Tough times for gentry in Doughty’s Come Rain, Come Shine

Come Rain, Come Shine by Anne Doughty

This review was originally published by the Historical Novel Society in the Historical Novel Review, February 2013.  

Ireland in the early 1960s: Savvy, sophisticated Clare Hamilton returns from France to her native Armagh to marry Andrew, her childhood sweetheart, and run his ancestral home as a B&B. Business goes well for a time but falls off with the rise of package holidays abroad and sectarian violence in nearby Ulster, leaving Clare and Andrew finding it difficult to make ends meet. Clare is the creative, upbeat, come-rain, come-shine heroine, while Andrew is pleasant but struggles to create a successful law practice and really wants to be a farmer.

This is the fourth novel in Doughty’s Hamilton sequence and covers the time period 1960 to 1966. Come Rain, Come Shine is a smooth read with likeable characters. Armagh and the places Clare and Andrew visit are beautifully evoked — the author’s familiarity with the landscape comes through. Doughty captures the classic Irish phrasing and culture so much it made me smile.

But I felt that for the time period, Clare and Andrew had more luxury-related problems than the general population at a time when unemployment was rife. Andrew refuses a lordship but wants to farm, loses his law partnership, and gets cheap office rent in Armagh. I wished for antagonists with more depth, a bit more conflict with higher stakes, particularly in the time when the North of Ireland was riddled with dissent and violence between Catholics and Protestants.

John Kelly’s factual account of Ireland’s Great Famine tears at your heart

The Graves are Walking by John Kelly

This review was originally published by the Historical Novel Society in the Historical Novel Review, February 2013.  

John Kelly’s account of the Irish potato famine is a thoroughly researched and smoothly written story of the events that led to the famine and efforts to bring relief. In The Graves are Walking: The Great Famine and the Saga of the Irish People he covers it all: from the disease that caused the European-wide potato failure to the policies and philosophies of the British to the Anglo-Irish landowners, and cultural prejudices about the Irish. Kelly places the blame on the British but shows in detail how the thinkers of the day believed in a moral and social philosophy that was at odds with giving the Irish the help that was required.

This is a factual account of a tragedy that tore at my heartstrings, because it is contains accounts of people and places that make up my family tree. My heart broke as I read the stories of eviction, mass graves, and epic stupidity in policy-making and famine relief. I understand now why my ancestors left Mayo and Down for the difficult life of coal mining in Scotland, and why my Donegal ancestors fared a little better living in a remote area by the sea. They harvested, along with fish and seaweed, a deep distrust of the British. Indeed, it is hard to read this book without feeling anger and frustration at the British policies and the cruelty of land owning gentry, which led to genocide.

Related articles

• Was the Irish Famine genocide by the British? (rinf.com)
• Irish famine immigrants saved large amounts of money says American History Journal (irishcentral.com)
• Author John Kelly to discuss his latest book, ‘The Graves are Walking’ (irishcentral.com)
• Suffering and starvation in Ireland (miamiherald.com)