I received a free copy of this book from Harper Collins exchange for an honest review.

In 1847 Ireland, Kitty McCarthy has to watch helplessly as her children die one-by-one from the famine ravaging the country. In present day Ireland, Maria McCarthy has travelled from England to Ireland to find out more about her ancestors, and uncover the secrets surrounding Kitty.

This was a book that was beautifully written, and the characters all easily came to life page by page. At first, I didn’t like Maria as a character as I found her a bit annoying and a complainer but then I soon grew really fond of her and by the end of the book I was so bird of the character growth she had had. Kitty was just a strong, wonderful mother prepared to sacrifice everything to give her children a future. At times she got a little bit lost with the focus on Patrick, her son, but I did love her and the mystery surrounding her that Maria uncovered.

The history of the Irish Famine was told in a really good, simplistic way in this book. It’s the perfect book to detail the harsh realities of what life was like for the poor Irish during this time without it being too much of an info-dump, and would be a great starter to ‘famine fiction’ for people who may know very little about the period of time.

There was a slight supernatural element at the end of it which was a bit out of place considering the way the rest of the book went but I actually liked. This was a quick, easy read and a very enjoyable one.