Nory Ryan's Song

After really enjoying a book by Patricia Reilly Giff last week, I looked for more books by her at the library and found Nory Ryan's Song.  This book is about Nory and her family who live in Ireland in the mid-1800s.  Money is tight, and they are at the mercy of the English government--expected to pay rent each month no matter what.  Things go terribly wrong when the potato crop suddenly goes bad.  Soon Nory (and all her neighbors) completely run out of food and are desperate to survive.

This was a very well written book (great language), and it was fascinating to learn about this time (the Great Hunger of 1845-1852) in Ireland that I really know nothing about.  It was even neater to read in the author's note at the end that 6 of the author's 8 grandparents lived through the famine and then came to America--but none of them really spoke of that time in their lives.  So, the author went to Ireland, researched, and wrote this novel.  The book was almost too sad to really enjoy--just a lot of bad things happening and not much good.  But, I'm still glad I read it.

Rating: * * (2/3 = Liked it)