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Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Watching Willow Watts Launch Party!

It's the  'If I Could be Anyone, I'd Be'....Launch Party for Talli Roland's "Watching Willow Watts," Kindle Edition is available on Amazon UK for £1.71, or on Amazon.com for $2.99. The Paperback will be available in November.

Pop in and join the fun!


*Kindle Edition Available on Amazon, September 14, 2011*

So If I could be anyone.....who would I be.  Well that is a hard question to answer, because I am in awe of so many strong women in history. But today I chose Granuaile/Grace O'Malley, Queen of Connaught. Also known as the Pirate Queen! 



Shaun Davey's Granuaile

Granuaile was born in 1530 with the sea in her blood.  She was the only child of Eoghan Dubhdara Ó Máille, a seafaring chieftan and his wife Maeve  One day Granuaile decided she wanted to join her father on his sailing expedition but Dubhdara told her sailing was only for boys and men.  She cropped her hair, dressed in boy's clothes and stowed onto her father's ship. This proved a fortunate move for her father because the ship was attacked and she jumped an attacker trying to sneek up behind  Dubhdara, saving his life. 

During her lifetime she sailed to many ports including Spain, Portugal, Scotland and Ulster for trade.  She was notorious for taxing and raiding ships that had the misfortune to stray into the waters she deemed hers.  Hence the Pirate label.

Granuaile was widowed twice. She divorced her third husband in accordance with Brehon Law.  She gave birth to a son on board ship as it was being attacked by Turks.  Her crew were being defeated and one very foolish Turk dared to enter her cabin demanding she surrender.  She quickly dispatched him, went up on deck, rallied her crew and won the day. (Beware of sword welding, pistol toting Irish women!)

Wikipedia

Her most daring feat was steering her galleon up the Thames and into London for an audience with Elizabeth Tudor. Granuaile spoke many languages but not English.  Elizabeth did not speak Irish.  She conversed with Elizabeth in Latin, much to Elizabeth's surprise as the Irish were regarded by the English as uneducated, uncivilized ruffians.  Granuaile secured the release of her sons from the prison of the English Governor Bingham. It is also noted that Granuaile did not bow to Elizabeth as she did not recognise Elizabeth as Queen of Ireland, only of England..

Granuaile the Stuff of Legends!!!


47 comments:

Cherie Reich said...

Oh, wow! Fantastic person to pick. I've heard of Grace O'Malley, but I didn't know her other names.

Len Lambert said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nicole Zoltack said...

Oh, what a fascinating woman!

Old Kitty said...

Ann!!!

Eoghan Dubhdara Ó Máille
Granuaile
Maeve

My tongue is twisted in knots!! Yay for the Pirate Queen - what a woman!!! Oh I can see you waving your sword, babe in arms, wearing gorgeous heels rallying the troups on your ship!!

Fabulous! Take care
x

Julie Flanders said...

Wow, what a fascinating post! So interesting to read, and I learned something new. I never heard of the Pirate Queen, how awesome! Great choice!

Manzanita said...

Oh WOW... if sailing was only for boys, I guess she showed "them." What adventure, what daring. What a life. Maybe you were her. I want to be your sidekick. They always have a comic sidekick. Maybe I could work my way up. :) Strong women.... I guess you chose the strongest.
Manzanita@Wannabuyaduck

Golden Eagle said...

She sounds like strong person. :) I love your choice!

Alleged Author said...

SO creative! Great job!

Karen Jones Gowen said...

Wow, Ann, it appears that you have a bit of the adventuresome exciting swashbuckler in you! Have you read Ghost Waves by W. Everett Prusso? You would love it!

And best of everything to the fabulous Talli Roland and her fabulous Willow Watts!

Beverly Diehl said...

Granuaile sounds like an amazing woman (and I wish I had a clue as to how to pronounce her name.)

Fellow WWWer her, stopping bye to say hi.

Jemi Fraser said...

Totally and completely awesome choice!! Fascinating story :)

Christa Desir said...

Very cool. I love the idea of a Pirate Queen.

Talei said...

Wonderful choice - I love her story!! ;-)

Samantha Vérant said...

Awesome choice! And I've now learned something new! Wow. A pirate queen...

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

I've never heard of her, excellent choice. How lovely it is to hear from someone who actually know who Daniel is.
Thanks for commenting, good to see a new name.

Have a good day.
Yvonne.

Rebecca Emin said...

That's a very interesting write up of your choice. I enjoyed reading it a lot.

LindyLouMac said...

Good morning Pirate Queen. Thanks so much for dropping by my blog on party/launch day yesterday. I am so glad it was such a success for Talli.
I see you are on Goodreads, I am a great fan of this site, so off to hopefully befriend you there.

Hilary said...

Hi Ann .. this is amazing - so interesting as I'd never heard of her .. the stuff legends are made of ... that's for sure. What an interesting history lesson.

Then there's the music of Shaun Davey (www.shaundavey.com) and a para from this site: "In Rita Connolly, with a voice of the purity of crystal, he found the ideal Grace O'Malley. Together they have made the legend of 'Granuaile' (Grace O'Malley in Irish) come vividly to life. 'The Granuaile Suite' (1985) sets an episode of Irish history in the context of wider European history through a work which appeals to music lovers of all ages. One song in the cycle, 'Ripples in the Rockpools' quickly became a popular classic and is now in the official Irish school syllabus."

