TransAtlantic by Colum McCann

Colum McCann blends the stories of the first men to travel across the Atlantic in a plane in 1919, with Frederick Douglass' historic tour of Ireland in 1845, and George Mitchell's work on the 1998 Good Friday Peace accords with the lives of four fictional generations of women. Lily is a maid in Ireland when she is inspired by Douglass' stirring speeches to immigrate to the United States. Through her trials and tribulations she marries, raises a family, and successfully takes over the family business. Her daughter, Emily, becomes a reporter, who, with her photographer daughter Lottie, covers the transatlantic crossing of Jack Alcock and Arthur Brown in 1919. Lottie slips Brown a letter to post when he arrives in the UK, but it remains in his pocket and becomes a thread weaving its way through the rest of the story. Years later, Lottie meets George Mitchell as he helps negotiate a peace from Ireland's "Troubles." Her daughter Hannah lost a son to the violence.

The story is told in a circuitous fashion, bouncing back and forth through time, first through the history and then through the lives of the women who lived it. The book is a fascinating look at time, history, relationships, the devastation of war, and the enduring strength of family. It was, however, somewhat depressing, as any story focusing on "The Troubles" in Ireland must be.