The Irish Assassins

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Julie Kavanagh has held positions as the London editor of both VANITY FAIR and THE NEW YORKER, the arts editor of HARPERS & QUEEN, the dance critic for THE SPECTATOR, and a writer and contributing editor for THE ECONOMIST'S bi-monthly magazine, INTELLIGENT LIFE. Kavanagh established herself as an accomplished writer of book-length nonfiction with her acclaimed biographies of NUREYEV: THE LIFE (which sold over 13K in all formats and was finalist for the Costa Award and longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize) and SECRET MUSES: THE LIFE OF FREDERICK ASHTON. This is a sweeping story that spans Ireland, England, Europe, and America, and charts with novelistic verve a complex historical moment at crucial juncture in the fight for Irish Independence-the l882 slaying in Phoenix Park of two British Government emissaries, an event that captivated the world and had a cataclysmic effect on Irish and British relations and eventually led to the murder of its instigator-turned- informant James Carey. THE IRISH ASSASSINS is expertly researched but reads like a thriller. Kavanagh breathes vivid life and personality into well-known historical figures like Queen Victoria, leading Irish nationalist Charles Stewart Parnell, famed British Prime Minister William Gladstone, as well as the informant James Carey and the group of assassins known as The Invincibles. Kavanagh came across the story of Carey's murder on the high seas while sorting through family papers. Her father Christopher Kavanagh, a South African newspaper editor and novelist, had been researching it for a book when he died in l966 and his notes riveted Julie, inspiring her to continue his research. English-born Kavanagh has a familial connection to the story: a branch of the Kavanaghs emigrated to Cape Town from Ireland in the l850s as a result of the Great Hunger, and her great grandfather had a business near Roeland Street Jail, where the assassin's assassin, Donegal native, Pat O'Donnell was briefly imprisoned. Will appeal to fans of historical nonfiction and fiction that looks at the history of Irish - British relations and sectarian violence, such as recent bestsellers SAY NOTHING by Patrick Radden Keefe and MILKMAN by Anna Burns, as well as the work of Erik Larson, Ben McIntyre, David Grann, Casey Cep, and Richard Lloyd Parry. Kavanagh is very active in the literary and journalism worlds and has regular pieces in UK papers. We will publish simultaneously with Grove UK and expect big review and media coverage given her media connections on both sides of the Atlantic.