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A Newry born author has just published her fifth book, a work of fiction based around a girl who has spent six months in the Newry workhouse.
Patricia Falvey who now lives in Dallas was raised in Newry and England and emigrated by herself to America at the age of 20 where she followed a career in financial consulting. She served as Managing Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLC, earning national recognition as a tax expert for the insurance industry and was a frequent speaker at industry conferences.
Having always thought of being a writer she took a leap of faith late in her career and resigned from her work in finance to follow her dream and became a full time writer. Her books reflect her home area with themes of the troubles,
Her first novel, The Yellow House came in 2010 followed by The Linen Queen in 2012, The Girls of Ennismore in 2017, The Titanic Sisters in 2019 and The Famine Orphans in 2025.
The Famine Orphans
The Famine Orphans is a triumphant story that follows one of the thousands of young Irish women shipped to Australia after the Famine as part of the Earl Grey scheme, whose indomitable bravery in an exotic, danger-laden land helped shape a new country. They survived Ireland’s Great Hunger to build a new society in untamed Australia in this powerful historical fiction novel.
"The Earl Grey Scheme was presented as an opportunity for young women to gain employment as domestic servants in the Colony. But there is another, unstated purpose - the girls are to “civilise” the many men sent there as convicts, so that settlements can be built.
"Kate Gilvarry has spent six months in a Newry workhouse, subsisting on a diet of watery porridge. She knows there’s no future for her either within its walls or outside, in a ravaged, starving land. But once Kate’s ship completes the harrowing voyage, she and her companions find their reception in Sydney dismayingly unwelcoming, as anti-Irish sentiment grows. Homesick, and disillusioned by love following a shipboard crush, Kate strives to fit in, first as the servant of a demanding English woman, then as a farmer’s bride in the Outback."
"When heat and drought force her husband to leave for long periods to work on a sheep ranch, Kate is left alone to fend off wild animals, drifters, and her aching loneliness. She longs to return to Ireland. But first, this beautiful, unforgiving country will teach her about resilience and survival, and the limitless possibilities that come with courage and love.
"Evocative and compelling, The Famine Orphans is a testament to the young women whose pioneering spirit left an enduring legacy in a land so far from home."
The Linen Queen
The Linen Queen published back in 2012 is fronted with the view from our iconic Flagstaff viewpoint and reflects on Bessbrook's history as a mill village.
"Queensbrook, County Armagh, Ireland 1941. Abandoned by her father and neglected by her self-centered, unstable mother, Sheila McGee cannot wait to escape the drudgery of her mill village life in Northern Ireland. Her classic Irish beauty helps her win the 1941 Linen Queen competition, and the prize money that goes with it finally gives her the opportunity she’s been dreaming of. But Sheila does not count on the impact of the Belfast blitz which brings World War II to her doorstep. Now even her good looks are useless in the face of travel restrictions, and her earlier resolve is eroded by her ma’s fear of being left alone.
"When American troops set up base in her village, some see them as occupiers but Sheila sees them as saviors – one of them may be her ticket out. Despite objections from her childhood friend, Gavin O’Rourke, she sets her sights on an attractive Jewish-American army officer named Joel Solomon, but her plans are interrupted by the arrival of Grainne Malloy, a street-wise young evacuee from Belfast."
Check out Patricia Falvey's website at patriciafalveybooks.com
