Happy to have p.m. back with her new story!

A Struggle for Independence by p.m.terrell releases in March in the Historical novel genre.

Sometimes a woman comes to the realization that she has built the perfect life but with the wrong man. It is 1916 Ireland, and Independence Mather has settled into a tedious routine in an arranged marriage when she meets an architect hired to add a wing onto her husband’s vast estate. She soon falls in love with the charming, attentive Nicky Bowers, but he has secrets to hide. When she discovers he is an Irish rebel, events propel her into the middle of the Easter Rising. Now she must decide whether to remain the wife of a British loyalist or risk everything to join the rebellion and be with the man she loves.

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As the raindrops fell upon the gatehouse roof, they created a musical melody that was enough to lull me into blissful complacency. The outside world could not reach me here, and I could no longer remember what life had been like before Nicky.

He laid beside me now, his arm pulling me close. His eyes were closed, his breathing regular, the cool air from fresh rain wafting through the open windows to brush away perspiration that had formed on us both. Only his fingers lightly rubbing my shoulder told me he was not asleep but only resting, a brief respite before we made love all over again.

My existence had been permanently altered. I knew that now, and I also knew I was barreling toward a reckoning of which the details were hidden from me, and I could only have faith that this was where I needed to be… and who I was meant to be with.

I did not see Stratford in the mornings as he departed each day at the break of dawn. When he arrived home, I was no more than the candlesticks on the table, a tiny ray of light he would never acknowledge but expected to remain in a given place. One evening I simply did not stand in the hallway when he arrived home, having given Johanna the excuse that I was under the weather should he inquire. But when she reported back to me later, she said he did not ask for me, and from the reports of the others, he went about his dinner as he always did, as though I was seated at the far end of the table.

It was not a relationship; I understood that now. It was a business arrangement; it had always been a business arrangement and nothing more. I had been naïve to believe it might ever turn into something else. Nor did I want anything else with him, I realized. The mere thought of him touching me was enough to turn my stomach. I was thankful for his inability to consummate the marriage.

Nicky squeezed my shoulder and pulled me ever closer to him. My days were completely different from my evenings; I lived for the hours between dawn and sunset. I still took the path along the meadow each morning but an hour or so earlier than I had in the past, and it was not long before Nicky arrived to whisk me away. Sometimes we strolled along the water at the rear of the estate, far from prying eyes. Other times we picnicked beneath the ancient oak, discussing all manner of things. Sometimes we rode our horses to the far corners of Matherscourt. And always, always, we ended up at the old gatehouse. It had become our haven.

The gatehouse was diminutive, but I was serenely comfortable here. The rushing waters under the structure sounded like a constant lullaby, and on days like this with a steady rain tapping against the roof, I felt wrapped in its cocoon. The makeshift bed had been made plumper over time thanks to Nicky overstuffing it, and my contribution had been some bed linens from the house, enough to cushion the top so we could no longer feel pricks from the straw. Someday I planned to stuff it with eiderdown; I simply hadn’t figured out the logistics of that as yet.

Meals, wine, and ale were all brought in a basket, and Léana never once gave me any indication that she was puzzled by my sudden voracious appetite, though she must suspect I was not eating it all by myself. Still, I had grown a bit plumper. I had even managed to move in some old chairs and a table with Nicky’s help, and a few peat bricks kept the fire going.

Yes, we had set up our own little home here, and while I knew we could not expect to live out our lives in a gatehouse on Stratford’s estate, I was content to let the days slip by.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

p.m.terrell is the pen name for Patricia McClelland Terrell, the award-winning, internationally acclaimed author of more than 24 books in multiple genres, including contemporary suspense, historical suspense, computer instructional, non-fiction and children’s books.

Prior to writing full-time, she founded two computer companies in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area: McClelland Enterprises, Inc. and Continental Software Development Corporation. Among her clients were the Central Intelligence Agency, United States Secret Service, U.S. Information Agency, and Department of Defense. Her specialties were in the detection of white collar computer crimes and computer intelligence.

