winter of 1847 (the worst of the Famine) to 1849, trying to do what she could to help the poor, from running her own soup kitchen in Dublin, to visiting the sick and dying in the huts and fields all around the island. Besides providing a powerful and vivid picture of life during the Famine, it is an acute examination of the circumstances that led to and sustained the catastrophe, condemning those in power who mismanaged, miscarried, and misjudged. This is one of the most valuable records we have of Ireland in the throes of the Great Famine .""Mrs. Nicholson is so unique and original that she seems to have stepped out of a novel. Yet hers is a true witness and real voice that penetrates the bloodless, statistical versions of Ireland's Famine agony and renders the immense human tragedy at its heart""-Peter Quinn.

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