Book excerpt: ONE OF IRELAND'S GREATEST UNSUNG HEROINES In the late nineteenth century, before women even had the vote, a group of respectable ladies operated outside the law to fight for the rights of the poor in Ireland. They were feared by both the British government and the Irish nationalist movement because of their radicalism, and the authorities were reluctant to confront them because they were women. They were the Ladies' Land League, led by Anna Parnell. When Anna and her colleagues started questioning her brother Charles Stewart Parnell's political strategies, they challenged the authority of the Irish Parliamentary Party and the male-run Land League, forcing Charles to reassert control and disband the Ladies' League. In this new study of an often unheralded heroine, Patricia Groves explores the life of Anna Parnell, her relationship with her brother and the forces that drove her to such remarkable feats.