MYSTERY MONDAY: IRISH FAMINE, STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE, SHANTY GOLD BY JEANNE CHARTERS

Title: Shanty Gold

Author: Jeanne Charters

ISBN: 978-1-62420-176-9

Genre: Historical Fiction

Excerpt Heat Level: 1

Book Heat Level:  3

Buy at: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

REVIEW:

Shanty Gold

Jeanne Charters

978-1-62420-176-9

By Tracy A. Fischer for Readers’ Favorite

5 stars out of 5

In a fantastic read by debut author Jeanne Charters, Shanty Gold, the story of a young Irish girl, Mary Boland, will captivate readers from beginning to end. Taking place in 1849, the story begins with Mary being found almost dead alongside a road. The great famine is in full swing, and Mary had just buried her mother and sister, both of whom succumbed to starvation. Mary needs to find her father, and is determined to get to Boston to do so. She ends up getting assaulted by the crew of the ship carrying her to the New World, but is befriended by a young black slave boy. Together they survive the long journey and make it to the New World, where they hope their dreams will come true.

I so enjoyed reading Shanty Gold. Author Jeanne Charters has done an absolutely wonderful job in creating a story line and characters that her readers will connect with, relate to, and continue to think about long after the book is done. If that isn't a hallmark of a wonderful writer, I don't know what is. When I picked up Shanty Gold, I intended to only read a few chapters and then pick up again the next day. Well, several hours late into the night, and I was finishing the last page. I simply could not put it down. Any reader who enjoys historical fiction or simply a great read would love Shanty Gold. I highly recommend this book, and I am certainly hopeful that author Jeanne Charters is already hard at work on her next book. I, for one, will be waiting for the next offering from this author.

BLURB:

In 1849’s famine-ravaged Ireland, thirteen-year-old Mary Boland is found lying mostly dead on the side of the road to Cork Harbor, Queenstown, Ireland. She just buried her mother and baby sister after they both died of starvation. Now she is headed for Boston to find her father— no matter what. Raped and beaten by the evil crew of The Pilgrim’s Dandy, she is rescued by a fifteen-year-old Negro slave who had been used in like manner for some time and had vowed to throw himself to the sharks that very night. Together they survive the harrowing two and a half month trip, helping others as well. Their friendship is the key to the new world for both of them, carrying them through hardships and trials, and eventually to happiness.

EXCERPT

Chapter One

May the road rise to meet you.

August, 1849, County Cork Ireland

Near dawn, others join me on the walk to Cobh. Silent stragglers they are, a man, a woman, and a wee boy, dragging behind them paltry gatherings from a lifetime of poverty. At first, their presence is a comfort, but the shuffling feet send dust into the air and me mouth turns to sand. I spy a pond in the distance and crawl toward it, but the water's mostly mud. Back on the road, me three companions are gone.

I fall onto the stones. You win, Ireland. Killed me like me kin, you did. 'Tis a relief to quit this hopeless effort. Time drifts by. So this is how it feels to die, is it? Not so bad.

Lying there, I drift into unconsciousness, but suddenly there are hands, hard hands tugging under me arms and pulling me over a rough rail into a wooden cart. That gobsmacks me brain some, I'll tell you. I thought I'd left such things as splintery carts behind me. I close me eyes and fall into sacred sleep. The sun is high in the sky now, so time has passed, but I don't know how much of it. I yearn to straighten me legs, but boxes cram every inch of space. A blacksmith's anvil digs into me spine.

Sweet smells of wildflowers drift into the cart. 'Tis the wondrous scent of summer in Ireland. Could I move, I'd pick some to slake the hunger gnawing me belly, but I'm too tired.

A woman speaks, "Look, Tim. The road to Cork City. We could kiss the Blarney stone." She laughs. "That'd do us well in Canada."

Canada? She hums a Gaelic song Mam used to sing. It lulls me back into sleep, but the noisy caw of herring gulls jolts me awake. Da once said, "Blast those birds. Had I a gun, I'd shoot them all out of the sky."

This day, I'd do the same.

The hands shake me awake. "Girl, who are you? Where are you headed?" He is elderly, nearly as old as me father, with at least thirty years etched on his face, so I try to give a respectful answer.

