|
During Ireland's great famine, in 1845, millions of Irish People
fled to other countries to escape hunger and disease and find a new life. Many thousands of them came to America, the fabled land of opportunity where the streets were said to be paved with gold. For most of the immigrants life in America was disappointingly hard. Anti-Irish settlement was common. The men who were lucky earned low wages in whatever jobs they could get. Of the women, many were servants in homes of the rich, and some found work in the cloth mills of Lowell, Massachusetts, where conditions were demanding and harsh.So Far From Home details, in the form of Mary's own diary, all of her experiences from the moment her family decides to send her to America to join her sister, a maid in a wealthy household, and her Aunt Nora, a teacher in Lowell. The trip abroad, seven grueling weeks, introduces Mary to good people whose friendships will endure and affect her life in
untold ways. In her land, Mary works hard and dreams of a better future that, sadly, is not to be. But her brief, brave life bears vivid witness to a pivotal time in America's past.
|
