Peter Maher

Finding Annie Peter Maher

A fictional tale based on the true rags-to-riches story of a young Irish girl escaping the poverty of post-potato famine Ireland. Annie Elizabeth Maher ends up in the service of one of the wealthiest and most well-connected families in New York. She mixes with artists, politicians, and wealthy businesspeople and travels the world with her mistress, Georgiana. After Georgiana dies young, Annie retreats to make a new life in Long Branch, New Jersey. A successful and philanthropic female entrepreneur with a portfolio of seven properties in 1900 is a rare event, let alone a woman who has emerged from poverty in Ireland. Nonetheless she makes her mark on this seaside town and lives happily. However, she is arrested in 1924 and committed to Trenton Asylum as a lunatic. Was this a conspiracy to bring her down or an intolerance of female success? What of her time in Trenton under the now-infamous Dr. Henry Cotton? How will this megalomania in medicine impact her life?