I bet there's plenty of bloggers who'd be interested to hear more of this Irish Folk music ..

Thanks Ann .. a great post - loved it - cheers Hilary

Bish Denham said...

Okay, I really want to read up about this woman. And I'm surprised I've never heard of her. As for the Irish not being civilized... if it weren't for the Irish and their mania for copying books during the Dark Ages, Elizabeth wouldn't have been speaking/reading Latin!

Len Lambert said...

Hi Ann. I've learned something from you here. Thanks for sharing this with us. I've been watching historical films and also reading British history on the internet. I will look it up to read more on Granuaile/Grace O'Malley, Queen of Connaught. I became interested to know more after reading this post yesterday. :)

Tanya Reimer said...

Wow Ann, I love this! I always come up with lameo answers for these. This is great and tells us something about you, doesn't it!

Francine Howarth said...

Hi,

Ha ha, now there's a story and a commendable heroine! ;) My brain is storming up a pirate mistress already...

best
F

Rosalind Adam said...

Well that was different, Ann. I dare say she lived an exciting life but do you really want to be her? I can think of nothing worse than having to give birth on a boat while the enemy was knocking my door down... Am I taking this a tad too seriously do you think?

L. Diane Wolfe said...

You couldn't write a better tale than that!

Julie Musil said...

Ooooh, what a cool answer! It's been so fun reading all the answers to this question.

Jackee said...

WOW! What a gal. That would be a great one to be if only for a day. Tough stuff. :o)

Even if I'm merely a quarter Irish, this story makes me prouder of my heritage. :o)

Have a lovely day, Ann!

Anonymous said...

A very cool choice! And I loved the history.

Deniz Bevan said...

Wow. That is a *brilliant* choice - I don't want to be her, but I would sure love to read novels about her! Imagine being one of her descendants...

Lisa Potts said...

What a fantastic choice of a very strong woman. Thanks for introducing me to her in such an entertaining way. And can I just say how envious I am of you living in Ireland? It's at the top of my list of dream trips.

Anonymous said...

Amazing!!! You definitely picked a wonderful strong woman.

Hugs!!!

Talli Roland said...

AH! Ann! How have I missed yours? I'm so so sorry. I LOVE your choice. What a woman!

Thank you so much for taking part, and for all your wonderful help and support. xx

Anonymous said...

Wow, that's a new one for Talli's party. After reading this, I feel like can say something really intelligent at the next party. Thanks!!

Unknown said...

She sounds like quite the lady! Have you practiced wielding your sword and pistol lately? :)

Luna said...

Very cool! I enjoyed learning about Granuaile. Thank you!

Pauline said...

Fellow campaigner dropping by to say hello. Grace O'Malley's story offers fabulous fodder for historical fiction. I hope you're busy with Grace and her adventures. I've just signed a contract re a HF based in your country. It involves the Fitzgeralds in Kildare (1470). There's a 2nd to come and possibly a 3rd. Hmmm - I wonder if my characters will meet Grace. Anyway, nice to meet you - and your blog looks fabulous. Pauline.

Empty Nest Insider said...

What an interesting and original choice! Julie

Missed Periods said...

She gave birth to her son on a ship while it was being attacked by Turks AND won the battle. All hail the pirate queen!

Robyn Campbell said...

Oh Ann. This was an intriguing post to read. She was a super courageous woman. I had no idea. *feeling ashamed* I am going to dig up as much on her as I can now.

:-)

BucksWriter said...

Another fellow campaigner here.

Love your choice!

Claire

Al said...

What a character.
Great choice!

Mary said...

Grace O Malley - What a woman! What a character. Great choice Ann. Enjoyed the post.

Carole St-Laurent said...

Thanks for this piece of history. I had no idea!

Brenda Sills said...

Fascinating! Thanks, Ann! I love reading things like this - it's so thrilling to discover new facts and things I didn't know about people.

I'm a fellow campaigner in the mainstream/ contemporary category. I’m chagrined it's taken me so long to get over here - my last post leaned more towards fantasy/YA - that's what I'm writing at the moment.
But my first book that I'm going to be querying as soon as beta readers go over it once more is mainstream - I think. I'm having trouble figuring out for sure where it belongs! It's not a specific genre. I'm so glad to meet you.

I love your quote from James Dickey - fantastic!

Arlee Bird said...

Sounds like a woman who had an adventuresome life. Interesting choice.

Lee
Tossing It Out

Jenna Cooper said...

Hi Ann, I wanted to let you know that I gave you a blog award over on my blog. You can find out about it here: http://findingthewriteway.blogspot.com/2011/09/one-to-follow-blog-award.html

Elliot Grace said...

...definitely a memorable choice of character. Well done ;)

El

Melissa Sugar said...

Wow, what an incredible story. I am fascinated with history. I learned something new today from reading your post. I think you made an excellent choice and it shows how courageous you must be. I enjoyed reading about Granuaile/Grace O'Malley and her exciting adventures.

Thank you Ann, for visiting my blog and leaving such a kind and encouraging comment on my IWSG post. I am very pleased to meet you.