[Subdue] Legacy of Hunger, by Christy Nicholas (2 stars)

[KateNZ]

In 1846, Valentia McDowell is a twenty three year old daughter of a fairly well-off Ohio farmer. She is third generation American: her parents are both from Irish families, but she was particularly close to her late grandmother who immigrated to America as a child. Valentia sets off to Ireland, younger brother in tow, to find her family in Donegal, and in particular to locate a brooch that her grandmother talked about a lot, which holds some mysterious charm for her. Little does Valentia know that the Irish are suffering from starvation after the failure of the potato crops. Her visit brings her face to face with the realities of deprivation, poverty and the politics that keep people in want.

This book is strong when it's discussing the conditions that people had to live in, and the political environment of the time. It's obvious that that's where the author's heart lies - the point of the book for her - and those sections are well written and powerful. Unfortunately, the rest of the book doesn't fare so well. The characters are inconsistent and anachronistic for the times. The story is all over the place. The writing is choppy and at times outright bad. There are missing words and a few sentences that don't make sense. This isn't a self-published book, so I'd have expected an editor to do a much better job to assist the author here. It was a bit of a struggle to get through this one.