tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post8275456099396424609..comments2024-03-23T12:38:46.260+00:00Comments on The History Girls: The slow crows and the thin geese - Michelle LovricMary Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06241989732624913706noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-71650707506206999102014-06-10T19:11:56.712+01:002014-06-10T19:11:56.712+01:00I think it must have been Oscar Wilde, Susan!!!
I think it must have been Oscar Wilde, Susan!!!<br />Carol Drinkwaterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05837854482139736944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-79699959077277612242014-06-10T17:41:49.253+01:002014-06-10T17:41:49.253+01:00The Irish don't understand irony? - Who was ev...The Irish don't understand irony? - Who was ever fool enough to say that? - But wonderful post. Thank you. I enjoyed every line.Susan Pricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07738737493756183909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-41479571024356679782014-06-10T13:32:33.521+01:002014-06-10T13:32:33.521+01:00A fascinating post, Michelle. And as someone who ...A fascinating post, Michelle. And as someone who has the very finest of baby hair, I was amazed by that photograph of proper Victorian tresses.Maria McCannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05918176482122045617noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-65947253546202925012014-06-10T09:20:04.466+01:002014-06-10T09:20:04.466+01:00Thank you, Carol. Yes, the Famine tales are endles...Thank you, Carol. Yes, the Famine tales are endlessly tragic. The fact that much of the suffering was a political construct - that is so hard to accept. Comparing Carnalway's smug perfect Anglican church to the Catholic church's ruins made things so very clear. I had to forcibly remove myself from that area of research as there is just too much to know, some of it hardly bearable. I think I knew it was time to stop the day I read that Queen Victoria donated £2000 to the Irish famine victims while a single banquet in her honour in Dublin Castle in 1849 cost more than £5000. <br /><br />On the other hand, your great-grandmother's story sounds wonderfully uplifting. No shame there! How do people escape the taint of shame in poverty? It must have taken a rare spirit.michelle lovrichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01026972300195225090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-89883198092489826902014-06-10T09:05:45.624+01:002014-06-10T09:05:45.624+01:00Wow, Michelle, what a fabulous and evocative post....Wow, Michelle, what a fabulous and evocative post. Thank you. <br />I am by birth a Catholic from farming family in County Laois. My mother's maternal family were from Kildare and my great-grandmother used to walk to our family farm in Laois, a journey that took her two or three days. Her great swinging skirt pockets were filled with provisions for the road. She lived to be 99. I wrote a book for young readers for Scholastic, The Hunger, set, of course during the Irish Potato Famine and called the main character Phyllis McCormack, which is my mother's name.<br />There is so much rich material to be mined on 19th century Ireland, a tragic and bloodthirsty time for the Republic. And the shame forced upon earlier generations, frequently brought about by poverty and ignorance, is still counting its victims.<br />I love the fact that you walk and live the paths and byways of your story. I do that, too.<br />Huge good luck with the new book. Carol Drinkwaterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05837854482139736944noreply@blogger.com