Wildflower Girl by Marita Conlon-McKenna
In the run-up to the publication of his debut novel, Pure Innocent Boy, Patrick Doherty takes us through some of his favourite Irish books.
My mother took a dynamic approach to my childhood reading. From an early age, she would routinely take me to the local library and leave me there there to fend for myself. Once, she even went home without me. In her defence, there were six of us and hasty headcounts inevitably led to the odd miscalculation: I mean, we’ve all seen Home Alone.
Silliness aside, I cherish those early reading years and feel privileged to have come of age during a time when books like Marita Conlon McKenna’s Wildflower Girl were being published. The second installment of her Famine Trilogy, it tells the story of thirteen-year-old Peggy, who, having survived the arduous journey across famine-stricken Ireland to find her Great-aunt, decides to set off on another journey, this time across the Atlantic Ocean.
Of the three novels in the trilogy, Wildflower Girl is my favourite because it’s the one that has lived longest in my memory. I don’t have a copy of this book on hand, so I can’t remember it in detail. What I can remember, however, is Peggy. All these years later, I still have a very vivid sense of her. I can still recall her melancholy, her courage, her hopes for the future, and her walks among the wildflowers.
A few years back, my father sent me a song to listen to called Isle of Hope. Composed by Brendan Graham and performed by Sean Keane, it tells the story of a young girl who emigrates to America at the age of fifteen. As soon as I heard it, I recalled Wildflower Peggy.
Somehow, I feel this song belongs to her and the many like her who made that harrowing journey. There’s one line in the song that I particularly like. It goes:
Courage is the passport when your old world disappears.
I can’t think of a better blurb for Wildflower Girl than this.
(c) Patrick Doherty
Patrick Doherty is a writer from Ireland, now living in Seville with his wife and two daughters. His debut novel, Pure Innocent Boy, will be published by Dedalus Books in October.
Pre-order Pure Innocent Boy here.
Order your copy of Wildflower Girl online here.
And read more reviews from Patrick on Writing.ie here.
