Dunne Athenry

A Famine Tale of Love and Survival
Fully Revised Auflage
ISBN: 978-1-917453-95-0
Verlag: Mercier Press
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 384 Seiten

'1840s Ireland was a country rife with absolute cruelty and horror. Somehow, love managed to stay alive there. Dunne's Athenry captures this masterfully.' -Phil Coulter, Irish music legend and author. 'An epic story, a delightful read, with a poetic flow.' -Malachy McCourt, New York Times Bestselling Author 'Epic storytelling at its finest. From the first page, you're swept into a world of heartbreak and hope that will stay with you forever. This is the Irish Famine novel we've been waiting for.' -Michelle O'Mahony, OM-History Consultant, author of Famine in Cork City and contributor to The Atlas of the Great Irish Famine 'Tell her I'll come back to her; tell her I'll find a way.' Ireland, Autumn 1845. The potato blight turns green fields black overnight. A million will die. A million more will flee. But Liam O'Donaghue refuses to watch his family starve. In the shadow of Galway's cliffs, Liam has carved out a life training Connemara ponies while working on his landlord's estate and loving his wife Máire. When their newborn son arrives, their happiness seems complete. But when the Great Famine strikes with merciless fury, survival becomes the only currency that matters. One desperate night. One choice that changes everything. Torn from the only world he's ever known, Liam must find his way across unforgiving landscapes, oceans and continents. From the desperation of the famine, where a man's life is worth less than a bag of grain, to the abundance of Australian gold rushes, where he meets his friend Kumba. Together, they journey onward to the California gold rushes, chasing fortune and the hope of return. Meanwhile, Máire faces her own battle to keep their son alive in a land where hope itself has withered. From the green hills of Connemara to shores unknown, this is the story of love tested by impossible odds and the fierce determination of the Irish heart. An epic historical saga of survival, sacrifice and the unbreakable bonds of family.

Cathal Dunne is a professional singer, songwriter, pianist, author and storyteller. He holds a degree in Music from University College Cork. In 1979 he represented Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest with his own song, Happy Man. Originally from Cork City, he now resides in Pittsburgh with his wife and family and continues to perform across America. This is his second book.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Dunne, Cathal

Leseproben

In the first few months of their life together, Liam’s farming and horse training and Máire’s duties in the big house consumed most of their days. Sunday was their only day off, and the first thing they did was fulfil their Sunday obligation to go to mass before breakfast. No food and not even a drop of water was allowed after midnight the night before, as that would have broken their fast, thus not allowing them to receive Holy Communion the next morning. Liam and Máire put on their Sunday best and walked to church for mass where their beloved priest, Father Murphy would preside. Everyone knew him and his family. They knew that he was fully on their side, administering the sacraments, guiding them on their path to Heaven, and in celebrating the Holy Eucharist with them. They all truly believed that they were receiving the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, their main reason for going to mass. Their faith was total.

Father Murphy did all of this while also being in the nearly impossible situation of not inflaming the locals’ hatred of the British establishment with his sermons. Sadly, he knew that there were a few parishioners who, if they heard any hint of sedition in his sermons, would report their suspicions to their landlords to curry favour with them. Like everyone else, Father Murphy managed to survive the unjust conditions of the day, while doing his best to serve his flock. From Sunday to Sunday, everyone looked forward to gathering outside the church after mass. It was where the locals talked and exchanged all the latest news – who was pregnant, who was sick, who died, the weather, the next dance, news of cousins in America. It kept them going.

Announcing that she was having a baby, Máire was the centre of attention today. Every woman offered unsolicited advice about pregnancy and delivery, and many teased her about her condition. ‘Ah sure, isn’t it always the quiet ones that get ya into trouble?’ ‘So Máire, ya liked his little whistle, ha?’ ‘It isn’t that little,’ she said, blushing mischievously. Then, pausing for effect, she burst out laughing, giving them some gossip. She was amongst her own, and every bit as capable to give as good as she got.

It was also the place where pockets of resistance met without arousing the suspicion of local soldiers. What looked more natural than people gathering after Sunday mass? Most of the younger men were living lives similar to those of Liam and Colm: bitter about losing their lands and cattle, they were slowly losing their identities, their language and their Gaelic sports. The daily grind of their labour and the low-to-nothing pay from their landlords was emasculating them little by little.

The British divide-and-conquer method, a technique brilliantly used throughout their colonial days, was always front and fore of the British occupation of Ireland. So, well aware of British ‘pay for information’ tactics, secrecy was vital. Colm and Liam were the local resistance leaders, the remnants of the Whiteboys of the early 1800s. Pockets of activists involved in agrarian agitation still existed, keeping a small, trusted body of young Irishmen privy to their plans. Neither Máire nor their parents were aware of any of this. The brothers felt that the less their families knew about it, the safer they were in the long term. The men were biding their time, waiting for little opportunities to inflict damage. When they heard about an especially cruel bailiff or rent collector acting outside even the landlord’s harsh rules, they ‘took care’ of him. In blackened faces, and in total silence, they would ambush him and gave him the beating of his life. If he didn’t get the message this time, the next time he would vanish in a bog, never to be found.

