Galway Bay

Mary Pat Kelly
Grand Central Publishing (2009)
ISBN 9780446579001
Reviewed by Irene Watson for Reader Views (5/09)


The story begins during The Great Starvation, a famine in Ireland resulting from a potato blight between 1846 and 1851 when a million people starved to death.  During this time about 2 million Irish refugees immigrated to the United States, including the main characters in this story. 

Hardship, domination, poverty, and suffering are themes that run through “Galway Bay” by Mary Pat Kelly. However, the characters also discover happiness, faith, family connections, and cause for celebration.  The two main characters, sisters Honora and Máire, although having different characteristics and beliefs, aren’t the typical nineteenth-century Irish women.  They complement each other in the plot while expressing their beliefs about their sons’ going to battle in the Civil War.  The story is heart-wrenching, yet joyful.  The character development is so great the reader is fully drawn into the story and becomes the character themselves.

I particularly enjoyed this book because of the Irish ancestry, span of generations, and the reality of the plot. Although “Galway Bay” is a novel, much of it is based on truth.  Being a buff in family history research, I became more familiar with the Irish lines.

Mary Pat Kelly is a master at writing. Her knowledge and research of Ireland, the Irish-American culture, and her understanding of family life during the era is impeccable.  “Galway Bay” is one plot that will stay with you for a long time.

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