Eleanor, Countess of Desmond: A Heroine of Tudor Ireland

Eleanor Countess of Desmond -- a truly remarkable woman -- yet, apart from the occasional or passing reference, historians have ignored or forgotten her. A woman of courage and indomitable will, with an almost superhuman capacity to withstand suffering, loss and deprivation, Eleanor was relentless in her pursuit of her own and her husband's interests. Wife of the rebel fifteenth Earl of Desmond, she became to the armies pursuing them in the Munster hills an obsessive myth, 'object of their fear, hatred and lust; the she-devil ... What self-respecting woman -- and a Countess to boot -- would willingly live like a wild animal in the woods and bogs?' In this vigorous, moving biography -- shortlisted for the GPA Irish Book Awards -- Anne Chambers writes about the amazing life and ambitions of this extraordinary woman who survived the turbulence of the Elizabethan era in Ireland, outliving both opponents and supporters.