Customer Reviews

Leaving Ireland

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Gracelin O'Malley, the spirited young woman readers first met in the novel bearing her name, continues to amaze in this second of a three-part saga. If readers are looking for a role model, one who shows you how to triumph against all odds, one who shows you how to live your life with love and tenderness, look no further than this heroine with a remarkable and unflagging spirit. Not only are we as readers first-hand witnesses as she seeks a better life for herself and fellow Irishmen, but we are also treated to a great novel about the power of a mother's love.

Gracelin, when last we met her, was forced to leave Ireland after her beloved husband Morgan was reported dead, she killed an English officer, and her son was too sickly to travel with her. With her daughter Mary Kate, she endured countless atrocities on board a ship bound for New York. Never caving in to the depression and hopeless feelings of many, Gracelin arrives and finds life in America not exactly what she had envisioned. If ever someone made lemons out of lemonade, then surely that someone was Gracelin as she seeks to make a better life for herself, her daughter, and her beloved brother.

Her adventures make for excellent reading---whether she is helping a former slave reunite with her children, protecting an orphan she comes to love as her own, or succumbing to the reality of losing her son, Ann Moore has given us as fine an adventure, romance, and overall ripping good read as any imaginable.

This is the story of Gracelin, but also the story of a young America opening its arms but not always its heart to the immigrants who came. You'll understand why they kissed the ground on arrival, and fought discrimination with every fiber of their being to make this country their home and a haven for their children.

If you love romance and adventure, come follow the story of Gracelin, from her pits of despair to her glorious dance in the sunshine at novel's end.

I have read Gracelin O'Malley and just fell in love with Moore's book ~~ and this book is just as good if not better than her first novel. This time, Gracelin manages to escape Ireland during the famine and the fever was raging through the countryside when Julia Martin takes Gracelin to Liverpool to take her to the ship that will take her to America to join Sean, her brother. This is just the beginning of the stories of Barbara, Morgan's sister who turned nun, of Julia who is taking care of Gracelin's son, of Liam Kelley who lost his mother and sister on the ship crossing, of Sean, Gracelin's brother ~~ and so forth. Gracelin, now known as Grace, is more mature in this novel and more responsible but not any less gracious or loving. She's truly an inspiration for all strong women who have to survive hardships!

After finishing this book ~~ I cannot wait for the third one to come out! This author will probably be my bookclub's favorite author so far ~~ which is thrilling because Moore writes beautifully and wonderfully about Ireland and the Irish.

This is highly recommended reading ~~ if you like historical fiction, you will love this. If you like reading about the Irish, this book is for you. It's beautifully written ~~ poetical in some places and the story is enthralling where it takes you on journeys you've never dreamed of. This book is also full of hope and dreams ~~ more than Gracelin O'Malley was. It's also a keeper.

4-14-04

If you loved Gracelin O'Malley, then Leaving Ireland is a must-read! Fleeing an Ireland full of pain and suffering, tragedy and broken dreams, Grace journeys across the Atlantic to build a new life in America. The plot is action-packed from the start and, in my opinion, much more uplifting overall than the first book. Familiar faces return and new friends and nemesis are made along the way as Grace continues her struggle for survival and her fight for a better life in a new world. Through it all, Grace perseveres with courage, dignity, unwavering faith, an indomitable spirit, and a heart of gold (thank you Ann Moore for creating such an inspirational character!). Although Leaving Ireland is a wonderful novel in itself, I recommend reading Gracelin O'Malley first. You'll find your enjoyment of the story even greater having met the characters before. Grace seems to be on the road to happiness and I eagerly await the third installment of her story!

In Leaving Ireland, Grace travels on a ship bound for America with her toddler daughter in hopes of a better life with her brother Sean in New York. Sadly, she has left behind her father and infant son who surely would not survive the terrible journey. Grace and her daughter live through all of the horrors of an ocean crossing in the 1840's: cramped quarters, hunger, disease, death and cruelty from the first class passengers and the crew. However, the Captain is a decent man and when he successfully brings his ship to port, Grace and her daughter are still alive. They are welcomed into a safe, clean home above a pub owned and operated by kind people who provide employment, food and lodging. Thus Grace avoids the tenements, lack of employment opportunities and much of the extreme prejudice that most Irish immigrants face in their shared position with the blacks at the bottom of the class structure.

