The Irish Dresser: A Story of Hope During the Great Hunger (An Gorta Mor, 1845-1850 (Paperback)

by Cynthia G. Neale (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"an exciting, entertaining, and highly recommended story of taking risks and facing new challenges for the sake of hope" -- Midwest Book Review

Cynthia 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

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 Review

Product Description
During the Irish Famine from 1845 to 1850 over a million people perished due to hunger and fever. Thousands of ships brought more than two million Irish people to North America in search of food. The Irish Dresser is the saga of the McCabe family who struggle to survive during this difficult time. When thirteen-year-old Nora McCabe crawls into the old dresser that sits next to the hearth holding a few pieces of her mother s china, she dreams of luscious cakes and fairies as hunger pains grip her. It is in the dresser that Nora finds hope when her father declares they must leave their beloved Ireland for America. Hidden in the dresser aboard the ship traveling to a new land, Nora lives an adventure that transforms her life and turns hope into a reality.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 100 pages
• Publisher: White Mane Publishing Company; Educational Resources Included edition (December 22, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572493445
• ISBN-13: 978-1572493445
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,390,097 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Taking risks and facing new challenges for the sake of hope, March 10, 2004

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

The Irish Dresser: A Story Of Hope During The Great Hunger by Cynthia G. Neale is a novel written for young adults and set in the Irish Famine of 1845-1850. The Irish Dresser follows the struggles of Nora McCabe, a thirteen-year-old girl who wages a daily battle with hunger. Nora's adventure begins when her father decides to take her to America for an escape from famine and a chance at survival in a new world. The Irish Dresser is an exciting, entertaining, and highly recommended story of taking risks and facing new challenges for the sake of hope.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nora McCabe Is Famine Ireland's Anne Frank, April 26, 2008

By	Brenna Briggs (Ireland) - See all my reviews

Nothing can ever really be compared to the courage displayed by Anne Frank in her diary, but Cynthia Neale's Nora McCabe in Neale's famine book, THE IRISH DRESSER, comes close. Both Nora and Anne experience day-to-day life in a world gone mad. While nothing can extinguish their inner lights, the world they live in is pitch black, terrifying and cruel. The wonder of Anne Frank has always been how did she manage to cope at all. She has provided unending inspiration for any of us who is ever tempted to indulge in self-pity or despair. Neale's 13-year-old Nora McCabe, like Anne, sees the magic in the ordinary things around her-chickens with personalities and the thrill of an upcoming party where there might actually be food to eat, instead of the hopelessness which has wrapped itself around her family. Anne Frank hid in a cramped apartment in Amsterdam,and Nora McCabe literally hides in a piece of furniture-the Irish dresser, as she, unlike Anne,manages to escape from starvation and political oppression and start over again in New York. If you want to get a real sense of what the Great Famine in Ireland must have been like from a child's point of view, when over one million died and two million fled the island, read this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Erica's Review, February 12, 2004

A Kid's Review

This book tells you what really happened in Ireland during the Potato Famine. It is also a story about family strength and love. Nora and her family are very near starving to death, so their father decides to move them all to America. The family gets split up on the boat to America, and a china cabinet becomes Nora's magical place. Sometimes this story is a little scary and sad, and sometimes it is full of hope and promise. But it is a story that needs to be told. If you have some Irish roots, this books helps you to understand your family history a little better.