Irish Potato Famine

[ankerdine]

Hello
I'm not sure which thread I should post this topic on. Maybe the book thread would be more appropriate but I couldn't find it. Sorry.
I am reading a trilogy by Charles Egan starting with The Killing Snows about the Famine and subsequent emigration to various places. It's a real eye-opener for me about the suffering and starvation which occurred. I have been researching my own gtx2 grandfather who appeared as a vagrant from Ireland in Dumfries & Galloway about that time (1840s) along with his impoverished family.
It's an interesting story but interspersed  with horrific facts about those disturbing times.
Has anyone else read these books?
Judy

[Viktoria]

No I haven’t but would very much like to.
Can you give me ISBN numbers etc ?
You might like a book by an American lady Asenath Nicholson “ Annals of the Famine in Ireland.”.
ISBN1-874675-94-5.
The Lilliput Press .
62-65 Sitric Rd.Arbour Hill.
Dublin 7.
 Many thanks in advance.
Viktoria.

[Jill Eaton]

I read it earlier this year. Makes you realise how resilient our ancestors were and how lucky we are generally (I realise there is still poverty and hardship in modern Europe) to live now

[ankerdine]

Victoria
The ISBN Nos are:
978-1-78132-057-0 The Killing Snows
978-1-78132-452-3 The Exile Breed
978-1-78132-659-6 Gold is the Dawn

Thank you for your further suggestion.
Judy

[ankerdine]

I read it earlier this year. Makes you realise how resilient our ancestors were and how lucky we are generally (I realise there is still poverty and hardship in modern Europe) to live now

For me, Charles Egan has put a "human face" on migrants everywhere, whether escaping starvation, famine, drought, disease or just trying to secure a better life.

Judy

[Skoosh]

And all this in the richest empire the world ever seen & less than 20 miles from the British mainland!

Skoosh.

[heywood]

I went to a talk he gave recently at our local centre and it was very interesting from various points of view - he was very fortunate to discover all the family documents.
I must confess, I had forgotten about it  but will look out for it now.
Thr books were a bit expensive and I thought I might find the first one in the library but couldn’t at the time so will have another look.
I might treat myself. 

Some rootschatters might find this interesting:

The talk was organised by ‘Bad Bugs Book Club’ from MMU

https://www2.mmu.ac.uk/engage/what-we-do/bad-bugs-bookclub/

Here is a review of the talk from the BBBC site:

https://www2.mmu.ac.uk/engage/what-we-do/bad-bugs-bookclub/The-Killing-Snows-meeting-report.docx

[Jill Eaton]

http://www.branchcollective.org/?ps_articles=lesa-scholl-irish-migration-to-london-during-the-c-1845-52-famine-henry-mayhews-representation-in-london-labour-and-the-london-poor

An interesting read. My ancestors put down roots in London and I find it quite distressing to read how they were viewed.

[Kerrill]

Thanks very much Ankerdine, I had never heard of the said books but will look out for them. The best book I have ever read on the so called Famine was written by Tim Pat Coogan (The Famine Plot)  it was way out in front of any I had read before.