Galway Bay
by Mary Pat Kelly
Hardcover
576 pages
List Price: $26.99
Published in 2009
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
ISBN-10: 0-446-57900-9
Read a letter from the author about the origins of this book. 

My Take:

I’ve included the product description below. I have less than two hundred pages to go with this book because reading this book is like going to a five star restaurant and experiencing the most scrumptious meal. I want to savor each word because I know that there can only be one ‘first time’ to read this book. Mary Pat Kelly captured my attention on the first pages of the book with Honora meeting Michael. They fell in love and know that they want to be together. Then they have children, and the great potato famine came. I find it very interesting that the book is told from Honora’s point of view, yet I can feel all that is going on.

There are some truly horific scenes in the book, but what separates this book from the rest are the sense of hope and strength of the main character. I’m most impressed with their sense of family and community. I would truly recommend this book for reading, even if it isn’t your genre. The writing is simply irresistible. It’s hard to read this book and not love it. Michael, Honora’s husband, is a good man and an excellent father. While reading this book, it’s like getting to know these characters. They become family.

Product Description
Here at last is one Irish family’s epic journey, capturing the tragedy and triumph of the Irish-American experience. In a rousing tale that echoes the myths and legends of Ireland herself, young Honora Keeley and Michael Kelly wed and start a family, inhabiting a hidden Ireland where fishermen and tenant farmers find solace in their ancient faith, songs, stories, and communal celebrations. Selling both their catch–and their crops–to survive, these people subsist on the potato crop–their only staple food. But when blight destroys the potatoes three times in four years, a callous government and uncaring landlords turn a natural disaster into The Great Starvation that will kill one million. Honora and Michael vow their children will live. The family joins two million other Irish refugees in one of the greatest rescues in human history: the Irish Emigration to America. Danger and hardship await them there. Honora and her unconventional sister Maire watch their seven sons as they transform Chicago from a frontier town to the “City of the Century”, fight the Civil War, and enlist in the cause of Ireland’s freedom. The Kelly clan is victorious. This heroic story sheds brilliant light on the ancestors of today’s 44 million Irish Americans.

In the author’s colorful and eclectic life, she has written and directed award-winning documentaries on Irish subjects, as well as the dramatic feature Proud. She’s been an associate producer on Good Morning America and Saturday Night Live, written books on Martin Scorsese, World War II, and Bosnia, and a novel based on her experiences as a former nun – Special Intentions. She is a frequent contributor to Irish America Magazine and has a PhD in English and Irish literature.

The Giveaway:
Thanks to Hachette Book Group and Miriam for this giveaway.

Two lucky winners will win a copy of this book. All you have to do is leave a response to this questions (must answer this question to qualify to win a copy of this book):
Do you believe in love at first sight? Why?

Winners must:
Have a US or Canadian address. No PO boxes allowed.

Contest open until March 31.

Tags: Mary Pat Kelly