It is April 1895 and Oscar Wilde is on trial in London at the Old Bailey, following his libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry, and faces ruin, public disgrace and imprisonment. In County Cork, a woman called Mary Travers is following the Wilde Trials in the newspapers, increasingly troubled by the growing public outcry. Mary Travers has her own secret, her hidden connection with Oscar Wilde and his parents, William and Jane, and dreads discovery and exposure. Unknown to those around her, in 1864, as a young woman, she had been the key figure in a notorious court case in Dublin, in which she sued Jane Wilde for libel, and the resulting scandal filled the newspapers for weeks. In this new novel, The Diary of Mary Travers, this controversial case is re-imagined for the first time through the eyes of the central figure, Mary Travers, and in her diary she reveals her own part in this scandal, her unhappy home life and her intimate connection with two of the most celebrated writers of her time, William and Jane Wilde.

Shortlisted for the Kerry Group Novel of the Year Award 2015.

Compelling 19th century form of kiss and tell ─ Sunday Independent

Impressive and strangely affecting novel......remarkable ─ Irish Times

Historical fiction which mixes fact with literary flourish ─ Mail on Sunday

Fascinating, entertaining and believable ─ Christopher Fitzsimon

A marvellous novel and an ingenious one...historical fiction of the highest order; dark, complex, artful and compelling ─ Carlo Gebler.

Compelling story ─ Sunday Times

A delight─ Irish Independent

Engaging novel ─ Irish Examiner