In The Dark Sacrament, co-authors David M. Kiely and Christina McKenna faithfully recount ten contemporary cases of demon possession, haunted houses, and exorcism, and profile the work of two living, active exorcists: Canon William Lendrum, a Protestant, and Father Ignatius McCarthy, a Roman Catholic. Kiely and McKenna conducted countless interviews with victims, families, witnesses, and clergy who assisted in performing multiple rites of exorcism. Many of the accounts are very recent and, in some cases, ongoing. Kiely and McKenna serve as trustworthy guides on this suspense-filled journey into the bizarre, offering concrete advice on how to avoid falling prey to the dark side. Exorcists Canon Lendrum and Father Ignatius reveal their fears, failings, and victories as they reflect on their forty years of service battling the Devil and his minions.
The Dark Sacrament includes the following chilling stories:
<ul>
<li>A woman is tormented by her evil dead grandmother, causing her to coil like a snake, snarl, and be invaded by several demons.</li>
<li>A housewife is haunted by the answers from her children playing on a Ouija board and by a historical character who sexually terrorizes her so much that she is too ashamed to admit it even to her husband.</li>
<li>A young girl experiences astral travel when the Angel of Death enters her body and takes her along on a frightening journey.</li>
<li>A boy's temperament turns dark as he is tortured by demons, causing him to become harmful to others—an unresolved 2007 case that is ongoing. </li>
</ul>
Thoroughly researched and impressively wide-ranging, The Dark Sacrament contains an appendix with detailed historical analysis, translated prayers of exorcism, and fascinating notes on important terms and practices.

The Dark Sacrament: True Stories of Modern-Day Demon Possession and Exorcism

Religion & Spirituality

Kiely, David

McKenna, Christina

Christian Books & Bibles

HarperOne

When Ruby Clare's father was alive, they toiled together happily on their dairy farm in Northern Ireland. Since his death, Ruby—thirty-three, plump but comely—has been forced indoors and made a domestic drudge for Martha, her endlessly critical mother, and her prettier younger sisters, May and June. 
But everything changes when Ruby finds her late grandmother's old case in the attic. Among its strange contents: a curious, handmade volume called The Book of Light. 
As Ruby delves into its mysterious pages, she's enticed into a most beguiling world, whose allure and magnetic power she finds irresistible. 
Martha, convinced that her newly empowered daughter is going crazy, enlists the help of the kindly parish priest, and then psychiatrist Henry Shevlin. Henry appears imperturbable, yet is inwardly reeling from his wife's unexplained disappearance the previous year. 
As Ruby undergoes therapy, she meets local bachelor farmer Jamie McCloone. Through their shared loneliness and isolation the two find the courage to connect. But will Ruby's mother allow her daughter the happiness she so richly deserves? 
The Godforsaken Daughter is an unforgettable peek into small-town life in Ireland's recent past. It's a glorious successor to McKenna's first two “Tailorstown” novels, The Misremembered Man and The Disenchanted Widow.

The Godforsaken Daughter

Literature & Fiction

Literary

Lake Union Publishing

It’s the summer of 1981. Newly widowed Bessie Halstone is fleeing Belfast with her young son, Herkie. She’s wrongly suspected of pocketing £10,000, the loot from a heist carried out by Packie, her late (and unmourned) husband.Bessie has plans. She longs to make a fresh start. But first she must reach the safety of her sister’s home, in County Sligo, to borrow money for the trip.She doesn’t make it. Car trouble forces her to sojourn in Tailorstown, a sleepy rural community. Her plans are put on hold as she decides to lay low for a while.She’ll need cash. She finds work as a housekeeper for the handsome but mysterious parish priest.In the meantime, Lorcan Strong, an artist and a native of Tailorstown, is summoned home. With reluctance, he returns to the place where he feels almost a stranger, a town he has long outgrown.A chance meeting with young Herkie Halstone leads Lorcan into the world of the disenchanted Bessie — and into a grave danger that has pursued them both from Belfast.The Disenchanted Widow is an unforgettable peek into small-town life in Ireland’s recent past. It’s a glorious successor to McKenna’s first Tailorstown novel, The Misremembered Man.

The Disenchanted Widow

BRILLIANCE AUDIO ^

It’s the summer of 1981. Newly widowed Bessie Halstone is fleeing Belfast with her young son, Herkie. She’s wrongly suspected of pocketing £10,000, the loot from a heist carried out by Packie, her late (and unmourned) husband.
Bessie has plans. She longs to make a fresh start. But first she must reach the safety of her sister’s home, in County Sligo, to borrow money for the trip.
She doesn’t make it. Car trouble forces her to sojourn in Tailorstown, a sleepy rural community. Her plans are put on hold as she decides to lay low for a while.
She’ll need cash. She finds work as a housekeeper for the handsome but mysterious parish priest.
In the meantime, Lorcan Strong, an artist and a native of Tailorstown, is summoned home. With reluctance, he returns to the place where he feels almost a stranger, a town he has long outgrown.
A chance meeting with young Herkie Halstone leads Lorcan into the world of the disenchanted Bessie — and into a grave danger that has pursued them both from Belfast.
The Disenchanted Widow is an unforgettable peek into small-town life in Ireland’s recent past. It’s a glorious successor to McKenna’s first Tailorstown novel, The Misremembered Man.

