Fields of Home [Hardcover]

Marita Conlon-McKenna (Author), Donald Teskey (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up

A touching, intensely personal look at the Irish experience, in Ireland and in the United States, during the decades immediately following the Great Famine in Ireland, is told from the perspective of the three adult children of the O'Driscoll family, in the third in a series that began with Under the Hawthorn Tree.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-7. Fields of Home continues the story of Eily, Michael, and Peggy, three orphaned survivors of the Irish potato famine, begun in Under the Hawthorn Tree (1990) and Wildflower Girl (1992, both Holiday). Although circumstances have separated the now-grown siblings, they retain strong family ties. This book focuses mainly on the effect events have on Eily's young daughter, Mary-Brigid. The story is heavy on heartache, horses, and hopefulness, elements that adolescent girls tend to love. Conlon-McKenna gives a good explanation of how the Irish people were victimized by the system of tenant farming. One chapter features a poignant scene depicting the eviction of an elderly widow from her cottage. It conveys a true feeling of the tenants' almost helpless situation without being maudlin. It is not necessary to have read the earlier volumes to appreciate the story here, although readers of those titles will understand the characters and time period more completely, as no specific dates are given in this title. The transitions between the intertwined plot lines are handled nicely, avoiding confusion. Overall, this is an above-average addition to historical fiction collections. On a scale of one to four, it rates three and a half shamrocks.?Elaine Fort Weischedel, Turner Free Library, Randolph, MA
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 7^-10. Very much a sequel, this will interest only readers of Conlon-McKenna's first two historical novels about the Irish O'Driscoll family, Under the Hawthorn Tree (1990) and Wildflower Girl (1992). The great potato famine is long past now; Michael and Eily are trying to make it in hard times in Ireland; their sister Peggy works as a maid in New York City until she finally decides to marry a fellow immigrant and join a wagon train going west. Unlike the first two novels, this story is episodic and very slow, overwhelmed by set pieces of local color--market day, the birth of a foal, the horse race, the fire in the big house. There are some dramatic episodes, especially in the struggle between the landowner, the rent collector, and the tenants, but much of this reads like an add-on to the taut narratives of the first two books. Hazel Rochman

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 189 pages
• Publisher: Holiday House (April 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823412954
• ISBN-13: 978-0823412952
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,668,616 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but not as good as th first two books, July 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Fields of Home (Hardcover)

This is the final book in the famine trilogy. This book ties up all the stories in the previous books. The book details what happens to Eily, Peggy and Micheal. I found the chapters on Peggy the most interesting, and I was sorry that there was only a few chapters about her. The chapters about Eily and Micheal show the difficulties that many Irish tenants were faced with in the years after the Great Famine. Overall, this book is a good sequel to the first two, and is necessary to finish up the stories. However I enjoyed the Wildflower Girl more.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars the fields of home, October 17, 2001

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Fields of Home (Hardcover)

I enjoyed reading the book the fields of home where Eily,Michel and Peggy have to face hard decisions and life risking events but I would not recomend this book if you have not read the other two books in the seires.These other books are wildflower girl and under the hawthorn tree.I personaly liked wildflower girl better.This book is just a finish off book so the others make scence.I would have given this book a higher mark if it had an equal amount of explation for each of the charotors