Galway Bay

Very well written and researched! This is a novel, and while the author gets her facts straight, she never forgets that. The characters are well developed and relatable. The reader actually experiences 'the great hunger' along with Honora and Michael and feels their despair in not being able to feed their children. While reading this book, I actually felt compelled to eat something even though I wasn't hungry! I was appalled by the indifference of the English landlords who blamed the plight of the Irish on their innate inferiority and lack of ambition! (Sound familiar?) A new life in Chicago is an uphill climb. No one could have made it without the help of others and without everyone working together. This book teaches life lessons we can still learn from! Five stars! Wish I could give it more!

"Epic" is the first word I would use to describe Galway Bay. The words "rich" and "lyrical" would follow. Mary Pat Kelly fully captures the tragedy and triumph of the 19th century Irish emigration. Michael and Honora Kelly, young newlyweds, begin their life together on a small patch of land overlooking Galway Bay. Michael is a bagpiper and blacksmith by trade. He's the owner of a prized racehorse and plans to breed her and sell the colts. Honora's family are hardworking fishermen and she and Michael plant potatoes to feed their family and pay the required rents to their English landlords. The plight of the Irish is well-documented. The English, who came in and took over, tried to do all they could to force the proud Irish people from their lands. Their heartless cruelty comes through, and these strong people resist as long as they can. But, after blight kills the potatoes three times in four years, Michael and Honora finally realize they need to leave Ireland for America. Danger and adventure await them in America as Honora, her sister Maire and their seven sons set forth to find Chicago and Michael's brother, Patrick. The strength of these two women is remarkable and inspiring. Based on the author's great-great-grandmother, Honora's story is one that will captivate you. The Irish people have a strong reputation for storytelling and Galway Bay is the fascinating story of a woman who wants to protect her family and her Irish heritage.

It took author Mary Pat Kelly over a month to pen that powerful first sentence in her newest book, Galway Bay, just released nationwide on February 9th>>I was immediately hooked on this huge epic starring MPK's great-grandmother, Honora Keeley Kelly, from those initial words. <br /> <br />Maybe it's because I live in Bridgeport where Honora settled at the end of her journey from her homeland of Ireland and the new life she found here in 1848 that I felt so close to her. The shear misery under the British-induced starvation and economic despair, the Protestant hatred directed against the Catholics, like the Kellys, the heartbreak of loss and death, all behind her as she and her sister and their children struggle in their new homeland of Chicago. <br /> <br />MPK is, indeed, a mezmorizing story-teller. She develops the characters and the scenes with sufficient detail and expression as to put us right in the story feeling the love and the passion, the laughs and the the losses, persevering for the basics of providing for a family...nothing fancy, just a job and some crops. <br /> <br />With her grandson, Bridgeport's Edward J. Kelly, elected Chicago's mayor in 1933, Honora is truly Chicago's "Grandmother of Chicago Politics" and she's got MY vote and so does her great-great-granddaughter, Mary Pat Kelly!!

GALWAY BAY Mary Pat Kelly Grand Central Publishing $26.99 ISBN: 978-0-446-57900-1 551 pages Reviewer: Annie Slessman Wow...wow..and wow again! Mary Pat Kelly's new novel, Galway Bay, is one of the best-written works of fiction I have read this year. Containing the history of the blight that killed so many crops and people in Ireland in the 1800s. Horror stories of people lying dead in their homes from starvation will stay with the reader for a long time. The story's main character, Honora Keeley Kelly, born in 1822 marries at age 16 when Michael Kelly emerges from the sea and captivates her heart. Kelly is a wanderer, equestrian extraordinaire, blacksmith and soon to be, farmer that keeps his family close and learns to love the land. The story of Honora and Michael's family members brings a reader to tears and strengthens their own resolve to be stronger in the face of adversity. When the blight ends, Michael and Honora finally have a wonderful crop to see them through the year without the threat of starvation. Their joy is short lived when the soldiers take their crops and threaten to take their lives. Several heroes materialize in this story. Honora, Michael, Michael's rebellious brother, Patrick Kelly and Honora's sister, Maire. Patrick sparks the Irish rebellion and takes his fight to Amerikay (America) to build strong opposition to the current government and landowners (mostly English) in Ireland. Maire sacrifices herself when a landowner threatens to take Honora as his own. Maire has lost her husband to the sea and feels she is better equipped to handle the landowners demands than Honora. The Kelly family's migration to Amerikay makes for some interesting reading as it includes a history of early Chicago and its demographic makeup. The 551 pages of this work appear a bit intimidating. However, a reader will have no trouble getting through the work, as you will not be able to put it down until you have read the last word.

In the romantic comedy, Jerry Mcguire Tom Cruise's character, walks into a room filled with women and makes a heartfelt plea to win back the love of his life, the character (Dorothy Boyd) played by Renee Zellweger. The famous line "You complete me was followed by, "Shut up, Just shut up, you had me at hello" Before I even began reading Galway Bay, the spectacularly written and meticulously researched epic novel, by Mary Pat Kelly, the words in the prologue grabbed me and pulled me in immediately. "We starved. More than a million dead...most of them in the West, which was only a quarter of the country, with Ireland itself just half the size of Illinois. A small place to hold so much suffering. But we didn't all die. Two million of us escaped one reaching back for the next. Surely one of the great rescues in human history. We saved ourselves, helped only by God and our own strong faith. Now look at us, doing well all over the world. We didn't die." I would just like to say, "Mary Pat Kelly, You had me when I read the words "one reaching back for the next" My Dads Parents, Bill and May Durkin arrived in Chicago by boat to make a new life for themselves and time after time,again and again, they "reached back for their brothers and sisters, and Aunts and Uncles. Each one of them, at one time or another, lived with my Father and his family until they were able to find jobs and get themselves settled, and then...my grandparents would send for another. I highly recommend this treasure of a book to everyone regardless of your nationality. We are all the descendants of courageous immigrants who arrived in our country. As an Irish Catholic, living in Chicago, I could really relate to these well defined characters. Naturally I was mesmerized from beginning to end. Mary Pat Kelly gave me a glimpse into the history and personal struggles of my very own family and I want to thank her for writing this fabulous epic novel. Like every good story, once you start, you will not be able to put down until you finish and then ...you want more! [...] Chicago, Illinois 100% Irish

I highly recommend this book if you are looking for richly drawn characters and a compelling story. Author Kelly relates the saga of her great, great grandmother, Honora Kelly. After losing her husband to the famine in Ireland, Honora journeys to America with her five children and settles in Chicago. Kelly's descriptive writing captures what life in 19th century Ireland and Chicago must have been like. For lovers of historical fiction and the telling of a good tale, "Galway Bay" is a must read.