The world of Mary O'Connell, 1778-1836

"In 1800 Daniel O'Connell, a young Kerry barrister who had just made his first forays into national politics, began a clandestine correspondence with his distant cousin Mary O'Connell of Tralee. Two years later Daniel secretly married the dowerless Mary in Dublin, jeopardizing his inheritance and forging a bond that would last until Mary's death in 1836. Husband and wife corresponded voluminously from the beginning of their courtship until Mary's death, and over a thousand letters between them have survived."--Jacket.

"The World of Mary O'Connell, based on close examination of these letters and of Mary's correspondence with other family members and friends, is more than a portrait of the Liberator's wife. Through the life and letters of Mary O'Connell, Erin Bishop has produced a study of social and domestic life in Ireland in the early nineteenth century."--Jacket.