From 1820 to 1860, nearly two million Irish migrated to the United States, mostly due to the Great Irish Famine of 1845-1852. Many died crossing the ocean due to disease and dismal conditions of what became known as coffin ships.
A truly remarkable account, this trilogy traces the growth of one family from a small Irish town to a wide network stretching across the globe. In Homeward, Book Three, born in the United States to Trudy Fitzgerald''s uncle, her cousin Richard travels to South Africa to investigate gold mining and meets Miss Fitzgerald only to discover they are related. He is inspired to return to his father''s homeland, beautiful Ireland. He discovers his relatives are in desperate circumstances due to the Black and Tans, British renegade desperados who terrorize the rural communities of Ireland. He joins the Irish Republican Army to defend Irish tradition and to regain what the British have taken through rape and robbery of the villages and townspeople. Homeward reveals the story of the Irish diaspora: the lives, loves and losses of the thousands who left their homes and families behind to seek their fortune abroad. But most importantly, it is the story of a family.