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The Many Lives and Loves Of Hazel Lavery
Strange that there’s never been a film or novel about the true life of Chicago-born, Irish Society Queen, Lady Hazel Lavery, because it’s the kind of story that almost writes itself…
Hazel’s life – which spanned the Victorian Era through the roaring 20s – was infused with both escapism and modern-day sensibilities. She is the ‘stuff’ of legends except all of it is true. Her exotic life played out like a cross between Julian Fellow’s The Gilded Age and Outlander.
Hazel lived a love triangle with the Royal’s Knighted portrait artist, her husband, Sir John Lavery, and her renegade Irish soldier, the charismatic IRA “Sinn Fein” hero, Michael Collins. She longed to be part of Collins’s heart, his ambushes and even his assassination, if necessary. Hazel is said to be the reason the Anglo-Irish Peace Treaty was sealed. Unbeknown to most, Hazel was also the face on Irish currency for decades. Her circle of friends included Evelyn Waugh, Cecil Beaton, Rodin, George Bernard Shaw, and Winston Churchill, whom she taught to paint pictures.
With the current day world reporting on the shift in power taking place for the ‘Sinn Fein’(IRA), the timing is prime for a novel on Hazel. And with so much “Big Irish Energy” in the past two years of Oscar winning films, the time is now.
Praise
“The Many Lives & Loves of Hazel Lavery sweeps the reader along in a riveting tale of thwarted desires, crushing duty, and inescapable destiny. Lois Cahall captures beautifully the echoes of past conflicts resonating anew.”
—Amanda Foreman, FRSA, author of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, A World on Fire, and The World Made by Women.
“Lois Cahall is a storyteller of verve and vibrant enthusiasm, and that is precisely who is needed to tell the tale of a woman who lived so many lives on a worldwide stage. Hazel Lavery is a larger-than-life heroine who is not content to remain within the confining roles of debutante and society hostess, instead following her heart—even when it leads her into scandal and politics, and yes, even a rebellion. Cahall tells the story with evident love and admiration for her intrepid subject, and Hazel Lavery is a name that we should all know.”
—Allison Pataki, NYT bestselling author of Finding Margaret Fuller
“I love reading historical fiction about people who actually lived. This is one such book, and what a life! Spanning the Victorian era through the roaring twenties, Lady Hazel Lavery defied convention at a time when society judged more harshly than today. However, that did not slow her down. Thank you, Lois Cahall, for bringing this amazing story to light.”
—Kathleen Grissom, NYT best-selling author of The Kitchen House and Glory Over Everything
“The novel begins by tracing Hazel’s early life, but it really takes off when her world collides with that of Collins; she played a role in the peace process, she grew very close with him, and she was overwhelmed by grief when he was assassinated at the age of 31 in 1922. Author Lois Cahall says in her author’s note that she felt a deep kinship with Lavery, and that warmth and attachment shines through on every page.”
—Kristin Harmel, NYT best-selling author
“Like one of John Lavery’s portraits, Lois Cahall’s Hazel Lavery oozes love and passion, intrigue and imagination. To that canvas add chiaroscuro—loyalty and infidelity, diplomacy and assassination—and you have a novel almost Shakespearean.”
—Larry Loftis, NYT bestselling author of The Princess Spy
“Lois Cahall presents us with a wonderful and warming account of a life truly lived to the full. The story is packed with incidents and memorable occurrences in which famous and notable figures of the time make their various entrances and exits. Hazel lived a busy life, one very well lived, so when the readers arrive, with regret, at the final page, they will realise and understand that hers is a life with more than its fair share of unbearable tragedies, each of which are treated with humanity and compassion. The Many Lives & Loves of Hazel Lavery by Lois Cahall is a powerful and at all times eminently readable book, a fine work which will undoubtedly win the praise and plaudits it so richly deserves.”
—Julian de la Motte, The Historical Fiction Company