Kitty O'Shea
An Irish Affair
Will be published approx. on 25. August 2005
Book
Paperback/Softback
288 pages
978-0-7509-3342-1 (ISBN)
Description
Kitty O'Shea (1846-1921) was at the centre of one of the most notorious scandals of the late Victorian Age - a scandal which brought the downfall of Charles Stewart Parnell, the leader of the movement for Home Rule for Ireland and crippling damage to the movement itself.
In 1889, Parnell was named co-respondent in a divorce suit brought by one of his own MPs, Captain Willie O'Shea. Alleged to have conducted an ten-year affair with Mrs Katherine O'Shea, Parnell was also revealed to be the father of the three youngest O'Shea children. The divorce and the details it exposed was a great public scandal in Victorian England and Catholic Ireland. Yet Parnell refused to resign from his leadership of the Home Rule movement, which resulted in the split of his party.
In this compelling new biography, Jane Jordan explores the central, still unanswered questions:Why did Parnell risk the political future of Ireland (and his own) in conducting an affair with a married woman? And was O'Shea a duped husband, as he maintained, or did he connive with his wife's adultery in order to further his own political career?
In 1889, Parnell was named co-respondent in a divorce suit brought by one of his own MPs, Captain Willie O'Shea. Alleged to have conducted an ten-year affair with Mrs Katherine O'Shea, Parnell was also revealed to be the father of the three youngest O'Shea children. The divorce and the details it exposed was a great public scandal in Victorian England and Catholic Ireland. Yet Parnell refused to resign from his leadership of the Home Rule movement, which resulted in the split of his party.
In this compelling new biography, Jane Jordan explores the central, still unanswered questions:Why did Parnell risk the political future of Ireland (and his own) in conducting an affair with a married woman? And was O'Shea a duped husband, as he maintained, or did he connive with his wife's adultery in order to further his own political career?
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Stroud
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 10 mm
Weight
550 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7509-3342-1 (9780750933421)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Dr Jane Jordan is a lecturer at Kingston University where she teaches undergraduates on courses on the Victorian Novel, Dickens, British Literature 1880-1914 and runs a course on Sexuality and Gender for the Nineteenth Century MA. Her books include the acclaimed biography of the Victorian campaigner Josephine Butler.