Thomas F. (hardtack) -
Essentially, this book follows two main characters, a ship and an Irish farming family. The later soon became Irish-Americans. There are also many other characters, some of which are criminal, and that includes the English government which simply continued its policy of doing its best to destroy the Irish and their culture over hundreds of years.
I've read several books about the Irish potato famine and the callowness of English lords in Ireland and the British government cannot be overstated. While millions in Ireland starved, the lords shipped out to England enough grain to feed Ireland several times over. As if starvation wasn't enough, Europe, and that includes England and Ireland, endured both a typhus and cholera epidemic. These two diseases ravaged the starving Irish. And those diseases made their way to American with the coffin ships.
Part way through the book, it begins to jump around in different time periods. It helps the reader to read the date listed under each chapter's title to understand the time the actions in that chapter take place. Especially when the text is about the Reilly family.
Great praise is due to some ship owners and medical personnel who actually cared for the people affected in this tragic time. Some of whom paid with their lives.
Finally, those people who complain about their travel delays on the news should read what the passengers on the "coffin ships" had to endure during their six to eight weeks traveling across the Atlantic.
I've read several books about the Irish potato famine and the callowness of English lords in Ireland and the British government cannot be overstated. While millions in Ireland starved, the lords shipped out to England enough grain to feed Ireland several times over. As if starvation wasn't enough, Europe, and that includes England and Ireland, endured both a typhus and cholera epidemic. These two diseases ravaged the starving Irish. And those diseases made their way to American with the coffin ships.
Part way through the book, it begins to jump around in different time periods. It helps the reader to read the date listed under each chapter's title to understand the time the actions in that chapter take place. Especially when the text is about the Reilly family.
Great praise is due to some ship owners and medical personnel who actually cared for the people affected in this tragic time. Some of whom paid with their lives.
Finally, those people who complain about their travel delays on the news should read what the passengers on the "coffin ships" had to endure during their six to eight weeks traveling across the Atlantic.
