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4.14 AVERAGE
4.14 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
Heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time!
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I really enjoyed this book and it does a great job of being historically accurate in a kid-friendly way. However, I thought the ending was a bit unrealistic and slightly unresolved.
I read Under The Hawthorn Tree when I was younger but wanted to reread it (and the other two books in the trilogy) again as an adult. Although this is a fairly short book, I personally felt it covered a lot of information and gave a heartbreaking insight into what The Potato Famine would have been like in 1840’s Ireland.
We follow Eily, Michael and Peggy who, after losing their baby sister and their mother not returning from trying to find their father, set off together to find two of their relatives. We follow them on their journey through the countryside where they face fever, starvation and other challenges. This book was hard to read at times but I felt that Eily, Michael and Peggy were strong characters and I really sympathised for them.
I definitely think this is an important read for a younger audience which portrays the history of the Famine in an accessible format for them. There are some difficult to read scenes in this book so please be mindful of these before picking this up.
This review is 100% my own opinion.
We follow Eily, Michael and Peggy who, after losing their baby sister and their mother not returning from trying to find their father, set off together to find two of their relatives. We follow them on their journey through the countryside where they face fever, starvation and other challenges. This book was hard to read at times but I felt that Eily, Michael and Peggy were strong characters and I really sympathised for them.
I definitely think this is an important read for a younger audience which portrays the history of the Famine in an accessible format for them. There are some difficult to read scenes in this book so please be mindful of these before picking this up.
This review is 100% my own opinion.
I don't remember if this was a book we had to read in primary school or just one that was promoted a lot in school and as a result a lot of us read. I suspect the latter. I probably read it when I was eight or nine. It served as a good introduction to the famine and how terrible it is to be Irish, which was a necessary primer for all subsequent Irish literature I'd read.
slow-paced
adventurous
dark
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I read this as a kid in the 90s and I was happy to find the audiobook version recently. The story, while it covers a very difficult situation (An Gorta Mór/The Big Hunger, often referred to as the Irish potato famine of the 1840s) is told in a very accessible way that allows for young people to read and get invested in the characters and their journey, while also touching upon what the real life situation was for the Irish People suffering under absentee landlords who refused to permit the local Irish people to eat any other crops than the potatoes even though the blight only affected the potatoes.
Eily is the pov character, the eldest of 4 children, her younger siblings being Michael, Peggy and Bridget. Eily is 12 years of age. Due to the circumstances of the Famine and extreme poverty, Eily is put in charge of her siblings and they leave home to traverse the country to reach the only family they know they have. On the way they encounter extreme poverty, sickness, cruelty and kindness in the people and places that they visit.
A haunting story that reads as well researched and true to life. The narrator is excellent, and vividly brings them all to life.
Eily is the pov character, the eldest of 4 children, her younger siblings being Michael, Peggy and Bridget. Eily is 12 years of age. Due to the circumstances of the Famine and extreme poverty, Eily is put in charge of her siblings and they leave home to traverse the country to reach the only family they know they have. On the way they encounter extreme poverty, sickness, cruelty and kindness in the people and places that they visit.
A haunting story that reads as well researched and true to life. The narrator is excellent, and vividly brings them all to life.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Genocide, Blood
Moderate: Grief, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Vomit
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No