Granuaile: The Life and Times of Grace O'Malley 1503-1603 [Paperback]

Anne Chambers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1998

Using state papers and manuscripts of the period, Anne Chambers reveals the woman behind the legend and presents one of history's most remarkable women against the turbulent political environment of her time. What emerges is a woman who challenges our predisposed sense of convention, who, over four hundred years ago, was one of the first women to break the mold and make a unique contribution to history.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Anne Chambers is a novelist, scriptwriter, and bestselling biographer. Her books include As Wicked a Woman, Eleanor Countess of Desmond (shortlisted for the 1987 GPA Award), Adorable Diva, the biography of the prima donna, Margaret Burke Sheridan, and The Geraldine Conspiracy, a historical novel.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Wolfhound Pr; Revised edition (June 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0863276318
• ISBN-13: 978-0863276316
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,577,207 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

92 of 94 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Remarkable Story of a 16th Century Irish Woman, December 9, 1999

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Along Red River of the North "JMS" (Moorhead, MN) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Granuaile: The Life and Times of Grace O'Malley 1503-1603 (Paperback)

As the author, Anne Chambers states, Granuaile (Grace O'Malley) "broke the mould" for women of Western Europe in the 16th century. For all of the achievements and acclaim accorded to Elizabeth Tudor (Queen Elizabeth I), Granuaile's story is even more remarkable. Elizabeth might be famous for unleashing her infamous "sea dogs" (e.g., Drake and Hawkins), but Granuaile was a "sea dog" in a man's world, plying her craft on the western shores of Ireland (Galway, Connemara). Granuaile did not just order men into battle from the safety of a castle, she actually led men into battle herself. And, she did not, like Elizabeth, forgo marriage and children. She became a notable Gaelic chieftan in a time when the old Gaelic order was under assault and in decline.

This biography is scrupulously researched and well written. I found it to be most compelling because the author does not romanticize Granuaile and the troubled era she lived in. Chambers avoids the presentist trap into which many authors fall, when they search through history to find antecedents of Irish/Celtic/Gaelic nationalism. Life was more complex than the simple duality of Gaelic twilight versus English colonization. Granuaile played both sides against the middle in a deadly battle for survival which she won for her self and her descendents. The book's climatic meeting between Grauaile and Elizabeth shows that the Irish chieftaness was able to out maneuver the brutal English overlord Bingham, Gloriana, and her master of wily statecraft, Lord Burghley.

Granuaile's true story is more compelling than any fictional account of pirate queens. She was a great woman whose foresight, strength, daring, seafaring ability, and political acumen provide us all, men and women, Irish and non-Irish, with a fascinating glimpse into one woman's struggle to prevail between the English monarchy and the lords of Ireland in the 16th century.

18 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Badly written, but it's the only game in town., November 23, 2002

By 

Maureen "Unitarian Universalist Minister, Lif... (Hendersonville, New Caledonia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Granuaile: The Life and Times of Grace O'Malley 1503-1603 (Paperback)

If you want to learn about Granuaille, this is THE only accessible source that pulls together the various threads of research. So -- forgive the writer her stylistic inadequacies. Forgive the inferences and the gaps left by the record, and learn about this incredible pirate-warrior-patriot-lover-mother-wife IRISH WOMAN.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Granuaile, the Irish Pirate Queen, January 4, 2011

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Gayla Templeton (KS USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Granuaile: The Life and Times of Grace O'Malley 1503-1603 (Paperback)

Being a long time lover of anything and everything Irish, I was finally able to visit there in the spring of 2001. How could a book lover like me go to Ireland and not visit an Irish book store to see what the Irish read? Do I need to say I could hardly carry my own bags home. That's how I met Granuaile, a real life female Irish pirate. The names that are known to most Irish are Grace O'Malley or Granny O'Malley. Getting into the business of Pirating is most easily achieved by marrying into it and that's how Grace did it. However, after the death of her husband she took his work to a whole new level, even being invited to an audience with the Queen of England who pleaded with her to give the English vessels a break. That the queen had her in her clutches and did not hang her is especially interesting. One has to wonder if the queen might have envied the freedom of the pirate life. This is not a work of fiction but a real woman with a son she loved dearly and took to the sea with her. You'll have to read and see how her life turned out and this is the best book about her that I have come across.