PART IRON, PART CLAY is a historical novel, spanning 65 years and exploring universal themes and the enduring effects of choices people make.It begins with the McGuire family's escape from Ireland's Potato Famine in search of the "Promised Land" of Texas. However, only Moira Catraoine survives. As an adult, she-now Catherine-realizes her father's dream and that through marriage to a successful Texas rancher, Calvin Grey.As a wife and mother, Catherine grows unstable, increasingly volatile. In mid-life she's swept into a mad obsession which corrupts relationships and endangers lives. Honor is betrayed. Her grandchild Johannah-born of violent rape by one of Catherine's sons-turns out not to be a tragic figure at all, but quite the opposite. This, then, becomes the story of a family as it grows, experiencing healing love and strengthening faith. It is a tale of hope and redemption.