’ she said. ‘Sometimes I wish that too, but sometimes …’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Sometimes I think that change is a good thing.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘Life here isn’t fair any more. You’ve got a good job at Lissadell, but we both know that’s not what you want in life. I don’t really want to go to America. I’d like to stay here with Mam and Dad – but I can’t. There’s nothing here for me.’

  I didn’t understand. ‘Why do you say change is a good thing?’

  ‘Don’t you see, Lily? Ireland is becoming a different place.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘Before long, women will be allowed to vote. Ireland will be free. There will be opportunities for everyone, not just rich people.’

  ‘Do you really think so? Who told you all this?’ I asked, wondering where my quiet friend had got all these new ideas.

  ‘My uncle Maurice has been visiting from Dublin, and the stories he’s been telling us …’

  ‘Like what?’

  ‘He knows a girl who used to be a housemaid in Galway, but she left to work in a drapery store a few years ago. She learned how to make hats, and she saved up all her money, and last month she opened her own little hat shop. Imagine that!’

  ‘Are you telling me the truth?’

  ‘Yes! Trust me, Lily, life won’t always be like this. One day you will be free to leave Lissadell and follow your dreams. One day you will be a teacher – just like you always wanted. One day I’ll come back from America, and I’ll find work here, and have a good life. You and Rose and me, we will all have good lives.’

  ‘One day sounds like a long time away,’ I said.

  I could hear Hanora’s mam calling her for her dinner.

  ‘I have to go,’ she said. ‘I’ll write. I promise I’ll write as often as I can.’

  ‘I’ll write too,’ I said.

  ‘We’ll tell each other all the news and it will be almost like having a chat.’

  Neither of us believed that for a second, but pretending was easier than facing up to the truth.

  We hugged and I went home to Mam and cried in her arms until her shoulder was wet from my tears.

  * * *

  The walk back to Lissadell seemed to take a long time. I felt as if I was walking away from my old life forever. Despite what she’d said, I couldn’t help thinking that I’d never see Hanora again. I’d never play skipping with her or hear her laugh about funny things I said. Would I ever again live with my mam, and see her every day? Would she spend the rest of her life missing me?

  But I told myself I shouldn’t feel too sad. Denis was growing up and doing a great job of helping Mam. When he moves on, I know Jimmy and Anne and Winnie will in turn step into his shoes. And after that, who knows? Maybe by then, I’ll be married with a family of my own, and a little house near Mam, and my own garden and everything. Maybe Hanora was right. Maybe one day I’ll be a teacher. Maybe one day won’t be too long coming.

  The beach was quiet and the sea was grey and peaceful. I stopped walking when I came around the bend and saw Lissadell. Inside the house, I knew Isabelle and Maggie were waiting to hear the latest funny things Winnie had said. Cook would want to know how Mam liked the cake and the other food she had sent. The Countess had left, and Maeve was sure to be sad, so maybe she’d find me, and pretend-paint me and we could chat. Maybe I could finish Winnie’s dress, and get started on one for Anne. Later, Nellie and I would sit in our own little room, and our reading lessons would continue.

  I began to walk quickly. It was getting late, and I had a lot to do.

  Lissadell History Note

  Lily at Lissadell is a mixture of fact and fiction, so I thought I’d write these notes so you can see who really existed, and who came from my (over-active) imagination.

  First, I’d like to mention my grandmothers Julianne and Mary Anne – who were very real and very much alive in 1913! Julianne left school at the age of twelve, and went to work as a maid in a house in Cork city. The story about Lily and the Christmas present of winter boots is based on something that happened to Julianne. Mary Anne also left school at a very young age. When she was fourteen she travelled to New York with her sister, looking for work. She found employment as a maid in a large house in New York State. I still have the dinner service her employers gave her when she left work years later to marry my grandfather. (Married women hardly ever worked back then.) The cup on the back cover of this book is from that tea set, while the one on the front cover is from Julianne’s wedding tea set.

  I regret that I didn’t ask my grandmothers enough questions while they were alive, so if it’s not too late, grab your granny (or grandad) and ask them to tell you about their youth.

  The House

  Lissadell is a real house in County Sligo. It was built in the 1830s for Robert Gore-Booth, and remained in this family until 2003. Over the years, many interesting and famous people have visited, including the poet W.B. Yeats. I visited in the spring of 2019, during my research for this book. It’s a beautiful place and if you go there you can see many things mentioned in the book, like the servants’ bedrooms, the grand staircase, the porte cochere and the stuffed bear that frightened Lily. You can also see the window where the young Constance Markievicz scratched her name.

  The People

  Lily and Nellie did not really exist (sorry!) I did a lot of research though, and the lives they lived and the jobs they did are as accurate as I could make them. Many of the other servants were made up too, but quite a few of the people in this book were real. I had a lot of fun researching their stories and putting words in their mouths.

  Countess Constance Markievicz

  Constance was born in 1868, the eldest of five children. Her sister Eva was her best friend. Constance loved the outdoor life. She enjoyed sailing and was a skilled horsewoman and hunter. She was an accomplished artist – once she did a sketch of a servant in Lissadell. She studied art in London and Paris, where she met her husband Count Markievicz. Initially, she hoped to win votes for women, but then she decided that freedom for Ireland should happen first, saying, ‘There can be no free women in an enslaved nation.’

