The Irish Dresser: A Story of Hope During the Great Hunger (An Gorta Mor, 1845-1850
The Irish Dresser is an exciting, entertaining, and highly recommended story of taking risks and facing new challenges for the sake of hope. --Midwest Book ReviewCynthia Neale has given us the neglected story of the potato famine, an event that wrenched many an Irish immigrant from Erin s beloved green shores. The tragedy of the Irish in 1850, seen here through the eyes of the wild and lively Nora, becomes an occasion for courage, enchantment, and an heroic voyage to America. Neale s rich and vivid rendering does not spare us hardship and injustice. Yet she paints with a charmed brush the unique magic that kept the Irish spirit alive. Hungry Nora dreams of cake, and hides her pet, Miss Maggie Hen, in the family s heirloom dresser to protect her. Her illogical impulse of love is later rewarded with her own release from the Great Hunger--but not easily. Neale never settles for easy. Young adult readers will be spellbound by this tale, at once real and miraculous. --Rickey Gard Diamond, author of Second SightCynthia Neale has given us the neglected story of  the potato famine,  an event that wrenched many an Irish immigrant from Erin s beloved green shores. The tragedy of the Irish in 1850, seen here through the eyes of the wild and lively Nora, becomes an occasion for courage, enchantment, and an heroic voyage to America. Neale s rich and vivid rendering does not spare us hardship and injustice. Yet she paints with a charmed brush the unique magic that kept the Irish spirit alive. Hungry Nora dreams of cake, and hides her pet, Miss Maggie Hen, in the family s heirloom dresser to protect her. Her illogical impulse of love is later rewarded with her own release from the Great Hunger--but not easily. Neale never settles for easy. Young adult readers will be spellbound by this tale, at once real and miraculous. --Rickey Gard Diamond, author of Second Sight