Overview

A vividly told, triumphant story that follows one of the thousands of young Irish women shipped to Australia after the Famine as part of the Earl Grey Scheme, whose indomitable bravery in an exotic, danger-laden land helped shape a new country. For readers of Ellen Marie Wiseman, Sarah Loudin Thomas, Amanda Skenandore and Marie Benedict.

They survived Ireland’s Great Hunger to build a new society in untamed Australia . . .

1848: The girls, 4,000 in all, come from every part of Ireland—from the shores of Galway to the Glens of Ulster and Belfast’s teeming streets—to board ships bound for Australia. All were chosen from Ireland’s crowded workhouses. Most are orphans. The Earl Grey Scheme was presented as an opportunity for young women to gain employment as domestic servants in the Colony. But there is another, unstated purpose—the girls are to “civilize” the many men sent there as convicts, so that settlements can be built.

Kate Gilvarry has spent six months in a Newry workhouse, subsisting on a diet of watery porridge. She knows there’s no future for her either within its walls or outside, in a ravaged, starving land. But once Kate’s ship completes the harrowing voyage, she and her companions find their reception in Sydney dismayingly unwelcoming, as anti-Irish sentiment grows. Homesick, and disillusioned by love following a shipboard crush, Kate strives to fit in, first as the servant of a demanding English woman, then as a farmer’s bride in the Outback.

When heat and drought force her husband to leave for long periods to work on a sheep ranch, Kate is left alone to fend off wild animals, drifters, and her aching loneliness. She longs to return to Ireland. But first, this beautiful, unforgiving country will teach her about resilience and survival, and the limitless possibilities that come with courage and love.

Evocative and compelling, The Famine Orphans is a testament to the young women whose pioneering spirit left an enduring legacy in a land so far from home.

Review

Kate’s family has lost everything during Ireland’s potato famine. They have been sent to the workhouse where things are not much better. So, when an interesting opportunity arrives to go to Australia and start a new life, Kate takes it!

Kate is definitely a strong young lady. She basically spends a few years as an indentured servant before things fall apart and she has to move on. She ends up married and in the Outback. But things do not go as planned there either. And you will need to read this to find out!

This story takes you on a wild ride that you won’t soon forget. I enjoyed this time period and definitely this setting. It has been a while since I have visited Australia in a book and it was a much needed journey.

Need a compelling story that will take you from Ireland to Australia…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today!

I received this novel for a honest review.

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