The story suffers from too many subplots that distract from the story of Grace. The Irish continue to struggle with famine and poverty in their homeland and we witness this through Grace's sister-in-law Barbara who is a nun back home. Another part of the story is about Judith, a friend of Grace's former husband who takes care of Grace's son and becomes attached to him. Sean becomes involved with the Mormon religion and looks more to the West and the future than back toward Ireland. And there is the black slave Lily that Grace befriends late in the book. Lily left behind 2 children and a husband in the South and hopes to have them smuggled north to freedom. Whenever the story switched to another character, I wanted to get back to Grace.

The tragedies that befell Grace and the Irish in the first novel made their strength, courage and faith heartbreakingly believable because it was a nationwide occurrence. The events in this story seemed plausible, but the villains seemed too orchestrated. I did enjoy this book and will read another about Grace. But it just didn't possess the same lyrical quality and beautiful writing as Gracelin O'Malley.

If you haven't read the previous novel, then I don't suggest reading this one yet. Get the first one, Gracelin O'Malley, and be prepared for a weekend of serious reading. If you haven't read the first, you won't be lost, as much is explained, but the first in the triology gives a lot of background detail, which is left out.
I loved this book as much as the first, and was really disappointed when it ended. Gracelin moves to America and starts finding her way amongst a large and repressed Irish population. More trials await her in America, but she manages to overcome and hangs onto the hope she brought with her.
I eagerly await the last book, which is in the mail as I type!

I am waiting anxiously for the SEQUEL to Leaving Ireland! There has to be one! Is it coming? Fantastic two books, Gracelin O'Malley & Leaving Ireland! A must read....

If you loved Gracelin O'Malley, then Leaving Ireland is a must-read! Fleeing an Ireland full of pain and suffering, tragedy and broken dreams, Grace journeys across the Atlantic to build a new life in America. The plot is action-packed from the start and, in my opinion, much more uplifting overall than the first book. Familiar faces return and new friends and nemesis are made along the way as Grace continues her struggle for survival and her fight for a better life in a new world. Through it all, Grace perseveres with courage, dignity, unwavering faith, an indomitable spirit, and a heart of gold (thank you Ann Moore for creating such an inspirational character!). Although Leaving Ireland is a wonderful novel in itself, I recommend reading Gracelin O'Malley first. You'll find your enjoyment of the story even greater having met the characters before. Grace seems to be on the road to happiness and I eagerly await the third installment of her story!

In the 1840s, Gracelin O'Malley realizes she must flee her homeland Ireland after killing a Brit. With her husband dead, Gracelin accompanied by her daughter sails for New York and her brother Sean with her only regret that she is forced to leave her infant son behind.

The oceanic voyage is a nightmare with many of her fellow passengers dying from the subhuman conditions. American Captain Reinders helps Gracelin survive the ordeal, but she still incurs the ire of several individuals who are now enemies. The ship's steward loathes the Irish, seeing her as a pushy representative of an inferior race. Dr. Draper detests her for demanding he care for the ailing travelers. Both declare that they will destroy Gracelin once she disembarks from the ship and the safety of the captain.

In New York, she moves in with Sean, but is also stalked by the angry steward. Gracelin also befriends a runaway slave Lily. Struggling to survive while fighting injustice, Gracelin finds she is once again at the crossroads with her choices being accompanying her brother west or remaining with her Captain Reinders

LEAVING IRELAND is a deep action-packed historical novel that leaves the audience with a full five senses feeling for the 1840s, indirectly in Ireland and directly in Liverpool, the immigrant ocean voyage, and New York. The story line is a two-sided sword as the tale teems with so much action, it feels at times to be overburdened with subplots at the cost of the key character development. Readers who prefer an action packed look at a bygone era will want to read Ann Moore's tale that leaves threads for a sequel.

Harriet Klausner

Ms. Moore's portrayal of the passage from London to New York was real. One could feel the torture and pain of the characters portrayed. I wanted to reach out and help poor Liam as he watched his mother and sister die to the fever. But he was oh so lucky to have found the brave soul of Ms. O'Malley who had herself experienced the lost of the one man she truly loved.

Upon their entry to America, though they were afforded the basic needs of life such as food and clothing, they still lack the higher needs afforded to those who did not have the stigma "Irish need not apply".

I found myself a part of these characters wanting so much more for them, for it seems those who have suffered so do deserve so much more. I hope Ms. Moore creates a third book which will reunite her with her son, and with the man man who truly loves her.

I bought this book because I love reading about Ireland and genology, I had no idea there was a 1st book and a 3rd, well i loved this one the 2nd, and I had to buy the first and 3 rd book!!!From leaving ireland from starvaton, then on the ship, the hardships on there, illness, the terrible ship doctor, how irish were taken advantage of. and finally when in NY you find starving Irish there. I can just imagine what my great grandmother had to go thru to get here.