Margins
Carmel Sheehan book cover 1
Carmel Sheehan book cover 2
Carmel Sheehan book cover 3
Carmel Sheehan
Series · 4 books · 2016-2018

Books in series

Letters of Freedom book cover
#1

Letters of Freedom

The Carmel Sheehan Story - Book 1

2016

Carmel Sheehan was raised in an orphanage in Dublin, and always believed what she was told, that her unmarried mother abandoned her as a newborn. Forty years later, living in rural Ireland, in an unfulfilling marriage, and she has no reason to suspect that version of her past was untrue, until she gets a Facebook message one day from a stranger claiming it was all lies. In this gripping story, Carmel begins a journey of discovery that takes her back to a time long before she was born when love and loyalty, betrayals and secrets decided her fate. The reality of her true story is both shocking and heartwarming, and Carmel learns that in order to go forward, she must first make peace with her past.
The Future's Not Ours To See book cover
#2

The Future's Not Ours To See

2017

Carmel is stuck. The future could be bright, but something is stopping her. Despite the promise of a bright future away from Ireland, Carmel Sheehan is drawn back to the miserable marriage she feels duty-bound to honour. But when she returns to her monosyllabic husband and his malicious sister, she begins to realize that she cannot endure them any longer. She finally understands that she can’t begin to live a fulfilled life until she uncovers what led her to where she is now. Armed only with some letters and an old photograph, she begins the arduous journey of discovery as she tries to decipher her tangled past and embrace the possibilities of a future that has been in the making since before she was born.
What Will Be Will Be book cover
#3

What Will Be Will Be

2018

At long last Carmel’s life is working out. She has escaped her miserable existence in Ireland and is truly happy for the first time in her life. She has a wonderful husband, a rewarding career, and is getting to know the warm, funny, extended family she never knew she had. But when Carmel’s long-lost father suggests a big family trip to revisit the country of her birth, Carmel is appalled. Ireland means nothing but pain, rejection and loneliness. No good can ever come of returning and she promised herself that she never would. But, not wanting to let her friends and family down, reluctantly she goes home, only to discover that to find peace, she must reconcile with her past, and with her country. What Will Be Will Be is the final book in the Carmel Sheehan Series.
The Carmel Sheehan Story #1-3 book cover
#1-3

The Carmel Sheehan Story #1-3

2018

Carmel Sheehan was raised in an orphanage in Dublin, and always believed what she was told, that her unmarried mother abandoned her as a newborn. Forty years later, living in rural Ireland, in an unfulfilling marriage, and she has no reason to suspect that version of her past was untrue, until she gets a Facebook message one day from a stranger claiming it was all lies. In this gripping boxed set, Carmel begins a journey of discovery that takes her back to a time long before she was born when love and loyalty, betrayals and secrets decided her fate. The reality of her true story is both shocking and heartwarming, and Carmel learns that in order to go forward, she must first make peace with her past.

Author

Jean Grainger
Jean Grainger
Author · 54 books

Jean Grainger was born in Cork, Ireland. She has been a tour guide of her beloved home country, a teacher, a university lecturer and a playwright. She began writing fiction at the suggestion of her clients on tours, many of whom were sure all the stories she told them would make for a great book. Her first book, The Tour, has become a Number 1 bestseller on Amazon. It tells the story of a disparate group of American visitors to Ireland, who, along with their Irish tour guide have a life changing experience in the magical Emerald Isle. Her second book, So Much Owed, is a family saga set during the Second World War. The story centres on the Buckley family of West Cork and how their lives are pulled in different directions as they become embroiled in the war. It is a sweeping family saga of intrigue and romance against the background of occupied Europe. In her third novel, Shadow of a Century, she tells a tale of a battered old flag found in New York in 2016, a century after it was used during the Easter Rising, when Ireland made her final bid for freedom from Great Britain. This tells the story of a journalist who uncovers a story, one with much more to it than a flag. Her fourth novel, due out in Spring 2016, Under Heaven’s Shining Stars, is set in the 1970s in Cork, Ireland and is a novel about friendship. Three boys, Liam, Patrick and Hugo, though from very different backgrounds are united in a deep but often times challenging friendship. As their lives progress, only by staying strong, can they prevail. Or fail. Her novella, Letters of Freedom, tells the story of Carmel, stuck in a pointless marriage, when a figure from her past emerges and changes everything with a ‘like’ on Facebook. This quick read will touch your heart. She lives in Cork with her husband and her two youngest children. The older two come home occasionally with laundry and to raid the fridge.

548 Market St PMB 65688, San Francisco California 94104-5401 USA
© 2025 Paratext Inc. All rights reserved
Carmel Sheehan