About
We are delighted to welcome author Nicola Pierce into EPIC for the May edition of Éire to Everywhere, which takes places on the 28th May. Nicola will be in conversation with our Head of Exhibitions and Programmes, Nathan Mannion, where they will delve into the many women covered in the…
We are delighted to welcome author Nicola Pierce into EPIC for the May edition of Éire to Everywhere, which takes places on the 28th May.
Nicola will be in conversation with our Head of Exhibitions and Programmes, Nathan Mannion, where they will delve into the many women covered in the book and why their stories are so important in a modern context.
The talk will conclude with a Q&A session, inviting the audience to engage with Nicola directly and understand further what drew her to this topic.
Copies of Great Irish Wives will be available to purchase on the night, with a book signing to follow.
About the Book
Great Irish Wives shines a spotlight on ten wives who were instrumental in their famous husbands’ success: Matilda Tone, Mary O’Connell, Constance Wilde, Charlotte Shaw, Emily Shackleton, Annette Carson, Sinéad de Valera, Margaret Clarke, George Yeats and Beatrice Behan.
Throughout history, the stories of women’s lives and work have been overshadowed by those of men. Wives, especially, disappear, unacknowledged as patrons and champions of their husband’s work, as collaborators, muses, carers and managers of the family domain.
The men in this book are household names, from Wolfe Tone and Daniel O’Connell to Oscar Wilde and Brendan Behan, and they all have one thing in common: they married women who enabled them to pursue their dreams, even if that meant courting death or outrage. Nicola Pierce tells the stories of these truly remarkable women.
About the Author
Originally from Tallaght but now living in Drogheda, Nicola Pierce loves reading and writing about history. Her first novel, Spirit of the Titanic, published by The O’Brien Press in 2011, was reprinted five times within its first twelve months.
Her second novel, City of Fate, about World War II’s Battle of Stalingrad, was shortlisted for the Warwickshire Year Nine Book Award 2014. In 2015, The O’Brien Press published Behind the Walls, about the 1688-9 Siege of Derry. Kings of the Boyne, released in 2016, was shortlisted for the 2017 LAI Children’s Book Award. April 2018 saw the publication of her first history book for adults, Titanic, True Stories of Her Passengers, Crew and Legacy. Chasing Ghosts; An Arctic Adventure, her novel about the doomed John Franklin expedition, was published in March 2020 and, the following year, she released her history of Dublin’s O’Connell Street.
Her sixth children’s novel, In Between Worlds, The Journey of the Famine Girls, was published in 2023. Her third history book for adults, Great Irish Wives, won the An Post Irish History Book of 2025.
Endorsements
“I find myself galloping through the story and on to the other chapters to inhale more details of these great Irish wives” – Clodagh Finn, Great Irish Wives
“Pierce brings their stories to life, proving that history isn’t just about famous men sometimes, the women behind them are the true heroines” – Irish Farmers Journal
“Fascinating reframing of the historical narrative” – The Irish Times
