Children of the Famine Trilogy
| By: | Marita Conlon-McKenna |
| Publisher: | O'Brien Press Ltd |
| Published: | September 2011 |
| Pages: | 160 |
| Categories: | Children |
| Language: | English |
| Available as: | Paperback |
| On sale at: |
This beautifully packaged boxed set of Marita Conlon-McKenna's masterful famine trilogy, with a beautiful cover by PJ Lynch. Ireland in the 1840s is devastated by famine. When tragedy strikes their family, Eily, Michael and Peggy are left to fend for themselves. Starving and in danger of the dreaded workhouse, they escape. Their one hope is to find the great-aunts they have heard about in their mother's stories. With tremendous courage they set out on a journey that will test every reserve of strength, love and loyalty they possess. This beautifully packaged collection showcases all three books in the Children of the Famine Trilogy; Under the Hawthorn Tree (winner of the International Reading Association Award), Wildflower Girl (winner of the Bisto Merit Award for Historical Fiction) and Fields of Home. Born in Dublin in 1956 and brought up in Goatstown, Marita went to school at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, Mount Anville, later working in the family business, the bank, and a travel agency. She has four children with her husband James, and they live in the Stillorgan area of Dublin. Marita was always fascinated by the Famine period in Irish history and read everything available on the subject. When she heard a radio report of an unmarked children's grave from the Famine period being found under a hawthorn tree, she decided to write her first book, Under the Hawthorn Tree. Published in May 1990, the book was an immediate success and become a classic. It has been translated into over a dozen languages, including Arabic, Bahasa, French, Dutch, German, Swedish, Italian, Japanese and Irish. The book has been read on RTE Radio and is very popular in schools, both with teachers and pupils. It has been made a supplementary curriculum reader in many schools and is also used by schools in Northern Ireland for EMU (Education through Mutual Understanding) projects. It was also filmed by Young Irish Film Makers, in association with RTE and Channel 4.
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