  During the 1913 Lockout, she worked hard to establish a soup kitchen to feed poor families. She fought during the 1916 Easter rising and was sentenced to death, but because she was a woman, she was sent to prison instead. She was freed in 1917, and in 1918 she was the first woman ever elected to the British House of Commons. In 1919 she became the Minister for Labour in the Dáil – only the second female minister in the world!

  Constance was always generous, and gave most of her wealth to poor people in Dublin. The year before she died she often drove to the country to collect bags of turf, which she gave to families who would otherwise not have been able to heat their homes. When Constance died at the age of fifty-nine, thousands of people came to her funeral.

  Maeve de Markievicz
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br />   Maeve was Countess Markievicz’s only child. She was born in Lissadell House in 1901. Her parents left her in the care of her grandmother, Georgina, for most of her childhood, except for a short period when she lived with them in Dublin, along with her half brother Stanislaus. When she was six she returned to Sligo, and never lived with her parents again. As her Lissadell cousins were much younger, she spent a lot of time with the servants. She liked working in the garden with her Uncle Josslyn, and regularly tried to paint portraits of family members. At the age of sixteen she was sent to boarding school in England, where she became an accomplished violinist. After that she spent little time in Ireland. Some years passed during which she never once saw her mother. When she was twenty, they arranged to meet, but failed to recognise each other, and had to be introduced. (No Instagram or WhatsApp for them!) Maeve trained as a landscape gardener, and also took up painting again towards the end of her life. Maeve died in England in 1962.

  Maeve wrote this letter to her mother in 1906, when she was five years old.

  Sir Josslyn Gore-Booth

  Sir Josslyn was Maeve’s uncle, and the owner of Lissadell House. His sister, Constance, was older than him, but back then houses and titles went to boys instead of girls! (This wasn’t his fault so we shouldn’t hold it against him.) He was a good landlord, and worked hard to create employment for local people. He was very interested in horticulture, and developed a number of new daffodil varieties. He was a bit embarrassed by his sister Constance, but when she was sentenced to death, he did all he could to save her.

  Butler Kilgallon

  Thomas Kilgallon worked for the Gore-Booth family for sixty years, starting when he was ten years old. Count Markievicz did a painting of him on a pillar in the dining room in Lissadell House – it’s still there today.

  Books about Lily’s Time

  Since I wasn’t alive in 1913(!) I had to read lots of books to find out what Lily’s life would have been like. When I first started to think about this book, I knew I’d be writing about a fictional housemaid, but when I discovered Maeve de Markievicz: Daughter of Constance by Clive Scoular, my story almost began to write itself. I hadn’t known that Countess Markievicz had a daughter, and I was very keen to learn more about her and her life.

  These are the other books that I read:

  Blazing a Trail by Sarah Webb and Lauren O’Neill

  Countess Markievicz: An Adventurous Life by Ann Carroll

  Constance Markievicz by Anne Haverty

  The Gore-Booths of Lissadell by Dermot James

  Revolutionary Lives by Lauren Arrington

  I also found lots of useful information on the website www.lissadellhouse.com

  Acknowledgements

  Thanks to Michael O’Brien who first suggested that I write about the Gore-Booth family and Lissadell House. Big thanks to the current owners of Lissadell House, Edward Walsh and Constance Cassidy, who generously allowed me to visit their home, and shared their huge knowledge of the house and the Gore-Booth family. Thanks to my friend, Sarah Webb, who listened patiently while I worked out early plot details and struggled with a title. Thanks as always to the team at O’Brien Press, who work so hard to bring my books into the world. Special mention has to go to super-editor Helen Carr. Thanks to Rachel Corcoran for another beautiful cover illustration. Thanks to my mum, who shared stories of her mum’s early life as a housemaid. Thanks to Dan, and my now scattered children for their ongoing love and support.

  Other Books by Judi Curtin

  The ‘Molly & Beth’ series

  Time After Time

  Stand By Me

  You’ve Got A Friend

  The ‘Alice & Megan’ series

  Alice Next Door

  Alice Again

  Don’t Ask Alice

  Alice in the Middle

  Bonjour Alice

  Alice & Megan Forever

  Alice to the Rescue

  Viva Alice!

  Alice & Megan’s Cookbook

  The ‘Eva’ Series

  Eva’s Journey

  Eva’s Holiday

  Leave it to Eva

  Eva and the Hidden Diary

  Only Eva

  Other Books

  See If I Care (with Roisin Meaney)

  Copyright

  This eBook edition first published 2019 by

  The O’Brien Press Ltd,

  12 Terenure Road East, Rathgar,

  Dublin 6, D06 HD27 Ireland.

  Tel: +353 1 4923333; Fax: +353 1 4922777

  E-mail: books@obrien.ie.

  Website: www.obrien.ie

  First published 2019.

  The O’Brien Press is a member of Publishing Ireland.

  eBook ISBN: 978–1–78849–161–7

  Text © copyright Judi Curtin 2019

  Copyright for typesetting, layout, editing, design

  © The O’Brien Press Ltd

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilised in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or in any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Photo credits:

  Lissadell House copyright Sean Kennedy; used with permission; Constance Marcievicz and her children courtesy of the McMahon family; Maeve de Marcievicz, source unknown; Maeve de Marcievicz letter courtesy of Lissadell Collection; used with permission.

  Cover and internal illustrations by Rachel Corcoran.