Of the approximately 200,000 Huguenots whose consciences compelled them to leave France during the 17th and 18th centuries, some 10,000 chose to settle in the most unlikely refuge of Ireland. The story of why and how these most ardent of Protestant believers found themselves in this most fervently Catholic of islands is explored in this book. It also attempts to reveal precisely who these Huguenots were, what they contributed to and received from their adopted land, and why Huguenot ancestry is so respected and prized even among devout Irish Catholics. The true chronicle of Ireland's Huguenots is, in opposition to the narrow misrepresentations of the past, one of extraordinary richness and variety, as befits an ethnic group whose influence permeated into every nook of Irish life and society.