Customer Reviews

Twist of Gold

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This book is extremely good, with pages that will have you hanging on every word. It is about two children who are coming to America, from Ireland because of the famine, in search of their father. They had to leave their mother behind with the baby, and all they have to protect them it a "twist of gold"; a torc that has been in the family for years. From Ireland to California, there are plenty of mishaps and troubles, but also plenty of laughter and good parts. Although it is very tragic, and long, you won't put it down until it's done. I read this book when I was 11, and it has been my favourite ever since. I suggest this book if you want a good full book that will keep you reading for a while!

Two Irish children, hounded by starvation and plague, escape the potato famine, and leave behind three dead siblings as well as a dying mother to venture by sailing ship to America in search of their father. The kids find themselves working the streets of Boston before heading west across the continent via riverboat and wagon train to find their father and no-longer dying mother. (Wait. How'd she get well and go from Cork County to California?) Sean and Annie endure crooks, shipwreck, and getting stranded the desert; but they prevail.

Besides the inexplicable use of apostrophes for quotation marks, the problem with this book is its loose connection to historical accuracy. It's a fast-paced fantasy adventure story that fails to capture a realistic portrayal of the American immigrant experience.