The author is tackling an extremely tricky…somewhat delicate…subject…but she captures vividly a particularly troubled part of Ireland's past. Her use of Irish myths…some I grew up hearing from my grandmother who left this area in 1926....was a really good part of the book. The stories are entrancing and a great deal about the situation she describes is what relatives that are still there have described and lived through. The book definitely shows that Caldwell was a promising writer and attempts to shed light on an important chronicle in a very dark chapter in Irish history. However it appeared that the authors believed that in order to write tragedy you must spread the misery on as heavily as possible. The only thing it dis was just produce more misery on top of what these people were experiencing at the time. The parts that chronicled Saoirse relationship with her aunt and uncle and her dreams of school and those wonderful Irish myths lightened the atmosphere to some degree but not enough to make the reader come away with any real good feeling…but then this time in Ireland’s history didn’t produce many “good" feelings. If anyone is interested in pursing this bleak subject to more extent… may I recommend Deirdre Madden's [One By One In the Darkness]. ( )