If historical sagas, Ireland, and love stories are your passions, this book was written for you.Ireland 1874. In a tiny cottage at the edge of a great estate, a baby boy is born. He's the illegitimate son of the heir to an Earldom and the housemaid who's willing to risk everything for his love.This million-copy bestseller takes you on a turbulent emotional journey, as Thomas Dalton fights his way from the desperate poverty of a young immigrant boy deserted by fortune and family, to the triumph of an Irish-American patriarch capable of outwitting Fate itself. You'll meet the mother forced to abandon him, the wife who sacrifices everything to marry him, the notorious madam who saves him. You'll share the loves, lusts, courage and betrayals that forge his heart and his soul.It's a sweeping tale of unbridled passion, Irish lore and poetic prose you won't easily forget.Publisher's Weekly: "Almost impossible to put down... one powerful scene after another and the strong plotting draws you hopelessly on."The New York Daily News: "A cross between The Thorn Birds and Ragtime!" The New York Daily News: "A cross between The Thorne Birds and Ragtime!"