"I learned about conflict from my parents." So begins Christina McKenna's haunting memoir of her lonely early life. Recounting scenes from her childhood in Ulster, she paints a memorable and poignant picture of violence and oppression with her uncaring father and protective mother, whose retaliation to her husband's penny-pinching came in the form of a secret yellow dress. Her formative years and her foray into the world, which begin with the daily trudge to and from school, are peopled by a troupe of bizarre and unforgettable characters dancing in and out of her life, filling her with awe and wonder. Among them are Miss McKeague, a gentle, calm and graceful religious zealot, Great Aunt Rose, the "Yankees," Norrie the transvestite, and in the wings, her stern, unyielding uncles, each vying for the ancestral money and land to the exclusion of all else. At age eleven, she experiences a frightening paranormal occurrence, a prolonged haunting that confirms for her the reality of the spirit world. Though it affects her deeply, she later learns to channel her confusion into twin artistic passions: poetry and painting. The discordant nature of Christina McKenna's young life, and the feelings of inferiority it bred, lead her to examine all the limiting belief systems she grew up with, and question the validity of the hidebound Catholicism of her childhood. This is a rite-of-passage account of two generations of Irish women, told with great humour and compassion. On the one hand is the writer; on the other the heroic mother who showed her love as best she could. McKenna concludes that our past, no matter how painful, need not keep us bound - once we choose love over hate. That choice, she suggests, will set us free.

My Mother Wore a Yellow Dress: Memories of an Irish childhood

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Godforsaken Daughter, The

When Ruby Clare's father was alive, they toiled together happily on their dairy farm in Northern Ireland. Since his death, Ruby—thirty-three, plump but comely—has been forced indoors and made a domestic drudge for Martha, her endlessly critical mother, and her prettier younger sisters, May and June. But everything changes when Ruby finds her late grandmother's old case in the attic. Among its strange contents: a curious, handmade volume called The Book of Light. As Ruby delves into its mysterious pages, she's enticed into a most beguiling world, whose allure and magnetic power she finds irresistible. Martha, convinced that her newly empowered daughter is going crazy, enlists the help of the kindly parish priest, and then psychiatrist Henry Shevlin. Henry appears imperturbable, yet is inwardly reeling from his wife's unexplained disappearance the previous year. As Ruby undergoes therapy, she meets local bachelor farmer Jamie McCloone. Through their shared loneliness and isolation the two find the courage to connect. But will Ruby's mother allow her daughter the happiness she so richly deserves? The Godforsaken Daughter is an unforgettable peek into small-town life in Ireland's recent past. It's a glorious successor to McKenna's first two “Tailorstown” novels, The Misremembered Man and The Disenchanted Widow.

The Misremembered Man is a beautifully rendered portrait of life in rural Ireland which charms and delights with its authentic characters and gentle humor. This vivid portrayal of the universal search for love brings with it a darker tale, heartbreaking in its poignancy. FILM: Optioned by Hollywood Producer Robert Shapiro. Jeremy Irons will make his directorial debut with the film.

The Misremembered Man

United States

Toby Pr

It’s 1981 and Belfast is burning. So, too, is freshly widowed Bessie Halstone: she burns with a desire to break with her troubled past. With her feckless husband gone, she leaves home hurriedly with her naughty nine-year-old son, Herkie, and not much else. The Dentist, an IRA enforcer, is on her tail. He’s convinced that Bessie, with her “yella hair all puffed up like Merlin Monroe’s,” has absconded with the takings from a bank heist. But car trouble strands mother and son in Tailorstown, a sleepy Ulster village. Bessie finds temporary work as housekeeper for the handsome and mysterious parish priest. In the meantime, Lorcan Strong, an artist and a native of the village, is summoned home. He’s been shanghaied into forging paintings for the IRA. It’s work he cannot refuse; his mother and their business are under threat. Yet things are not what they seem in quirky Tailorstown. There is a “sleeper” in the village. But who? Bizarrely, it is young Herkie, due to his childish curiosity, who unravels the mystery and saves the day.

Contemporary

You’ll never see the twist coming in this gripping novel of love and loss by bestselling author Christina McKenna..
Rita-Mae has lived in fear for as long as she can remember. Fear of being alone, fear of her past and, above all, fear of her husband, Harry. Until she spots an advertisement for a vacant cottage in a small town in Northern Ireland. She makes her escape filled with hope, ready to start a new life in a new home, free from the pain of her past. But her place of refuge may not be as safe—or as anonymous—as she thought.
In another small town, Dorrie wakes up unaware of where she is or how she got there. Adrift in a world for which she has no explanation, she needs to find answers quickly—before her shadowy past catches up with her.
Walled in by secrets and with no one to trust, both Rita-Mae and Dorrie are unsure how to move forward. Can each woman face her inner demons and confront a menacing presence from the past once and for all? Or will the past unravel their second chance at life?

The Spinster Wife

Mrs Purboy Takes a Chance

Parsifal Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by McKenna, Christina. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by McKenna, Christina

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by McKenna, Christina. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Dark Sacrament: True Stories of Modern-Day Demon Possession and Exorcism

The Godforsaken Daughter

The Disenchanted Widow

The Disenchanted Widow

My Mother Wore a Yellow Dress: Memories of an Irish childhood

The Godforsaken Daughter

The Misremembered Man

The Disenchanted Widow

The Spinster Wife

Mrs Purboy Takes a Chance