Grace O’Malley Pirate Queen

Rockfleet Castle, her main base.

Photo by Gerard O Connor author

About the author

Gerard O’Connor is an author from Connemara in the west of Ireland. He studied history in Maynooth University, where he developed a passion for the history of Gaelic Ireland. He contributed to a local history publication in 2000. In 2013, he completed a dystopian novel, which remains unpublished.

In 2015, he began researching a novel based on the history of Connacht during the 16th century. The novel’s protagonist, Grace O’Malley, was a spectacularly independent woman who fought to save her clan from the encroaching fury of an expansionist Tudor state. This is her story.