From Publishers Weekly
Yes, Gracelin O'Malley is another plucky Irish girl headed to America for a better life, but this gripping second volume of her story (the sequel to Gracelin O'Malley) is densely packed with unwhitewashed historical facts unusual in the romance genre. Having lost her husband and shot a British policeman, Grace flees Ireland in 1849 at age 20. She leaves a newborn son with her father in County Cork and takes her daughter to Liverpool, where she narrowly avoids the slums that destroy the lives of many immigrants. She then makes the difficult transatlantic voyage with her daughter, where dozens of adults and children die in filthy steerage. The New York she reaches is ugly, crowded, unsanitary and crime ridden. Moore creates a colorful, if familiar, tableau of German butchers, Italian laborers, runaway slaves, Jewish peddlers and, at the bottom of the heap, the Irish dockworkers, bootblacks and others that Grace meets at her job in a Manhattan saloon. As she struggles to make a home for herself in the tenements, she becomes involved in abolitionist and politically progressive circles, fighting anti-Irish prejudice. A few stock villains make an appearance (such as a callous ship's doctor) as do figures like Herman Melville, Edgar Allan Poe, Mathew Brady and even Joseph Smith. Moore also follows the fate of Grace's family in County Cork and the Irish political upheavals of the era. The relentless drama of Grace's fight to survive, as well as the rich contextual details, make Moore's sophomore effort as absorbing and accomplished as her first.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
In the second installment in a historical trilogy that began with
Gracelin O'Malley (2001), Moore's heroine, Gracelin, now wanted for murder in Ireland, is forced to leave her newborn son in the care of her father and sister-in-law, making the harrowing ocean crossing with her young daughter to join her brother, Sean, in New York. There she finds Sean deep into the politics of exile and busy raising money and arms for the fledgling Irish army. Although aware that she's lucky to find sanctuary in America, Gracelin is weary with the pain of abandoning her child, the death of her husband, and the destruction of her homeland. Resilient to the core, however, she perseveres, helping herself and others as Moore blends romance and adventure with memorable accounts of the brutal occupation of Ireland, the harsh reality of New York tenement life, and the comfort of family. Strong and likable characters and a well-paced story will make readers look forward to Gracelin's next appearance.
Neal WyattCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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