British soldiers rarely ventured out alone, for several of their comrades had mysteriously vanished when they’d done so. Worried about local resistance, the British military and aristocracy were eager to squelch it. Remnants of the Whiteboys still existed in sporadic places in Ireland involved in agrarian agitation. When a rebel was caught, the British military would interrogate the prisoner with hard hitting body punches to extract information about accomplices, and then, to deter future resistance, the prisoner would be sentenced to prison, publicly hanged, or deported.

Liam, Colm, and their fellow agitators were well aware of what would happen if they were caught but witnessing the daily injustices they and their countrymen were forced to endure, they determined that they couldn’t just stand by and do nothing. They were in their prime and did their best to help the older and weaker amongst them when they could. Often when a family was on the cusp of starvation, food – often stolen – would miraculously turn up outside their door, keeping them alive.

Elizabeth Kitchener was having a difficult pregnancy, threatening miscarriage, so her doctor had confined her to bed for her third trimester. Most days William was away in Dublin for business. Due to her condition, as a precaution, Elizabeth was advised by her doctor to sleep in another room when William was home, in case he got ‘any ideas.’ Máire and Emma had the most daily contact with her, while Edward virtually ignored her. Though Peig was efficient, loyal, and dependable, Elizabeth couldn’t ever imagine having any personal conversations with her, their having nothing in common. During those long and lonely three months, however, as she was served her daily meals, an unlikely friendship grew between Máire and Elizabeth. Vulnerable, alone, bedridden, and usually feeling awful, Elizabeth opened up to Máire – a relationship which, under normal circumstances, neither of them could have ever imagined.

Máire was a good listener, possessed of an elegance and grace that resonated with Elizabeth throughout the rest of her confinement. Both pregnant, with remarkable changes happening to their bodies, they shared conversations which, when they were alone at least, rendered them equals. Despite the loftiness of her entitled position, Elizabeth laid bare her insecurities and frustrations. She told Máire about her two earlier pregnancies, something which helped Máire understand her own sudden mood changes – Máire had thought she was going crazy. They laughed at the outrageous demands Elizabeth had made of her kitchen staff at all hours of the night during her pregnancy with Emma.

Elizabeth admitted that coming to Ireland was the last thing she wanted to do. ‘William and I married after he finished military college, and within a few months, was sent to fight in Africa. He was stationed there for three of the longest years of my life. I had Edward six months after he left, and were it not for my parents, I would have gone insane. When he finally came home, I assumed that he would never go away again, but six months later he was sent to Egypt for another two years. I received one letter every two months. As captain of his troops, he described the awful things he was ordered to do, and he kept promising he would soon come home for good and retire. He was sick of it all. That promise kept me going. When he finally came home, he was offered land in Ireland as a reward for his service to the queen. He convinced me that we could live better here than we ever could in England, so I agreed. But I miss my parents, my brothers and sisters, and all my friends back home. It’s just not the same, I’m afraid.’

Máire winced at Elizabeth’s nonchalance about putting the Irish off their lands to achieve William’s goal. Even though Elizabeth and Máire had shared more than a lady and a housemaid ever should, Máire couldn’t understand the superiority and imperialism so ingrained in Elizabeth and so taken for granted. It seemed that, once she came to Ireland, she became the kind of entitled person who saw everyone as a servant. Máire knew that, once Elizabeth’s baby was born, the relationship between them would revert to the way it had been before – Lady Elizabeth, the head of the house, and Máire, the Irish kitchen maid. Still, Máire warmed to Elizabeth more than she had to any other English man or woman she had ever met. She actually felt sorry for her; she had seen Elizabeth’s human side, separated from her parents, and, given what she had revealed to Máire, seemingly stuck in a loveless marriage. Nearly every night, Máire came home with stolen vegetables or fruit hidden in her dress – her way of rebelling. This varied diet kept Liam and Máire and their unborn baby healthy. Liam enjoyed the stories Máire shared over dinner, especially learning about the lives of the Kitcheners before they came to Ireland.

Every British man was a legitimate target for the activists. Máire’s warming up to Kitchener’s wife wasn’t exactly something Liam had anticipated when he and his men were plotting to destroy any and all landlords and if necessary, their families. How would he explain to Máire the actions they might take? Yet, she had seen all of the injustices forced upon her and her parents, had endured slave labour in Dublin for four years, and was living in a tiny, thatched room, while her landlord and his family were living in luxury, completely unimaginable to the ordinary Irish peasant. Liam felt confident that, despite her feelings for Elizabeth, Máire would understand if he were to rebel against the Crown.

Elizabeth was about to give birth and the Kitchener mansion teemed with anticipation. Nervous, William paced up and down the hall. Emma sat near the bedroom door listening and hoping for a baby sister. Edward had persuaded his father to have him excused from boarding school for a week so that he could be home for the baby’s arrival. Máire...