verywordy 's review for:

TransAtlantic by Colum McCann

5.0

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So fascinating. Artfully ties together three historic events: Frederick Douglass trip to Ireland in 1845; the first nonstop flight across the Atlantic, in 1919, from Newfoundland to Ireland; and George Mitchell's involvement in the Irish peace negotiations in 1998. All the events are shared by generations of women, starting with Lily Duggan, an Irish housemaid, who is on the staff of a family visited by Douglass. It captures the feeling of each period in time and the universality of human struggles.