Cashelmara II

The novel is set during the years of the Land War in Ireland, when the tenant farmers rose against their landlords and began to look for more rights, including the right to buy their farms. Patrick and Maxwell Drummond are on opposite sides, and in the ensuing violence, Drummond kills Hugh Mcgowan. He and Sarah live at Cashelmara, with the children of her marriage - and Sarah sues for divorce. She has to reveal Patrick's cruelty and his homosexuality but she gets free of her marriage. Patrick goes to England, to try and get over his drink problem and lives with his half brothers from his father's second marriage. Ned, Sarah's elder son, loves his mother and sympathises with her but he realises that Drummond will drag her down socially. He is helping himself to some of Ned's income, and he is also a married man and a Catholic who cannot be considered a suitable match for Sarah. As Ned gets older he can see that his mother's affair with Drummond has got to be stopped.