Sabrina Author:Madeleine A. Polland Sabrina is a rich novel of love and will. Set in County Cork, Ireland, just before World War I, it is the story of Sabrina Heron, daughter of a wealthy upper-class family. In her sixteenth year, Sabrina first faces the conflict that will shape her future when she meets Gerrard Moynihan on her sister's wedding day. But Mama,... more » the strong-willed matriarch of the Heron family, has no intention of letting romance interfere with her plans for Sabrina.
To Mama, duty is the business of life. She rules her household according to a rigid, age-old pattern. Until now, all her children have accepted the roles she chose for them. The oldest son, Ulick, manages Abbeygate, the family estate. Mary Rose, the oldest daughter, married a titled neighbor, though nearly twice her age. John went into the army. Carefree Terence, Sabrina's favorite brother, entered the priesthood. And Sabrina was to become a nun. Motivated by her love for Gerrard, Sabrina summons the courage to oppose Mama's will for the first time. And the strength, ultimately, to trade duty for defiance.
With lush Irish settings and details of the prewar existence of wealthy Irish landowners as a background, this is a strong, appealing story of Sabrina and Gerrard's love, which prevails in the face of past tradition, family duty, and the war's upheaval of life as they knew it. « less