Meg O’Connor, daughter of poor Irish cottiers, eagerly anticipates her wedding to Rory Quinn. Her dreams of marriage and family vanish along with Ireland’s potato crop when Kelegeen’s inhabitants awaken one morning to find their sole source of food destroyed by blight.
At first Meg and Rory are able to use their skills, hers of sewing and his of wood carving, to provide for themselves and their families. But tragedy and a costly mistake end those means of survival forcing them into more dangerous ventures.
As An Gorta Mór, the Great Hunger, continues to churn through Ireland ravaging the country’s peasantry with no let-up in sight, Meg is compelled to make the most difficult decision of her life. What she chooses could be the salvation of the O’Connor and Quinn families or it could separate her forever from all she knows and loves.
On an evening in 1846 engaged couple, Meg O’Connor and Rory Quinn join in an exuberant Moondance. Observing is the parish priest, Father Brian O’Malley. The Moondance brings bittersweet memories of Siobhan, the long-dead love of his youth, with whom he still feels a spiritual connection. Within days of the dance, the villagers of Kelegeen awake to find their potato crops destroyed by blight. They’ve been through famine before. But this is an Gorta Mór, a monster the likes of which Ireland has never seen.
Father O’Malley reluctantly teams up with an English doctor, Martin Parker, to alleviate Kelegeen’s suffering.
When Meg learns of ships carrying Irish passengers to a new life in America she is determined to go and bring Rory and their families after her. It will take all her strength and courage along with the help of her beloved priest and the English doctor to make the plan succeed.
Eileen O’Finlan’s debut novel, Kelegeen, was released on March 1, 2018 by BWL Publishing, Inc. Quotes from five star Amazon reader reviews include, “This book grabs you from the beginning…”,
“It’s not an easy book to put down once you start it, but you also don’t want it to end”, “This was probably one of the best books I have ever read. I would recommend it to all,” “This is what historical fiction is supposed to be,”
and the author’s personal favorite review quote: “I have enjoyed many books which I chose from Oprah’s book club and this is one that would fit on her list. I put Kelegeen in the top three books I have ever read.” Due to constant demand from readers for a sequel to Kelegeen, the research phase for this next book is underway.
Eileen was born November of 1963 in Springfield, Massachusetts and has lived in New England all her life. Both of her parents were born and raised in Vermont, a state with which Eileen is head over heels in love. Growing up in a history-loving family where dinner conversation often revolved around the American Revolution or the Peloponnesian War, it is not surprising that she went on to earn a Bachelor’s Degree in History. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Pastoral Ministry. A former long-time member of the Worcester Writers Workshop, Eileen now facilitates a writing workshop from her home in central Massachusetts. She lives with her 91-year-old mother for whom she cares and her two adorable and rather spoiled cats, Smokey and Autumn Amelia.
Eileen loves to weave stories of historical fiction with strong, but very human, characters who prevail against the odds. Fascinated by the unusual and little-known aspects of history her goal is to create a magical experience for readers in which they encounter the unexpected. Eileen attributes her interest in the paranormal, which also makes its appearance in her writing, to the facts that she lived in a haunted house at a very young age and that she has a deep Celtic spirituality.
Find out more about Eileen O’Finlan, her books, her cats (who have a story of their own in the works), and her ongoing endeavor to transition her entire front yard into a giant flower garden at www.eileenofinlan.com ,
https://www.facebook.com/eileenofinla... ,
https://www.bookbub.com/profile/eilee... ,
https://www.amazon.com/default/e/B07B...
My Thoughts
Ah, Ireland! I was contacted by the author, Eileen O'Finlan for a review of Kelegeen and of course since it was about Ireland, I jumped at the chance. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen health issues, it was a year before I actually got time to read it.
The Great Hunger, or An Gorta Mór1845-1849, was a time of starvation and despair. Crops failed because of disease. As people were running out of food, they started getting ill from the diseases that come from starvation. In the book, Meg O'Connors family is one of the families that was affected by the blight. They tried to stay upbeat looking toward getting married, Meg and Rory Quinn found ways to help support the family during this terrible time. Meg, her mother, and her sisters took in sewing and Rory carved little trinkets and other pretty things out of wood. An unfortunate accident for Rory takes that talent away as his hand is smashed.
Father O'Malley the parish priest for Kelegeen is one of those priests that should be a saint. He does his rounds to all the families as they become ill along with an English doctor, Martin Parker. These two men become friends and they both do what they can to help the people suffering from hunger and disease. Father O'Malley has demons of his own, he had been engaged to be married to Siobhan. She was murdered by an English soldier and after that Father decides to become a priest.
Not only did the residents of Kilegeen have to deal with the potato blight, but they also had the English. Their land was taken away and they had to pay rent, if they did not have the money to pay, their homes, which in most cases were hovels, were torn down. The Irish language was outlawed, and the Catholic religion barely tolerated.
After the famine went on for years, Meg and Rory decided that she would go to America if their crops failed again. By this time there had been so many deaths for their own families and others in the community, that this is what people were doing. Go to America and send back money and bring their families over. This was how the book ended, I sure hope the author continues the story as I want to see how the O’Connor and Quinn families fare. This book is so well written that the story of the famine and how the families are affected just tugged at the heartstrings. The characters are well written and the story very well researched.
I am of Irish descent and doing my ancestry tree and there are a lot of people in the family that were in Ireland during this time frame. As I got further into the story I could almost feel the emotions and the heartbreak. Looking for a historical fiction read? I think you should put this one on your TBR stack, preferably at the top! I read this book in only a few sessions and I really enjoyed it!
I received a copy of the book for review purposes only.
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