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THIS IS MOSTRIM

- THE FAMINE -

 

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Mark Cassidy

 

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ISBN: 978-1-917242-14-1

 

Price:  € 15.00 plus P&P (Irish address)

 

 

 

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About the Book:

 

“Jabber acknowledged the importance of making that sailing on the first of October. Sugrue acknowledged the difficulty in making it.”

But it was the only hope they had. To Jim Gorman, it was as simple as all that. The Erin's Queen was their only way to freedom, their only chance of ever getting justice for the transportation and the murder. It was this or the hangman's rope for the Sugrue Gang.

 

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OTHER TITLES IN THIS COLLECTION

This Is Mostrim 2 – The Exile

This Is Mostrim 3 – The Homecoming

 

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SYNOPSIS

This is Mostrim

- The Famine -

 

In 1845 the immediate trouble began and, long before the second harvest had failed, lunch packets were already getting lighter.

By the time Constance Ryan departs her Lacken homestead for the servants’ quarters at Cranley House the disease in the potato is more of a concern for Jim Gorman and his neighbours. Together with Paddy Sugrue - an old war hero from the time of the rebellion, Jabber and Turk, he struggles with the many injustices facing the people of Mostrim – or Edgeworthstown, as the parish has now been rebranded in honour of Maria Edgeworth – world-renowned novelist – and her famous landowning, Anglo family.

But the blight is only the tip of their problems. The white-hot heat of political debate is causing consternation as Young Irelanders and O’Connellites wrestle for the crumbs from Westminster’s table. Religion wranglings centre around tithe payments and the recent murder of Major Munroe, causing division not only among the churches but between the curate, Father Murtagh, and his parish priest bossman, Canon Reidy.

Punishment beatings, reprisals and evictions become commonplace, especially at Cranley estate, where the manager, Walter Pollach – in the absence of the viscount – uses all his cunning and craft and a great deal of cruelty to whip the indigenous troublemakers into line. The situation only worsens with the appointment of Sugrue’s erstwhile enemy and caption of the guard, Roger Giles, and culminates in the transportation to Van Diemen’s Land of Jim’s son, Shay and the murder of his workmate, Turk O’Nuallain – a crime which finally puts an end to Father Murtagh’s involvement within the Catholic Church.

Public relations are not helped by the returning Viscount de Bromley, whose money-making schemes are in direct contrast to the generous and caring spirits of Lord and Lady Teale of Lacken estate on the Longford side of the parish. Then Constance goes missing from Cranley House. Sugrue’s own dismissal from a public work scheme, eviction from de Bromley’s estate and brush with the workhouse heighten tensions further.

But it is the death of Maisie Rourke and her child – the first local victims of the famine – that finally stings Jim, Sugrue and the rest into action. They raid the basement of Cranley House, relieving the viscount of much of his hoarded foodstuffs. And they almost get away with it. After the capture of Jim Gorman, the Sugrue Gang – as they were to become known in the newspapers – topple the police van taking him to the barracks. They go on the run and, following on from the generosity of Lady Teale, make plans to escape on a ship from Dun Leary. But they are chased all the way by Giles, his yeomen, Pollach and the militia.

Is it to be the hangman’s rope for Sugrue and his gang or can they manage to make the Erin’s Queen and strike out for the freedom of New York City?