Peggy Lynch has too many children and too much to do. Unlike the pampered
wives in her affluent Long Island suburb, Peggy’s not married to a
doctor or a lawyer. She’s married to an uneducated Irish immigrant
twelve years her junior, and has to work two jobs to help make ends
meet. In between the carpools, the laundry, and the food shopping,
she also has to make sure her youngest son takes his ADHD medicine so
he doesn’t flunk out of high school. Maybe if her lazy husband
would get off his ass and help around the house, she’d have time to
connect with her children and be the type of mother they deserve. But
Peggy lacks that luxury because if it wasn’t for her, the whole
family would fall to pieces.

Years have passed since Peggy ruled the house and Veronica is no longer her
mother’s obedient little girl. Moving into her childhood home with
her husband and infant twins, she’s starting a new life and should
finally be happy. Right? Wrong.

While cleaning out her old bedroom, Veronica finds a letter from her
deceased mother. If Veronica were smart she’d burn it and leave her
family secrets buried with the dead. But as her mother so often said,
Veronica’s never been that smart.

She rips open the envelope and proves her mother right…

Ellen Murphy spent her childhood in an idyllic house by the sea. A house
surrounded by flower filled gardens and a white picket fence. A house
she fled at eighteen. A house full of secrets.

When Ellen’s mother Rose, an ex-nun, is diagnosed with terminal cancer,
Ellen reluctantly returns home to care for her and uncovers a clue to
the one secret that has haunted Ellen all her life: the identity of
her father. But that is just one of the many secrets hidden behind
the beautiful facade of the house on Rose Hill.

“The Girls on Rose Hill is a beautifully written story about the
complicated relationship between three generations of women. It will
touch you, make you laugh, and make you cry. Bernadette Walsh’s
subtle use of language, traditions, and manners painted an authentic
portrait of an Irish Catholic family. I loved it.”

Twenty years ago Maura Lenihan was the curvaceous red-haired teenager at the
center of a political sex scandal. Today, Maura is a thirty-five year
old hospice nurse who spends her days caring for the cancer-ridden
and comatose and her nights reading romance novels. Her life is
boring and safe and just the way she likes it.

However, Maura’s safe cocoon is now threatened both by the press’ renewed
interest in the twenty year old scandal and the attentions of her
most recent patient — a thirty year old Wall Street investment
banker whose black hair and blue eyes are oddly familiar.