Galway Bay; A Review

What do you know about "The Great Starvation" of Ireland? The Potato Famine? If you're like me you have some vague recollection of something about potato blight that caused the potato crops to fail, and many people starved to death. I couldn't tell you where that information came from. I don't remember any in-depth studies in a history class, nor any particularly moving television documentaries. When the Hachette Book Group sent me the book Galway Bay, which is set against the backdrop of the Potato Famine, I thought it'd just be another interesting novel. I wasn't planning to learn anything, but I couldn't have been more wrong.

From the back cover of Galway Bay, written by Mary Pat Kelly:

Here at last is one Irish family's epic journey, capturing the tragedy and triumph of the Irish-American experience. In a rousing tale that echoes the myths and legends of Ireland herself, young Honora Keeley and Michael Kelly wed and start a family, inhabiting a hidden Ireland where fishermen and tenant farmers find solace in their ancient faith, songs, stories, and communal celebrations. Selling both their catch--and their crops--to survive, these people subsist on the potato crop--their only staple food. But when blight destroys the potatoes three times in four years, a callous government and uncaring landlords turn a natural disaster into The Great Starvation that will kill one million. Honora and Michael vow their children will live. The family joins two million other Irish refugees in one of the greatest rescues in human history: the Irish Emigration to America. Danger and hardship await them there. Honora and her unconventional sister Maire watch their seven sons as they transform Chicago from a frontier town to the "City of the Century", fight the Civil War, and enlist in the cause of Ireland's freedom. The Kelly clan is victorious. This heroic story sheds brilliant light on the ancestors of today's 44 million Irish Americans.

When I first settled into this book it read like a fairy tale. Full of captivating descriptions of the Irish countryside, charming characters, and Irish folklore. I quickly fell in love with the characters and became immersed in their stories. When their potato crop first failed I was puzzled and confused. The more I read about the way the famine was handled by the British government, the angrier I became. Since I had no real background knowledge of this time in history, I didn't know how much of what I was reading was fiction. I quickly headed to the Internet and began researching the Irish Potato Famine. Mary Pat Kelly did her homework when writing this book, because the historical events are as accurate as could be without her actually having experienced them herself.

Pages and pages I read, completely absorbed in the National crisis and the way it played out in the character's lives. I was shocked and disgusted. I began sharing details with my husband, who knew just as little as I did about the Irish Potato Famine. The impoverished Irish, starving to death, and forced to export their crops to England. Given no financial assistance, shunned, ridiculed. I just had no idea the magnitude of the devastation. Our prayers around the dinner table quickly became more poignant as I read further into this book. Babies died because their mothers didn't have enough nourishment to produce milk. Entire families subsisted on one helping of boiled Maize corn a day. It definitely gave me perspective about our own National abundance.

Mary Pat Kelly has a very special connection to the characters in her book. They are based on her own family history, and she spent many years in both Ireland and America tracing family roots and digging up stories. You can read a letter from Mary Pat Kelly on the Hachette Book Group website where she describes some of the research she undertook, and what this book means to her. This is so much more than a historical novel; it's a story of people. To be honest with you, I get bored with most works of historical fiction. There's so much emphasis on the events of history and not enough on the people living them. This book achieves the best balance of any I've read. The historical events were brought to light in the context of the character's lives, bringing a greater depth of meaning and interest to the reader. Days after finishing it I'm still thinking back to the pages of Galway Bay. Still thinking of the Irish who survived, and those who did not. I know you'll be just as affected by this book. You can read an excerpt below to get you started.