The Hon. Emily Lawless (1845-1913) was an Irish novelist, historian, entomologist, gardener and poet from County Kildare. Her innovative approach to narrative and the psychological richness of her fiction have been identified as examples of early modernism. Her novels feature peasant heroes and heroines, though she depicted with equal sympathy the Anglo-Irish landowners, and her unshakeable love of Ireland comes across clearly in her work, with several of her short stories denouncing the inequality brought about by colonialism and landlordism in Ireland. She wrote 19 works of fiction, biography, history and nature studies, many of which were widely read at the time. However, due in part to W B Yeats's scathing comments about her supposed sterotyping of Irish peasants, and partly because her initial opposition to female suffrage was wrongly perceived as an anti-feminist stance, her work has long been neglected. Much of her work does in fact make a strong case for female autonomy in financial and creative terms and she was a noted and popular writer in the New Woman movement which swept English fiction and journalism in the late 19th century. This story set in the Isles of Aran was first published in 1892.
Emily Lawless (1845-1913) was an Irish writer. She was born at Lyons House below Lyons Hill, Ardclough, County Kildare. Her grand-father was Valentine Lawless; a member of the United Irishmen and son of a convert from Catholicism to the Church of Ireland. In contrast her brother Edward Lawless was a landowner with strong Unionist opinions, a policy of not employing Roman Catholics in any position in his household, and chairman of the Property Defence Association set up in 1880 to oppose the Land League and "uphold the rights of property against organised combination to defraud." Emily wrote 19 books of fiction, biography, history, nature studies and poetry, many of which were widely read at the time. She is most famous nowadays for her Wild Geese poems. She spent part of her childhood with the Kirwans of Castlehackett, County Galway and drew on West of Ireland themes for many of her works. She occasionally used 'Edith Lytton' as pen name. Among her famous works are: Hurrish (1886), and Major Lawrence FLS (1888).
First published in 1889, “Grania” is a novel by Irish author Emily Lawless. Set on the second largest of the three Aran Islands, Inishmaan, it follows the life of the eponymous Grania from her childhood to early womanhood. A wonderful tale of innocent youth and island life that will appeal to those with an interest in Irish history and culture. The Hon. Emily Lawless (1845–1913) was an Irish historian, gardener, poet, entomologist, and novelist of the early modern period. Other notable works by Lawless include: “A Chelsea Householder” (1882), “A Millionaire's Cousin” (1885), and “Ireland” (1885). Read & Co. Classics is proudly republishing this novel now in a new edition complete with an introductory chapter by Helen Edith Sichel.
First published in 1892, Grania is the story of a fisherman’s daughter from the Islands of Aran, off the coast of Galway. Grania O’Malley’s life is circumscribed by family duty and her destiny as wife to her feckless fiancé, Murdough Blake. When she realises her wants her only for her money and property, Grania rejects him in favour of heroism, although with tragic consequences. Through complex and skilled characterisation, Lawless evokes a vivid picture of island life, with its unforgiving landscape and grinding poverty. Using a unique poetic style, the author conveys both humour and a sense of Gaelic identity, inextricably linked with this remarkable community. Algernon Swinburne described Grania as “one of the most exquisite and perfect works in the language” and Mrs Humphry Ward praised its “breath of sensitive humanity”. This scholarly edition, the first for twenty-five years, brings Emily Lawless’s extraordinary novel to a new audience. This edition includes: critical introduction by Michael O’Flynn extensive explanatory footnotes selection of contemporary reviews selection of essays, poems and letters by Emily Lawless contextual material on the New Woman; marriage; motherhood; evolution; and literature and the novel
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