Grace journeys from town to town, picking up work where she can. After an accident takes Colly, his voice and comments are still heard by Grace, become a part of her, and she answers back in whispers.

They seek out empty huts or animal sheds for shelter, shivering in the cold. Colly instructs Grace on manliness, how to smoke a pipe to damp the hunger, and his chatter fills the void. The next day her mother insists she eats a rare meal of meat and orders her out of the house to find work as a man, hopefully to return with full pockets.Ĭonfused and unwilling, Grace hangs around and is joined by her younger brother Colly. One night Grace is roused and her mother shears off Grace's hair and orders her to dress in men's clothing. But as Grace nears puberty, Boggs notices the girl. Grace's mother provides a cottage for her children through an arrangement with Boggs, who visits her as payment for his largess. We still turn a blind eye and hold to 'truths' about self-reliance and just deserts. Then consider the great need in the world today, in America, in your own hometown, and know that nothing has really changed. It is a disturbing realization of how those of means and comfort justify their selfish self-interest. Realize that government and the wealthy could have alleviated the suffering. Consider that the story is history, that the starvation, despair, disease, and the ever-present threat of death are historical. Think of a journey story set in a Dystopian world, such as The Road by Cormac McCarthy. The writing is gorgeous, the protagonist, Grace, memorable, the descriptions of what she experiences while on the road crushing. In his novel Grace, Paul Lynch recreates Ireland during the famine. 2 million people died in The Irish Potato Famine when blight destroyed three years of potato crops between 1845 to 1851.

Grace a novel paul lynch