On June 16, 1904, Irish writer James Joyce had his first date with Nora Barnacle, a woman from western Ireland who worked as a chambermaid in Finn’s Hotel in Dublin. This romantic encounter led to a lifetime together, in which the couple lived a peripatetic life on the European continent and had two children, Giorgio and Lucia. It also inspired the setting for a masterpiece of literature: Ulysses (1922). Written partly in a revolutionary stream-of-consciousness literary style, Ulysses centers on three characters—Stephen Dedalus, Leopold Bloom, and Molly Bloom—on a single day (June 16, 1904) in and around Dublin. Itself a ...(100 of 167 words) Access the full article Help support true facts by becoming a member. Subscribe today!