Page 12 - C:\Users\JJK Laptop\Desktop\OMS Newsletter Nov 2024\

From Nana’s Book Nook: The Great Hunger provides layer upon layer of information about
Skibbereen the pre-, intra-, and post- famine economics, geography, culture,

THE FAMINE STORY and politics that shaped the ultimate outcome of An Gorta Mor.
Ms. Woodham-Smith, a UK citizen, was scathing in her opinion of
by Terri Kearney and Philip O’Regan the British government’s response. Without doubt, she included
Book review by Linda McConnell Baker, the areas of the island of Ireland that suffered the worst effects
Council Member of the blight and the government’s laissez-fair response, but in
largely general terms.
It has only been a year since this In Skibbereen The Famine Story, co-authors Terri Kearney and
book review column was officially Philip O’Regan condensed some of the economic and political
entitled “From Nana’s Book Nook,” components of this human tragedy and focused on the very
and already I am deviating from human beings, the families, and the psych-social cultural impacts
the standard of reviewing books (some of which endure to this day) in their native Skibbereen.
I inherited from my mother’s
extensive collection of Irish history Fully illustrated with contemporaneous maps, documents,
and culture resources. For this photographs, and drawings (including some of Mr. James
Newsletter issue, gentle readers, Mahoney’s etchings featured in the Illustrated London News
please accept this review of a book I in the 1840s), and frequently contrasted with 21st Century
have added to the nook. photographs of the area, the authors organized their chapters
in a logical, clear progression, making absorption of this vast
It goes without saying (but worth amount of history easier. (Warning: The emotional burden is
repeating) that this past June’s the same.)
annual gathering was exceptional.
A significant factor in our shared For those of us educated in the diaspora, we may have been lucky
perspective was our Saturday outing to to have learned in World History class that there was a potato
the Skibbereen Heritage Centre, where blight in the 1840s in Ireland and a bunch of Irish died and a
we were treated to a personal tour bunch more emigrated. That’s about the sum of what I learned in
and casual lecture by the museum’s school, and my World History teacher was of Irish descent!
manager, Terri Kearney. To have a book that so clearly explained not only pre-famine

Council members Catherine Carbino Goulah and Dan Mahoney Ireland and the potato, but Poor Laws, workhouses, the Relief
had spoken in glowing terms about the Skibbereen Heritage Works (and what that really was), the government soup that only
Centre, and I thought they understated the reality. After being prolonged the inevitable death from starvation, the evictions,
there, seeing the amazing museum that has been curated, and the impact of disease, emigration, and more, is a gift. The
Terri’s talk, I had to buy the 89-page book, Skibbereen The bibliography and list of resources provide multiple options for
Famine Story. additional research by the reader.

A few years ago, I read The Great Famine by Cecil Woodham- For me, the most significant, most poignant, most unforgettable,
Smith, published in 1962. The first edition copy I have is from most impactful part of Skibbereen The Famine Story are the true
Nana’s Nook, and at more than four hundred pages, was clearly a stories of people and families in the Skibbereen Union during and
slower read. It was also my first serious foray into learning more after the famine.
about the famine, and Ms. Woodham-Smith’s quite epic narrative As I have written before, a book review is supposed to entice
and perspective on the devastation the potato blight brought to you, gentle reader, to read the book for yourself, not be a
the Irish was, at times, overwhelming. substitute for reading the book. I will just ask this: after you
I thought I had written a review of what Terri Kearney called read Skibbereen The Famine Story, please let me know if you will
“Oh, an amazing resource!” but if I did, it is lost somewhere. It’s ever use or hear the phrase, “I’d die of shame” and not think of
possible I meant to write one, but hardly knew where to start. An Gorta Mor.
The Great Famine is still available on Amazon and through other Skibbereen The Famine Story, ISBN 978-0-9926242-1-7, is
booksellers, and I recall reading a review that included a remark available for sale from the Skibbereen Heritage Centre, Amazon,
that nothing written before or since is as comprehensive or rich and other booksellers. The O Mahony Society does not receive
in historical detail. any portion of any sale.

12