Mossgrove

3 primary works

The Woman of the House

by Alice Taylor

Published 4 December 1997

The Phelans have owned Mossgrove for generations. The small, rural Irish farm has been the pride of them all until Ned's wife, Martha, arrives and begins to undermine generations of hard work and happiness. She resents the deep history of the place and sets about making it her own, shutting out what is left of Ned's family. She is particularly jealous of Ned's sister, Kate, a local nurse and doting aunt to Martha's children.

When Ned dies suddenly, Martha puts Mossgrove up for sale in hopes that it will be bought by the neighbouring Conways, who have long coveted the Phelan farm. What she does not realize are the lengths to which Kate and the hired hand Jack will go to keep the land in the family ...

Across the River

by Alice Taylor

Published 20 May 2000

Alice Taylor's gripping sequel to The Woman of the House.

At Mossgrove, the Phelan family farm, long-time hired hand Jack plays peacemaker as widow Martha Phelan battles her young son, Peter, who wants to modernize the farm. Tensions on the home front are bitter enough, but at the Conway farm across the river, more trouble is brewing. Slovenly Matt Conway feels trapped and abuses his wife, Biddy. Spurred on by a misguided belief that the Phelans got the best of him in a loan to buy land, he keeps vigil at a fence post plotting revenge ...

House Of Memories

by Alice Taylor

Published 6 October 2005

The new novel from the bestselling author of The Woman of the House A story of love for the land and of the passions and jealousies it can inspire. A moving story, too, of bereavement and grief. No one knows the warp and weft of country life as Alice Taylor does, and she has a unique ability to capture its rhythms and cadences. Following his brutish father's unlamented death, young Danny Conway strives to rescue the family farm from ruin; when all seems hopeless, help comes from the most unexpected quarter.