Irish Above All

Mary Pat Kelly draws upon family heritage to continue the story of Nora Kelly--begun in Of Irish Blood--with a striking novel of historical fiction in Irish Above All.

After ten years in Paris, where she learned photography and became part of the movement that invented modern art, Chicago-born, Irish-American Nora Kelly is at last returning home. Her skill as a photographer will help her cousin Ed Kelly in his rise to Mayor of Chicago. But when she captures the moment an assassin’s bullet narrowly misses President-elect Franklin Roosevelt and strikes Anton Cermak in February 1933, she enters a world of international intrigue and danger.

Now, she must balance family obligations against her encounters with larger-than-life historical characters, such as Joseph Kennedy, Big Bill Thompson, Al Capone, Mussolini, and the circle of women who surround F.D.R. Nora moves through the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, and World War II, but it’s her unexpected trip to Ireland that transforms her life.

MARY PAT KELLY, as an author and filmmaker, has told many stories connected to Ireland. She is the author of the novels Galway Bay and Of Irish Blood and is a frequent contributor to Irish America Magazine. As a filmmaker her credits include Proud starring Ossie Davis and Stephen Rea, three award-winning PBS documentaries, and work in television for Good Morning America and Saturday Night Live. She wrote the book and lyrics for the musical Abby’s Song. A graduate of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, Kelly received her PhD in English from the CUNY Graduate Center. Named one of the Top-100 Irish Americans, she was born and raised in Chicago and lives in New York with her husband, app developer Martin Sheerin from County Tyrone.