Helen Wilcox

Tea Leaves Helen Wilcox

Barely seventeen, Eileen O''Malley flees the poverty of Ireland for the New World, carrying a secret that would haunt her for many years. Landing at Ellis Island in 1899 with her meager possessions in a small wicker case, and nearly three months pregnant, she knows the two gold coins sewn to her undergarments, will not take her far. Alone and destitute, she is prey to the behavior of an unscrupulous Immigration officer, and quickly sold into servitude as a lowly domestic to a wealthy mercantile owner. Be it the luck of the Irish, or her stunning beauty, Fate has other plans for Eileen who has the uncanny ability to read tea leaves. She finds herself living a life they never foretold. Fiercely protective of her background, she must raise her gifted and beautiful daughter, Kathleen, with lies and deceit that could someday turn against her. As Kathleen''s career soars, she becomes the symbol of the times. Then she must deal not only with the adoration of her many fans, and those vying for her hand, but with her own unanswered questions.