Irish Secrets and Lies by Guild member, Debbie Wastling, is part of The Sutherland Scandals, a historical series about a family that rises from poverty. In Irish Secrets and Lies, the main character, Martha Lowery, is the daughter of a nonworking alcoholic father and mother whose health is broken from having too many children too often.

Martha works two jobs. Her main one is as a cook and gifted baker. She tries to act as a mother figure to her younger siblings but, one day her father, in a drunken stupor, tries to rape Martha. The next day she finds another place to live. Being hard working and likable, a friend offers the nineteen-year-old girl a temporary place to stay.

At the same time, Martha is swept off her feet by John Benjamin (JB) Sutherland, by whom she becomes pregnant. When her condition becomes apparent, her employer wants to sack her. Fortunately, her friend allows Martha to stay on permanently, saving Martha from a much harder life. Also, a statement of her great character, JB really cares about Martha; however, he drags his feet about getting married.

Despite Martha’s lack of education, she is able to read recipes and quick to learn new skills. Will JB marry her and help raise his children? Will he succeed at starting his dream job as a pub owner? More important, how will the character, who overshadows another book in the Sutherland Scandals, affect Martha and her family members? Her first born, from a young age, lacked empathy and refused to conform to social and physical limits. 

For history lovers, this book gives the reader a sense of what life was when women had the right to own property but there still was no birth control for women so women often died when they had numerous children too often.