Location: New York City

The Irish Daughter of New York

Author/Guide: Kate Hewitt

Why a Booktrail?

1891: Maggie O’Halloran gazes at the Statue of Liberty – this is where her future begins…

ISBN: 978-1805500957
Genre: Familiy drama, Historical, Sagas

What you need to know before your trail

Stepping off the boat she boarded in Ireland, Maggie O’Halloran’s heart is filled with hope for this brave new world. But when her father isn’t waiting at the docks as planned, her excitement vanishes with the terrible realization she and her brother Danny are utterly alone—homeless, penniless and without a friend in the world.

Life on the Lower East Side is hard and grindingly poor, but Maggie is determined to survive. As she gazes longingly into the windows of Manhattan’s famous department stores, she dreams of owning her own millinery shop and becoming independent at last. And when fellow Irishman Brendan O’Donoghue offers her and Danny refuge, Maggie finally feels hope for their future.

Finding work with a wealthy family on the Upper East Side, Maggie’s dreams begin to feel closer than ever before. But just as her fortunes finally change, her brother’s involvement with a notorious New York gang brings terrible danger to both her and Brendan’s doors. Facing a heartbreaking decision, can Maggie save her brother and protect the new life she’s built? Or will the American dream she has held so close to her heart be lost forever?

Locations

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Travel Guide

Lower East Side and Upper East Side

Various scenes in the novel take place near Central Park’s eastern boundary (which borders the Upper East Side) – this is where Maggie travels between her job and her home in the tenements.

The Lower and Upper East Side are key locations in many ways as they show the contrast of the haves and have nots. When you compare Millionaire’s Row to Delancey Street and other parts of the Lower East Side where she initially lives, you can see the two sides of life she lives in between.