Local author Ashley Sweeney discusses her novel 'The Irish Girl'

Summary: Thirteen-year-old Mary Agnes Coyne, forced from her home in rural Ireland in 1886 after being accused of incest, endures a treacherous voyage across the vast Atlantic alone to an unknown life in America. From the tenements of New York to the rough alleys of Chicago, Mary Agnes suffers the bitter taste of prejudice for the crime of being poor and Irish. Digging deep within, Mary Agnes discovers strength and worth as she re-defines what it means to belong while grappling with the clash of heritage, religion and matters of the heart.

Tell us about the real Mary Anne Agnes Coyne, briefly.

"The Irish Girl" chronicles the journey my great-grandmother Mary Agnes Coyne made from Galway, Ireland, to New York alone in 1886 at age 13 to begin her life in America. While I never knew my great-grandmother – she died the year I was born – she lived a robust life and settled in Chicago, where she raised my father and his brother in the early 1930s. My father remembers his grandmother as feisty, frugal and fair and in possession of a great sense of humor. She loved to cook and worked in a factory cafeteria until her retirement. She also loved all things Western, a nod to her years in Colorado and Texas. One of my father's happiest recollections is when he and Mary Agnes would sit on her bed and listen to radio Westerns on Saturday nights: "Death Valley Days" and "The Lone Ranger."

Why did you have to tell this story?

While standing on the plot of ground where Mary Agnes grew up on Dawros Beg, a small peninsula in rural western Ireland, I felt a great compunction to tell her story. What stirred my great-grandmother's heart? What forced her from Ireland and brought her to America? How did she manage, a slight and naïve girl, on an arduous sea journey and in a hostile new world? How did she survive to maturity with humor and dignity? Did she ever miss this spot? While "The Irish Girl" is the bones of my great-grandmother's story, it is also the aggregate story of all our foremothers as they came to America from a foreign land to pursue a new life. There are many similarities in Mary Agnes's story to those of immigrants arriving in the U.S. today in that they are vilified, derided, shunned and often abused. At the core, Mary Agnes – and many immigrants – come to America to fulfill lives that are dead-ended in her/their countries of origin.

Your Mary Agnes has such fortitude, determination, hope and love. Why?

Instead of asking "why," I ask "why not" have fortitude, determination and hope? I have experienced generational trauma, physical and emotional abuse, sexism and misogyny in my adult life. No matter what trial I face, I move through each situation with fortitude, determination and hope, as countless female ancestors of mine have done. My grandmother, Grace, Mary Agnes's eldest daughter, was a wild force to be reckoned with and had an outsized influence on my life. The Irish, especially the Catholic Irish, believe ancestors are with us at all times, guiding us and interceding for us. It's no surprise it's built into my DNA to travel through life with fortitude, determination and hope. Love, well, that's a bonus.

You did so much research, from County Galway, Ireland, to crossing the Atlantic on the Endeavour, to New York City to Chicago. Share a critical, telling research detail you brought to life in these moments of Mary A.'s passage.

When Mary Agnes arrives in New York City after a harrowing sea voyage across the Atlantic, she goes through immigration processing at Castle Garden, the precursor to Ellis Island, which opened in 1892. I did extensive research on the immigration process at Castle Garden in the late 19th century and hope I've brought the experience to life for readers, not only its aura and protocol, but also its underbelly: abuse, corruption, extortion and derision new immigrants faced when they first stepped foot off the boats. A piece of information I found especially poignant is that many immigrants – Russians, Italians, Scandinavians, Greeks, Irish, it didn't matter from where they came – knelt and kissed the ground upon clearing the customs house. Many would never return to their country of origin. None knew what lay ahead. But so thankful they were, they literally knelt and kissed the ground. It's visceral, how I reacted to that fact.

This is such a truth telling feminist novel from its first pages, with the 13-year-old Mary A. fleeing from predations of her 15-year-old half-brother through the loss of pregnancy in a Chicago tenement six years later. What motivates you to bring these topics and truths to the page?

Life is messy, especially for women. In all my novels, I don't shy away from the underside of women's experiences, although none of it – scenes of birth, menstruation, pregnancy, or death – is gratuitous. I'm a stickler for historical accuracy, so I go down many proverbial rabbit holes uncovering everything about an era as I'm writing. This includes reading period books, newspapers, journals, magazines, census reports, birth and death certificates, real estate transactions, transportation schedules, menus, playbills and understanding hygienic and medical practices of the day (the fact that Mary Agnes's first employer has indoor plumbing in 1886 is a wonder to her). In every novel, it's imperative I inhabit my protagonist's world and navigate through each day and situation with her and not shy away from the unsavory bits. It makes the savory bits so much more rewarding.

Your Irish girl is 13 on page 1 and 19 at the novel's end. Mary A. is a wonderful heroine and role model and this makes a great YA (Young Adult) novel. Your thoughts on fundamentalist uproars and its potential book banning?

I didn't write "The Irish Girl" as a YA novel, although mature teens can certainly read and appreciate Mary Agnes's story. Re: Book Banning, I firmly oppose it, leaving it to professional librarians – with their extensive training and expertise – to select appropriate books for their respective readers. It's a sad state of affairs in America in the 21st century that books are banned at all. "Charlotte's Web?" "Where the Wild Things Are?" "To Kill a Mockingbird?" "The Diary of Anne Frank?" "The Lord of the Rings?" Reading widely fosters empathy, compassion and deeper critical thinking, all qualities we need more of in America, not less.

Sweeney will sign her novel at Seaport Books, Gilkey Square, 2-4 p.m. on Dec. 11.