Burning River: A Story of the Cleveland Irish

Cleveland, Ohio, 1863. Bridget McGlynn is leaving Ireland with her brother, Dominick, and her young niece. The McGlynns expect an uneventful journey across the Atlantic to the Great Lakes. Instead, Dominick is drafted into the Union Army, and Bridget must find her way to Cleveland alone. On the way, she boards a traveling showboat called the Green Monster, where Confederate sympathizers are smuggling explosives--and the crew is willing to kill to hide their secret. A few miles off Cedar Point, the boat goes up in flames.

The only person who knows the truth about the accident is William Chambers, a young Irish-American Marine from a rival family. Although the Chamberses and the McGlynns don't get along, Bridget is drawn to the wounded soldier anyway...

As Bridget struggles to build a new life in a city divided by politics, prejudice, and the Civil War, an unexpected bond grows between her and the disgraced soldier. But powerful enemies are closing in. A U.S. Marshal who secretly aids the Confederacy wants Will charged with murder. An aspiring politician, Mark Hanna, wants Bridget for himself. As pieces of the Green Monster wash ashore, Bridget is torn between telling the truth about that night--or saving herself.

"Few writers manage to hook a reader from the very first chapter, but Ashley Herzog accomplishes it within the opening pages and never lets that grip fade. A truly brilliant novelist." --Gerry Quinn, host, Quinn's Irish Radio

"Ashley Herzog is a fresh voice in the world of historical fiction. She brings deep knowledge of the times, places, and faces she studies to restore little-known narratives of courageous women to the pages of history-all done with engaging storytelling and a masterful eye for nuance and detail." --Stephanie Hinnershitz, Ph.D., historian and author