I struggled to find scholarly research that supported the presence of Irish spies among the French, but there is no doubt the English possessed great anxiety toward an Irish/French alliance during the Napoleonic Wars. Who knows? Perhaps a French spy infiltrated the local Anglo-Irish gentry and inspired some of their ranks to join up for espionage missions. Also, Captain Richard Grant was not the first to use “crossing the T” as a naval strategy. Admiral Lord Nelson used it to during the Battle of Trafalgar (1805) to great success.
While history likes to pretend women always remained on the sidelines of battle, the fact is, such assumptions are simply untrue. Many women fought in the 1798 uprising and in several subsequent Irish uprisings. Most famously, Dr. James Berry was an Irish military surgeon who was born a woman, but went on to serve bravely in the British Army. Of course, if the proliferation of crossdressing sea shanties in Irish traditional music is any indication, Mary O’Malley was not the only young woman from Ireland who cut her hair and donned men’s clothing in search of adventure on the high seas…
Acknowledgments
When I was sixteen, I took a temp job at a local bookstore stocking shelves. One book in particular caught my eye. It was titled Henry and June and it featured the silhouette of a couple beneath a bridge, the leg of the woman dangling over the man’s shoulder. Well, of course I bought it with my bookstore discount, and from there began a sexual journey I have, perhaps, been on my entire life. So, thank you, Anaïs Nin, for stirring the imagination of one romantic, albeit hopelessly hormonal, sixteen-year-old young woman. Thank you, also, to the writers who furthered my education—Anne Rice, DH Lawrence, and Kate Chopin. And of course, thank you to the contemporary erotica writers and readers who first glanced at my dirty little book. I have so much gratitude to my eternal sister in the struggle Kim Cohen, whose conversations regarding feminism, agency, and female empowerment not only have made me a better romance writer, but a better human being. Thanks, also, to May B. Bridges for her incredible insights. Also, thank you to Laura Adams and Brenna Mills for all their help and support through my revisions. Thank you, also, to Sarah Etlinger for help with the French. Any errors are my own. Of course, I would be remiss not to thank Michael Mammay who did not read this book, but kept me laughing with enough dick jokes and terrible nautical puns to make this pub life bearable. Sorry, dude, but Entangled nixed Booty on the Bounty for a title. Maybe next time.
Thank you to my amazing editor Suzanne Evans for all her continued support and for loving all my deeply flawed heroines. Thanks, also, to Brenda Chin for finding Mary’s heart and helping me share her truth with my readers. Thank you to Kaitlyn Osborn and everyone at Entangled marketing for all their help with bringing my books out into the world. As ever, thank you to all the readers, reviewers, and book bloggers for their encouragement over the past year. You have made all of this worth it.
I am grateful to my parents for their unconditional support of my writing and my career. Thank you, also, to my brothers whose musical interests brought me here. Without all those rebel songs and sea shanties, I may have never come to know Mary O’Malley and her story. I am grateful to my children for the joy they bring me every day, and finally, to my husband who has turned my life into a fairy tale. You are, and ever will be, the light in all my twisty darkness, my true North. Thank you for taking me as I was and for loving me for who I am now, today, and always.
About the Author
C.B. Halverson is the alter-ego of Colleen Halverson, author of the Aisling Chronicles. Ever since she picked up her first bodice ripper as an impressionable adolescent, she wanted to explore the erotic female experience through writing. It wouldn’t be until much later that she allowed herself the freedom to write these sordid tales, and now she fears she may never stop. When she’s not staring out the window and dreaming up stories, she can be found trying out new Thai recipes, drinking wine with her girlfriends, or hiking through the woods with her husband and two children.
Sign up for her newsletter at http://colleenhalverson.com/newsletter-signup/.
Also by C.B. Halverson, writing as Colleen Halverson
the Aisling Chronicles
Through the Veil
Children of the Veil
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The Captain's Rebel (Irish Heroines) Page 24