Books in the Sweet Wine of Youth series

2017 The Independent Author Network Book of the Year Awards Finalist2017 B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree 2017 Wishing Shelf Book Awards Bronze Medal2018 Goethe Award for Historical Fiction Finalist & 1st Place Category WinnerFiery Dublin nurse Deirdre Brannigan has opinions on everything. She certainly hates the very idea of war in 1914. But the crushing weight of a guilty conscience pushes Deirdre to leave Ireland, landing her directly in the fray. Across the ocean, childhood friends Jack Oakley and Will Parsons think it will be a grand adventure in France. The pals from Newfoundland blithely enlist. After all, the war can't possibly last long... Deirdre's long days and nights blur together on the hospital wards. As she relentlessly struggles to save young lives, her own unravels. For the Newfoundlanders in their fine new uniforms aching to prove themselves on the field of battle, the horrors of war quickly descend. Deirdre encounters Jack and Will when they’re brought to her field hospital the first day of the slaughter on the Somme, each silently carrying unimaginable suffering. Burdened with physical and emotional scars, their lives aimlessly diverge. Yet somehow, a glimmer of hope and redemption emerges when their paths cross once again in St. John’s. Although fragile and ragged, they are not beaten. None of Us the Same will leave you pulling for these battered survivors. Follow this unforgettable portrayal of love and war and resilience.

2018 Writer's Digest 2018 Self-Published Book Awards Honorable Mention2018 B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree2018 Independent Author Network Book of the Year Finalist2018 Discovered Diamond2018 Goethe Award for Historical Fiction Long-Listed2017 Wishing Shelf Book Awards FinalistSouth Boston-native Ned Tobin has all the luck. Alive after the Somme, now an officer, he meets, beds and falls in love with the alluring Adèle Chéreaux, a half-English lycée teacher who gives herself fully to Ned. Their love affair is suddenly upended in 1917 when Ned is called home and Adèle flees the last German advance of the First World War. Harlem lawyer Chester Dawkins is a fine young man and a devoted brother. He dutifully joins a new regiment anxious to fight for their chance at valor in the face of deep-rooted racism. Meanwhile, his sister, Lena, is left at home to shoulder a crippling legacy of family debt. Ned finds himself back in France with Chester’s regiment. Can these soldiers from very different backgrounds overcome long-held prejudices and find common cause in the bloody trenches? Will Ned ever find Adèle again? And what will become of Lena?Journey through avant-garde Paris, Prohibition-era Harlem and newly independent Ireland in this heart-wrenching yet hopeful story of love and loss.  Has Ned’s luck finally run out?

The horrors of the First World War devastated many a Dublin family and the Brannigans weren't spared. Struggling to get past their heartache, the family finds itself divided by both the rebellion against British rule and the wide Atlantic. Devoted matriarch Eda Brannigan witnesses her family unraveling. Sean and Molly make startling choices with potentially lethal consequences. Francis steeps in a drunken angry stupor. Young Brandon is so eerily quiet. Eda desperately wishes her beloved firstborn, Deirdre, wasn't living so far away. But with a determined resolve, Eda soldiers on in her bustling pub, The Gallant Fusilier, where tragedy, triumph and even love unfold. Can this family endure the violence and intrigue of the Easter Rising, the bloody struggle for independence, and a bitter civil war?