The Indenture of Ivy O'Neill

Not every immigrant sailed willingly to America...



Ivy O'Neill's idyllic childhood ends in disaster in 1690 when red-coated soldiers cross the Celtic Sea to invade Ireland. English soldiers attack and burn her family home, and her baby brother is killed in the raid.



The family flees their home and ends up living in an abandoned house.



An unscrupulous English ship captain kidnaps Ivy and her brother Sean and takes them to Maryland colony in America, where they are sold into indentured servitude.

Ivy must call upon all her wits and strength just to survive, first the perilous sea voyage and then in a land seething with anti-Catholic, anti-Irish prejudice, where she is falsely accused of murder.



The Indenture of Ivy O'Neill is an immersive story of courage, the meaning of family, and the transformative power of immigration.