"Mary Boland, sir," I say, shocked by the rasp that is me voice. "I was walking to Cobh, but…"

"The blessings of St. Brigid are with you this day, Mary," the woman says in a voice soft as a lamb's coat. Her face glows with kindness, like saints on holy cards. She strokes the hair from me eyes. "That's where we're headed as well. But the Cork harbor is called Queenstown now, not Cobh. To honor Victoria's visit."

I close me eyes again. Who's this Victoria?

Bits of their talk mix with the sounds of the squawking gulls. "She's just a child, Tim. Why is she be traveling to Queenstown alone?"

"Let her rest, love. Lots of children have tried to get to the ships. Most don't make it. She's a lucky one."

Night darkens the sky, and rain pounds on me back. A blanket lowers over me, and I sigh in gratitude.

As the sun reddens the East again, I sit up, wincing at the soreness in me hip. Biting wooden splinters out of me hands, I glance up and see them staring back at me. A grin feels silly on me face, but 'tis the best I can do.

"So, you're Mary Boland, are you?" the man says.

"Yes, sir."

"We're Tim and Moira Donahue," she says. "Call me Moira and him, Tim," she gestures toward the man.

It is unseemly to call someone her age by her first name, but I'll do as I'm told. I don't want to get kicked from this wagon. "Thank you, I will, Moira."

"How old are you, child?" Her voice is sweet as soda bread.

"What year is this?" I say, knowing that sounds ignorant. "No one in me village kept a calendar."

"It's 1849, girl," Tim answers.

"Well, I was born on St. Patrick's Day, 1836, but I'm no good at ciphering." I blush, knowing how stupid they must think me.

"You're thirteen-years-old then," he says.

Thirteen is it? My, I'm nearly grown.

"Where are your mother and father?" Moira asks.

I brace me heart against the telling. "Da sailed for America a while back. He said he'd send money for us to come over. We never got it, though. I think the landlord stole it."

"I wonder if he even survived the trip," Tim whispers.

Me heart stops. "You think me da's dead?"

"Nah, girl. He's probably fine." His deep tone reminds me of Da's when he held me on his lap while reading from Gulliver's Travels.

"And your mother?" Moira asks.

I don't want to remember, but must. "Mam died a week ago, along with the baby, Ellen."

The woman's eyes are brimming when she looks at me again. "I'm so sorry," she whispers. I can tell she means it.

"What was your village?" Tim asks.

"Kinsale."

"Ah, lovely place," Moira says. "On the Great Ocean."

"Aye, 'twas lovely," I answer, as images wash over me, green rolling hills, whitecaps and white sails, salmon jumping to the nets, sheep, friends, parties, and family – most of all, family. The memories threaten me speech until hot anger rescues me tongue. "It's lovely no longer. The ships there fly British flags now."

Tim grunts. "Since that hoor's melt English Pope let Henry the Eighth invade us seven-hundred years ago."

"Hush with your blasphemy, Tim," Moira hisses, then turns to me, "How did your mother pass?"

I brace me heart against the telling. "Before he left, Da sold his fishing boat and nets and bought oats to last us till he could earn money for our passage. When our sheep died, we had no wool to ship to England. The landlord burned our cottage."

"Most of our village was burned out this past year," Tim says, shaking his head. "All that remains there are a few pitiful huts and the landlord's grand house. We knew we'd be next." He turns to face me. "Why did you not go to the nuns?"

"Mam wouldn't hear of it. 'Bolands don't take charity,' she said, and meant it."

He shakes his head like maybe his mam was proud, too.

"When Mam made her mind up, there was no changing it. So I found us a cave." I shiver, remembering, and then hug meself so I can go on with the awful next part. "It was cold and wet in the cave. Da had given me his revolver before he left and trained me to use it. I was a good shot. I sold the gun for peat to warm the cave. Then, Mam got the dysentery. I couldn't make it stop though I tried all the old remedies. I think it was from spoilt soup the British gave us at the soup kitchen."

Tim's murmur is harsh. "Bastards! If they can't kill us by starving or burning us out, they poison us with their putrid gruel."

"I tried to make Mam better," I say, swallowing a moan, "but nothing helped."

