Publisher's Synopsis
The story begins as a young John Walsh struggles to come to grips with the forced removal of several neighboring families from their traditional homesteads near Tullamore Village, Ireland during the early 1840's. He finds the practice of eviction and forced emigration to be cruel and inhuman, destroying the lives of his friends and neighbors. He has lost faith in his God, his religion, and worst of all, his future. Talk within the family is very dark about the days to come. Even his sister, Eileen, gets a chilling omen for the future of their family while tending the family potato patch. Out of desperation, Peter, the middle son of the family, gets involved with an outlaw group calling themselves 'The Young Irelanders', the historical predecessors of the brutal IRA. John hesitantly accompanies his brother to a number of secret meetings of the group where the news of the country is discussed and lamented. Unfortunate circumstances result from the two lads' decisions. Soon afterward, the blight hits the Walsh family's potato crop, destroying their only means of sustenance. The family struggles on the edge of starvation, surviving day by day as the blight devastates their family, friends, and neighbors. The story then goes on to chronicle numerous misfortunes and dangers of the Walsh family as they fight for survival in a dying land. By this time, most of Ireland is affected by the burden of starvation, homelessness, and stark poverty. Many more of the poorest of Irish families are forced from hereditary homes and farms to die on the roads and in the fields of Ireland. Many of the Irish people, including the Walshs, are forced onto 'Coffin Ships' against their will and taken to the New World, their lands seized by an unjust occupation of English aggression. The Walsh family must endure these rigors to survive and strive to begin a new life in a new land. This story attempts to convey the horrors bestowed upon the Irish people during one of the darkest times in their history.