A full-time author since 2002, Black Swamp Mysteries was her first series, inspired by the success of Exit 22, released in 2008. Vicki’s Key was a top five finalist in the 2012 International Book Awards and 2012 USA Book Awards nominee, and The Pendulum Files was a national finalist for the Best Cover of the Year in 2014. Her second series, Ryan O’Clery Suspense, is also award-winning. The Tempest Murders (Book 1) was one of four finalists in the 2013 International Book Awards, cross-genre category. Her historical suspense, River Passage, was a 2010 Best Fiction and Drama Winner. It was determined to be so historically accurate that a copy of the book resides at the Nashville Government Metropolitan Archives in Nashville, Tennessee. Songbirds are Free is her bestselling book to date; it is inspired by the true story of Mary Neely, who was captured in 1780 by Shawnee warriors near Fort Nashborough (now Nashville, TN).

She was the co-founder of The Book ‘Em Foundation, an organization committed to raising public awareness of the correlation between high crime rates and high illiteracy rates. She was the founder of Book ‘Em North Carolina, an annual event held in the town of Lumberton, North Carolina, to raise funds to increase literacy and reduce crime and served as its chairperson and organizer for its first four years. She also served on the boards of the Friends of the Robeson County (NC) Public Library, the Robeson County (NC) Arts Council, Virginia Crime Stoppers and became the first female president of the Chesterfield County-Colonial Heights Crime Solvers in Virginia.

Researching the Historical Novel

by p.m.terrell

A Struggle for Independence begins in 1916, Ireland. Lady Independence Mather is living the typical life of an upper-crust, British loyalist. Like others in her social class, she is insulated from the lives of the average Irish during the same era. But when architect Nicky Bowers enters her life, she receives an education in the plight of the native Irish, even as she is falling in love with him.

I selected Ireland as the setting because my ancestors immigrated to America from the Emerald Isle. Years ago, I began tracing my heritage, and I became enthralled with Irish history. By 1916, Ireland had been under foreign rule for 700 years. It had been the breadbasket for Britain for centuries, raising chickens, sheep, and cattle as well as planting potatoes and other vegetables destined for the English table. Some are unaware that during the potato famines in which thousands of Irish perished, food was still being shipped to England from Ireland, a topic I wrote about in A Thin Slice of Heaven.

It is challenging to study Irish history without becoming educated in their struggle for independence, particularly in the early 20^th century. My research has involved the Internet, communications with experts, and visiting specific sites.

I begin with Internet research. Because the Internet is filled with more misinformation than accurate data, I am careful to use sites associated with universities, historical societies, and nonprofits established to preserve Irish history. I fact-check by cross-checking data over multiple sources.

I then look for the individuals involved in those institutions. This process has led over the years to historians, archaeologists, history professors, and caretakers of genealogical records. Sometimes, their assistance is limited to emails and phone calls.

Other times, individual assistance leads me to onsite visits, a process I wrote about in April in the Back of Beyond. In my travels to Ireland, I have visited archives, historians, archaeologists, genealogists, and university professors. I have journeyed to the specific sites I’ve written about, which has led me to Dublin Castle (The White Devil of Dublin), the Inishowen Peninsula (Checkmate: Clans and Castles), and the castles of Cahir O’Doherty, the last Gaelic King of Ireland. I have stood in the square in Donegal depicted in Cloak and Mirrors, strolled the land of abandoned ruins that became scene settings for numerous books, and toured the villages that inspired other scenes. I drew the line, however, at personally crossing the rope bridges that dangle hundreds of feet above cliff rocks and crashing waves.

A Struggle for Independence is the story of a woman that realizes she has built the perfect life but with the wrong man, and she must now decide whether to remain a British loyalist or enter an uncertain future with an Irish rebel. It is set firmly against the backdrop of the 1916 Easter Rising. The book characters associated with the Rising, such as Michael Collins, Patrick Pearse, and Countess Markievicz, are real people I sought to portray as accurately as possible. The events that unfold at the General Post Office and Saint Stephen’s Green are places I have stood and studied, the historical events and even the declaration Patrick Pearse read declaring their independence, are true and accurate. I have even toured Kilmainham Gaol, the infamous prison where the leaders were taken. I stood on the hallowed ground where each leader was executed, the bullet holes that went through them still visible in the wall.

I hope the depth of research, time, and effort shows in each of my books and provides readers with a combination of a fictional storyline set against historically accurate events.

For more information, book trailers, excerpts and more, visit the author’s website at www.pmterrell.com.

Website: https://pmterrell.com/

Twitter: @pmterrell

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pmterrell.author/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/pmterrell/

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