Résumé :
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Many of O’Flaherty’s novels were about the sufferings of the Irish people, particularly as a result of British colonialism, and their struggles to establish their own identity and independence. There was perhaps no worse episode in Irish history under British rule than the Great Irish Famine of the 1840s. It resulted in the deaths of around a million people and two million more emigrated. Much of this disaster could have been avoided if the British government of the Whig Lord Russell had taken appropriate action, which they could have easily and relatively cheaply have done. This novel tells the story of one village and one family in particular during the mid-late 1840s, when the famine was at its worst.
The novel tells the story of the Kilmartin family in Black Valley. The Kilmartins are certainly better off than many of their neighbours. They have land and are even able to rent some out. Brian Kilmartin, now in his seventies, is the patriarch. He is tough, ruthless and demanding. He is married to the long-suffering Maggie. They have already lost four children to disease and now their adult son Michael is coughing and spitting up blood. Despite this, he carries on working and drinking. He lives with his parents, as does the (initially) fairly weak Martin, married only a month ago to Mary, who will become the heroine of this novel. Mary is the daughter of a landless weaver and Brian has not welcomed the marriage, as he considers Mary and her family beneath him and his family. He, however, had succeeded by marrying Maggie and getting land, as a result, both from her and from her brother, Thomsy, who handed over his land in return for being kept by Brian. Thomsy still lives with them and spends much of his time drinking. At the start of the novel, the potato blight, which will destroy most of Ireland’s potato crop, the source of 60% of the sustenance of the Irish peasants, has just been spotted in the neighbouring village. It rapidly spreads to Black Valley, first destroying the crop of Patch Hernon, Brian and Maggie’s son-in-law. Initially, the Kilmartins are only affected to a small degree.
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