Moira touches me cheek.

"When Mam's milk dried," I say, straightening me back, "the baby passed quick. Mam died soon after. I think her heart was broken." The fury of watching them die returns in a rush. Then, the anger turns to grief. Tears won't help, but that doesn't stop them. I brush them away. I never cried, not even when I took the gold cross from Mam's fingers and fastened it around me neck. Not when I dug their graves with me hands and laid them there together beneath the hawthorn tree. Not when I took the boots from Mam's feet and pulled them on me own. Not even when I covered the two of them over with the stones.

At once, the memory flips me sadness to wrath, and I nearly scream. I think of Da's words: “Meter your temper, Mary. Me mother was an O'Brien. The O'Briens have Banshee blood. Save your rage for those who deserve it.”

These dear people do not deserve it. The cart is quiet for a time. I think we all are deep in our own memories, but then, Tim says, "You walked all the way from Kinsale? That's at least thirty miles from where you fell."

"I'd have made it the whole way, but, once down, I couldn't wake up. I'd have died for sure if you hadn't come upon me."

Moira climbed into the back of the cart and wrapped her arms tight around me shoulders. "Ah, love," she croons, rocking me like a báibin. The kindness of her touch nearly sets me weeping again, but I set me jaw tight as a badger trap. She taps the man on his shoulder. "Tim, give me a bit of that bread and the water jug. The child is starved to bone."

When she hands me the bread, I try to chew slow. Mam said you could pick out a lady from a shanty girl by the way she ate. But the hunger makes me swallow too fast, and the bread sticks in me throat. I hiccough like a common drunkard. "Excuse me, please. I ate too quickly."

"That's all right, Mary. You're hungry. The good Lord sent us to help you," she answers. "Things will be better now."

I lean back against her. Her arms feel good, almost like Mam's. "What was your village?" I ask, and then take a swig from the water jug, careful not to let it dribble down me chin.

"Killarney," she says. "We held on through the first year, but when the potatoes came up black again, we couldn't produce our quota of grain. It was only a matter of time 'til our cottage would be ashes.

"We've booked tickets on the Sheridan, a ship headed for New York. Cost us dear, four pounds each, British sterling. It's all we had left. We sail tomorrow." She turns me around and looks deep into me eyes. It's as if she's looking for me soul itself. "What ticket did you book?" she asks.

Can I trust her with the truth? Will they put me back on the road if they know I haven't a farthing in me boot, let alone money for a ticket?

REVIEWS:

Shanty Gold

Jeanne Charters

978-1-62420-176-9

Reviewd by Amanda Roberts

5 stars out of 5

I loved this book. Most of the book takes place in Boston as two youngsters try their best to survive in a new and strange world. The book tackles hard issues such as rape, murder, slavery, race, and gender in a frank but beautiful story.

The story is so well-written I found myself unable to put it down. I just had to know what would happen to the characters. How would they survive in such a harsh world at such young ages? The story is a happy one, but it isn’t sappy or contrived. The story feels very realistic and it is clear the author did a lot of research.

The book is not a romance but is a historical novel, though there are romantic elements. The book is appropriate for teen readers.

Shanty Gold is the first part of a planned trilogy, and I am looking forward to reading the rest of the books.

I am the coordinator of Irish Cultural/Educational programs at an Irish Center in The Capitol of New York State.  I had a special interest in reading Shanty Gold since the author Jeanne Charters is presenting her book at our September 23rd 2015 meeting. I was not disappointed since the book is a great story about the experiences of many of our Irish relatives who came to the United States at the height of the Irish Famine 1845 to 1855, the coffin ships many found transport in, the rape and slaughter they faced, and finally the perseverance needed to survive in Boston Massachusetts where no Irish need to apply for jobs. The central characters Mary Boland and Kamua Okafor, a black boy, had similar horrendous experiences from a society with rampant prejudices. The book achieved its purpose better in many ways of getting you in touch with the Irish experience compared to a lecture covering the same topics. I look forward to the two books which are to follow completing this trilogy of Irish immigrant pain, strength and success. Books like this prove that historic fiction can be one of the many avenues to enjoy the culture and history of people.

John W. Carswell