When Ireland Fell Silent A Story of a Family Struggle Against Famine and Eviction edition by Harolyn Enis Literature Fiction eBooks
Download As PDF : When Ireland Fell Silent A Story of a Family Struggle Against Famine and Eviction edition by Harolyn Enis Literature Fiction eBooks 
It is 1845 and eighteen-year-old Liam Reilly has no idea that his world is about to be shattered. He cherishes County Mayo with its beauty and close family even though life is hard. As tenants, the Reilly family grows grain to pay high rent to the English landlord while they eat mainly potatoes. He and other Irish are not aware that for the last twenty years, the British government has been urging landlords to evict tenants in order to provide pastures for ranching. It wants Ireland to produce fresh meat and get grain from more distant colonies like British Canada. Despite this plan, most landlords still have tenants growing grain, but some are starting to evict.
Liam still hopes for rights and a better life, especially when he meets the beautiful Colleen at a wedding in nearby Ballinglass. Terror strikes her village when her landlord razes it to the ground to create pasture! Her family is forced to the dreaded workhouse, and thinking he sees her at a high window, Liam prays she can survive.
To earn passage money to America, friends from Ballinglass go to England. Niall, Liam's older brother, goes with them and when they return, he announces that he too is emigrating. The devastated family plans a Feast of Departure, knowing this goodbye is forever. The music and forced gaiety give way to sorrow as his mother hysterically clings to Niall. Six months pass with no word and the family worries.
A partial blight on potatoes the year before has left many starving and Liam frets as the family shares dwindling supplies with beggars. Turf cutting, harvest, and roof thatching distract Liam until one dawn in August, he hears the door open and Mother's scream. Horrified, he rushes out to plants consumed by fungus. Potatoes everywhere are ruined and starvation spreads.
People gather to write petitions, begging for assistance, but high government officials in London refuse to interfere and send more soldiers to guard convoys taking food to port. Liam and his father risk arrest and organize thousands in a peaceful march to ask their landlord for mercy. Marching home, they pass a convoy of soldiers guarding food being taken to port. Soon after, Liam hears distant shots. Frantic, he realizes his brother Sean is missing as soldiers search the marchers for a wounded lad, trying to take oats.
Trapped in a desperate struggle, the family pulls together with great courage. When Liam kills a swan for Christmas dinner, relatives gather around the table. But he fears Colleen will die in the horrors of the workhouse. As the crisis deepens and the government confiscates their meager goods as tax, the family is pushed to the edge. Liam and his brother face constant danger from guards and soldiers as they scavenge for food and take enormous risks for the sake of the family. Intense conflict and suspense propel the story forward until at the end, Liam must overcome great obstacles if he is to save his mother and sisters. At 10 Downing Street, 1849, government leaders argue while Ireland falls silent.
When Ireland Fell Silent A Story of a Family Struggle Against Famine and Eviction edition by Harolyn Enis Literature Fiction eBooks
Time can dull our rememberance of tragedy, but not its ocurrance. In Harolyn Enis' meticulously-researched historical novel, Ireland's Great Hunger of the 1840's comes vivedly, heart-breakingly, to life. "When Ireland Fell Silent" is a somber, almost unbelievably tragic story that both surprised and dismayed me. Like most nominally Irish-Americans, I thought of the Irish potato famine of 1847-1949 as a natural disaster. To find that it was in fact fostered and flamed by a ruthless inhumanity whose brutality and religious intollerance wouldn't be seen again until The Holocaust a century later was difficult to understand.Enis wraps the horrible time into the story of one family, Liam Reilley, his four siblings and parents. Death wearing the robes of starvation comes to visit their simple village and refuses to budge. The best the Reilleys can hope is that some members of the family will find enough money to go to "Americay," even though this hope comes with its own sadness of eternal separation.
Enis is a gifted writer, and her telling of the ten thousand-man march of the Irish farmers to the English Baron Sligo simply to respectfully request a reduction in rents to spare their children is as powerful as the march is clearly futile.Sometimes the anguish and pain of the Reilleys can seem relentless, and the occassional kiss or laugh would have been welcome, as would have been the rare victory, no matter how small or fleeting. But historical novels must first be historical, and there were no victories when Ireland fell silent.
