Today you get the chance to find out more about Lady Independence Mather, one of the characters in A Struggle for Independence, the latest book from author p.m. terrell. You can also read an excerpt from the book and then follow the tour for even more fun! Let her know what you think along the way! And then remember to enter the giveaway at the end!
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A Day in the Life of Lady Independence Mather
In A Struggle for Independence, Lady Independence Mather (Penny) has fallen into a routine. Her husband is cold and aloof, their chambers separate in the sprawling estate known as Matherscourt. Once he leaves for his office in Dublin, she arises and begins her day.
Though a vast formal dining room exists, she prefers her breakfast in the cozy kitchen where the servants gather. Then she takes a stroll past her beloved horses as she makes her way to an old outbuilding that she has converted into her art studio. Penny lives in her head, drawing pictures of sweeping Irish vistas, horses in the fields, and pastoral streams. She consigns her art to her friend Eliza, who sells them in her gallery just blocks from the General Post Office in Dublin.
At the end of each day, Penny makes her way back down the path to the house, where she is expected to stand in line each evening to welcome Lord Mather on his arrival home from his office. He, however, does not acknowledge her but treats her as though she is just another servant.
All of this is about to change when Lord Mather hires an architect to oversee another addition to the estate. Nicky Bowers is charming and attentive and takes an interest in Penny’s art. When he invites her to accompany him to the Wicklow Mountains, she jumps at the chance. Away from Matherscourt and her self-imposed prison, her eyes are opened to the discrepancies between the British loyalist elite and the average Irish family, her art takes a different turn, depicting peasants, hollowed-out cottages and stark differences between the vast estates and hungry population.
She quickly falls in love with Nicky. Discovering an old gatehouse at the edge of Matherscourt, she spends her days in his arms there. When she discovers he is an Irish rebel running weapons for the Easter Rising, she faces a decision. She can remain in her comfortable yet loveless arranged marriage, surrounded by all the comforts her position affords. Or she can leave everything for an uncertain future with an Irish rebel. The uprising is far from an assured victory, and if it fails, she could be imprisoned or executed for treason.
Penny is at Eliza’s art gallery when the Easter Rising begins, and she is swept into the chaos from the GPO to Saint Stephen’s Green. She watches Dublin transform into a smoldering war zone, witnessing the breakdown of society as looting and indiscriminate killings begin. Separated from Nicky and at a crossroads, she must decide whether to return home to Matherscourt or breach the British lines in search of the man she loves.
Sometimes a woman comes to the realization that she has built the perfect life but with the wrong man.
It is 1916 Ireland, and Independence Mather has settled into a tedious routine in an arranged marriage when she meets an architect hired to add a wing onto her husband’s vast estate. She soon falls in love with the charming, attentive Nicky Bowers, but he has secrets to hide. When she discovers he is an Irish rebel, events propel her into the middle of the Easter Rising. Now she must decide whether to remain the wife of a British loyalist or risk everything to join the rebellion and be with the man she loves.
Read an excerpt:
I think when all is said and done, I prefer to sleep when the rains are upon me. There is something about curling up beneath layers of warm, cozy covers and listening to the raindrops against the glass or even the stronger pelting storms with their thunder and lightning that cause me to become lulled to contented sleep. But on nights like this, when the air is still and silent, time becomes stuck, and I feel suspended in wakefulness while sleep gathers just beyond my reach.
I rose, sliding my feet into my slippers and donning my robe to tread across the cold floor and poke the peat in the firebox. It was stubborn tonight; seeking the same slumber that evaded me, the remnants of earlier flames nothing more than a spark and a flicker. I finally gave up and began to make my way back to my bed, where warmth, if not sleep, awaited me. I paused at the window to note the frost forming in the lower corner, a late frost that could damage the flowers just beginning to bud to officially herald the spring and promise of summer. The skies were clear, the customary clouds nowhere in sight, the half-moon brilliant even though we were midway between full moons.
A flash caught my eye, and I turned my attention from the night sky to the ground below. I spotted it again, a glint and a glimmer, and it was gone as quickly as it had appeared. Forgetting the chill for the moment, I strained my eyes as I peered into the shadows, the moon unable to penetrate the copses of trees between the great house and the structures beyond the meadow.
I tried to pinpoint where the flashes were occurring and came to the conclusion they were at the old barn across from my little studio cottage. I thought vaguely of Stratford, asleep and snoring in his room down the hall, and knew I would not awaken him to the possibility of trespassers, nor would I rouse the servants from their beds. Completely and fully awake now, I felt my senses pricking at my mind, urging me to venture there myself.
I dressed quickly in dark clothing and carried my heavier shoes in my arms as I slipped outside my bedchamber and quietly closed the door behind me. The corridor was dark, and I groped at the walls as I made my way away from Stratford and down the stairs. The house was surreally quiet, objects that seemed ordinary or innocuous during the daytime, suddenly morphing into ghostly beings that loomed over the rooms to watch my departure from the house and into the chill of the night.
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About p.m. terrell
p.m.terrell is the pen name for Patricia McClelland Terrell, the award-winning, internationally acclaimed author of more than 24 books in multiple genres, including contemporary suspense, historical suspense, computer instructional, non-fiction and children’s books.
Prior to writing full-time, she founded two computer companies in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area: McClelland Enterprises, Inc. and Continental Software Development Corporation. Among her clients were the Central Intelligence Agency, United States Secret Service, U.S. Information Agency, and Department of Defense. Her specialties were in the detection of white collar computer crimes and computer intelligence.
A full-time author since 2002, Black Swamp Mysteries was her first series, inspired by the success of Exit 22, released in 2008. Vicki’s Key was a top five finalist in the 2012 International Book Awards and 2012 USA Book Awards nominee, and The Pendulum Files was a national finalist for the Best Cover of the Year in 2014. Her second series, Ryan O’Clery Suspense, is also award-winning. The Tempest Murders (Book 1) was one of four finalists in the 2013 International Book Awards, cross-genre category. Her historical suspense, River Passage, was a 2010 Best Fiction and Drama Winner. It was determined to be so historically accurate that a copy of the book resides at the Nashville Government Metropolitan Archives in Nashville, Tennessee. Songbirds are Free is her bestselling book to date; it is inspired by the true story of Mary Neely, who was captured in 1780 by Shawnee warriors near Fort Nashborough (now Nashville, TN).
She was the co-founder of The Book ‘Em Foundation, an organization committed to raising public awareness of the correlation between high crime rates and high illiteracy rates. She was the founder of Book ‘Em North Carolina, an annual event held in the town of Lumberton, North Carolina, to raise funds to increase literacy and reduce crime and served as its chairperson and organizer for its first four years. She also served on the boards of the Friends of the Robeson County (NC) Public Library, the Robeson County (NC) Arts Council, Virginia Crime Stoppers and became the first female president of the Chesterfield County-Colonial Heights Crime Solvers in Virginia.
For more information, book trailers, excerpts and more, visit the author’s website at
www.pmterrell.com.
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p.m.terrell will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
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