Grá mo Chroí
‘Love of my Heart’
Love Stories from Irish Myth
Grá mo Chroí, ‘Love of my Heart’, is a collection of love stories that Jane Dougherty and I have put together based on some of the most beautiful and tragic tales of Irish mythology.
What started out as a little hobby of a project, initially just to boost and support our other existing titles soon snowballed into something with a life and energy of it’s own.
Why? We wanted it to be the best we can make it be. But also because we love the old stories, they’re in our blood, and we need to do them justice. Besides, as we decided on which stories to tell, as we emailed various drafts back and forth till we had honed them into something sparkling and gorgeous and ethereal, as they deserve, the characters became friends reaching out to us through the centuries, expressing their sentiments through us.
So between us, we have created a book of love stories… whoever thought I would do that? Working with Jane has been a pleasure and an inspiration, and it has been so much fun sharing the experience of writing a book with her, instead of going it alone.
More details and cover reveal will be coming soon. In the meantime, I want to share one more thing with you. Yesterday, Jane tweeted the following poems to me, in reference to two of the stories in the book. They were so lovely, I didn’t want them to be lost in Twitter-Land, so here they are. (She’s a very talented lady, if you didn’t already know!)
“She watches the stars
through the rowan leaves
plucks berries red as blood
& memories of her blackhaired love”
******
“From the sea she came
& the sea took her back
restless
he follows the wave
but the sea is ever empty”
Today I tweeted two poems back.
“Yew boughs twined together
Lovers’ limbs interlace
Twisted, tattooed with ogham
In the bark, an image of a face”
******
“On Aonbhar’s back she did ride
Hooves trod clouds in the sky
Her passion is the wild ocean roar
Sorrow, the grey gulls cry”
Grá mo Chroí
‘Love of my Heart’
Love Stories from Irish Myth
Great stuff, Ali, can’t wait to see something more to poor old maligned Diarmaid & Grainne, involving young love, rather than, erm… Tea. Really looking forward to your book!
LikeLike
Sounds awesome and exciting. Congratulations. 🙂
LikeLike
Thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You are welcome.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Is this book finished? I didn’t see a link to it. I’m very interested in learning more. You won me with the title. Gaelic, right?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep! Gaelic! It’s available to pre-order on Amazon, launch date is Feb 11th… just in time for Valentine’s Day! I’ll get a link up there.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lovely, lovely words – you are both wonderful writers, and may this book be a huge success! How do you pronounce the title – it’s Gaelic?
I now feel connected to Rowena, since it seems my Irish ancestors came to Maine via Quebec during the potato famine.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Noelle! The nearest pronunciation would be graw muh khree but the ch of chroì would be soft, like in loch.
Thanks for the compliments about the book!
LikeLike
As a fellow lover of Irish mythology, I look forward to this. Anything about Cúchulainn in there? He’s my favorite Irish hero!
LikeLike
Hi Linnet! He does indeed! However, the story is told from his wife Emer’s point of view… you might be surprised at the different picture of Cuchullain which emerges!
LikeLike
As a matter of fact, I wrote a novel about him which is told entirely from the perspective of the various women in his life. So I will be very interested to see your take on him from Emer’s POV!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1492187585?ref%5F=la%5FB00A917YE0%5F1%5F1&s=books&qid=1381229549&sr=1-1
LikeLike
Sounds intriguing! I will have to read it!
LikeLike
Wow Ali!
You and Jane certainly weave some magic. That book is going to be amazing.
I don’t think I’ve mentioned to you before that I am descended from an Irish famine orphan Bridget Donovan who came from Midleton Workhouse out to Sydney. I am sure I have found the most invisible woman in history. I tried to whip up a bit of romance. However, she married an illiterate older man and had a number of children out in the Australian bush. I doubt there was much romance there to be found.
I am also descended from an Irish man who came out to Australia as an Able-Seaman. This one has more potential in the romance stakes. I imagine him galavanting around town in his uniform. I do try to liven up my family history by bringing in the Irish customs and folklore as names and dates get bit dry and boring.
I will have to order your book and fall deeper and deeper in love with all things Irish.
Worth keeping in mind that there is a big Irish Famine Monument celebration in Sydney each year and last year Brendan Graham came out (at his own expense) Here’s the link:http://www.irishfaminememorial.org/
Quite a lot of Australians have Irish heritage and love all things Irish. We don’t have the population of America but worth keeping us in mind.
All the best!
xx Rowena
LikeLike
Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog….. An Author Promotions Enterprise! and commented:
As they might say in Ireland – If you miss this upcoming book, it won’t be for the lack of telling ye about it 😀
LikeLiked by 2 people
This sounds like a brilliant book, can’t wait until release!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Mishka! I know you like mythology and romance, so hopefully you’ll enjoy this book! ☺
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think I will definitely love it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a wonderful way to start a Tuesday – with some poignant poetry!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hey! Thank you so much! Which reminds me… I must book myself onto that Teltown tour, if I’m not too late already!
LikeLike
Anytime! Just drop me an email and I will organise a personal tour for you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Really? That would be wonderful, thank you so much!
LikeLike
Best of luck with it Ali. I hope you and Jane take the world by storm.
xxx Huge Hugs xxx
LikeLike
Thank you David! Although I’d rather it was a gentle Spring breeze than a storm lol!!!
LikeLike
Reblogged this on Scenes of futures past and commented:
Look closely, find heart!
LikeLike
Thanks for the re-blog, Dash!
LikeLike
My pleasure! I found the button so the blogs that resonate I’ll share and reshare. 😀 I just need to avoid getting carried way. 😉
LikeLike
Lol! Easier said than done! ☺
LikeLike
That is so cool. Collaborations are putting ourselves out there in a whole new way.
Who’s the homely guy in your sidebar?
LikeLike
Lol! Hope you dont mind that… didnt have cover art so had to use your pic… you look kinda cool on my sidebar!
I loved working with Jane. It was so nice to share the process and bounce ideas off each other, instead of doing everything by myself.
LikeLike
I don’t mind, if you don’t. I want to hold the actual cover for a while.
LikeLike
That’s cool then! Do you want just general reader type feedback on wotw or do you want detailed nitty gritty type stuff… not that I’ve found any yet lol!
LikeLike
Whatever you’re comfortable with. General feedback works for me. I’ll probably dedicate a chunk of February to getting it ready for publication.
LikeLike
Okey dokey!
LikeLike
Your book of Irish love stories sounds intriguing, Ali. I’m looking forward to learning more about it.
LikeLike
Thanks Rachele! It was something a bit different fo me which I really enjoyed.
LikeLike