Jack Shakely
president emeritus
California Community Foundation
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When Ireland Fell Silent A Story of a Family Struggle Against Famine and Eviction edition by Harolyn Enis Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews
An enjoyable book, characterizing one family's struggle to survive the "Great Hunger". It is rather easy reading, and the author paints a vivid picture of the scenes and events. The detail of the British cruelty and passive genocide is revealed in a most personal way. I enjoyed the occasional use of phrases in Gaelic with their translations. I enjoy fiction that built around the history and culture of the time.
This is a nicely written novel about one family's struggle through the Great Famine of Ireland. It does explore some of the reasons for the famine, and discusses the English persecution of the Irish. As I read more about this subject, it seems that this was also a holocaust. Although there were not as many killed as in the Jewish Holocaust of World War 2, these people too were definitely persecuted. This is a worthwhile read and is highly recommended.
A fictional account of the era shows the realities for the Irish people under English domination from afar. Decision makers in England sent soldiers to enforce their cruel policies designed to take Irish tenant farmland, used for centuries by the same tenant families for the support of their lord and themselves, and convert it into grazing land for cattle to supply English tastes. A little preachy with historic detail, it is invaluable to someone who wants to learn about the era and enjoy a family story at the same time.
It is difficult to evaluate facts, the book itself is TONS of crimes against the Irish. The saga was ever so well written and just as tragic as one would expect given the majority of subject matter presented. Harolyn Enis is indeed gifted in her ability to relate the story, support the facts and envelop the reader. If you pass on this book you are cheating yourself of a heartfelt and engrossing novel that would be a best selling movie!
Follows fictional characters through some of the Irish famine of the 1840s. In the end, the book will leave you angry with the British politicians of the time who refused famine relief as the famine served their needs of eliminating the Irish to repopulate the island with Protestant Scots and English.
Our book club chose this book for our October selection and the discussion proved to be one of the best discussions we've had. Most of us had no idea of the severity of the Irish Famine or the underlying causes. It was hard to accept the horrible injustices and deliberate cruelty the British imposed on Ireland and the Irish people. The details in the book were obviously well researched and accurate - a wonderful historical novel that draws you in to the story. The characters and countryside came to life through the author's natural, flowing and descriptive writing style. The Prologue was especially well written and added the historical background that I needed. I referred to it many times while reading the novel. The Rielly family, their friends and neighbors are examples of how Irish families and communities hold themselves together no matter the adversity and tragedy they encounter. I am looking forward to the sequel.
'When Ireland Fell Silent' is a detailed account of the Irish Potato Famine told through the eyes of the O'Reilley Family.
This is a relentlessly sorrowful tale. I knew the broad-strokes of the Irish Potato Famine, but the details left me breathless. With this as the backdrop of the novel, you can imagine that there aren't many happy moments in the story. For me, by the end it was a bit overwhelming, especially as the pain of the O'Reilley Family builds to almost an unbearable point. I would highly recommend this tale to anyone who is interested in this point of Irish history.
Time can dull our rememberance of tragedy, but not its ocurrance. In Harolyn Enis' meticulously-researched historical novel, Ireland's Great Hunger of the 1840's comes vivedly, heart-breakingly, to life. "When Ireland Fell Silent" is a somber, almost unbelievably tragic story that both surprised and dismayed me. Like most nominally Irish-Americans, I thought of the Irish potato famine of 1847-1949 as a natural disaster. To find that it was in fact fostered and flamed by a ruthless inhumanity whose brutality and religious intollerance wouldn't be seen again until The Holocaust a century later was difficult to understand.
Enis wraps the horrible time into the story of one family, Liam Reilley, his four siblings and parents. Death wearing the robes of starvation comes to visit their simple village and refuses to budge. The best the Reilleys can hope is that some members of the family will find enough money to go to "Americay," even though this hope comes with its own sadness of eternal separation.
Enis is a gifted writer, and her telling of the ten thousand-man march of the Irish farmers to the English Baron Sligo simply to respectfully request a reduction in rents to spare their children is as powerful as the march is clearly futile.Sometimes the anguish and pain of the Reilleys can seem relentless, and the occassional kiss or laugh would have been welcome, as would have been the rare victory, no matter how small or fleeting. But historical novels must first be historical, and there were no victories when Ireland fell silent.
Jack Shakely
president emeritus
California Community Foundation
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