Though set in the era of the great Famine, the Paupers’ Graveyard is much more than a novel of disaster and loss. it is a story of friendship, love and triumph over the greatest enemy of them all, Death. There are no facts and figures as the story is told through the eyes of a twelve-year-old boy. Like all children he is aware only of the here and now and his story is told with openness and honestly. It tells of friendship between a lady of the manor, Elizabeth and twelve-year-old stable boy, Timmy.
Elizabeth reduced in circumstances, her only crime her inability to produce a male heir. Has just enough money to send her daughters to America aboard one of the dreaded coffin ships. This selfless act will one day prove to be Ireland’s salvation. Timmy, orphaned by the famine, finds comfort in his friendship with Elizabeth and together they rescue the sick and homeless children they find on the roads. Pursued by their enemy, Black Jack Carey, they move in endless flight from place to place, trying to evade him. Their journey takes us from the quiet of the rolling countryside to the squalor of the workhouse and finally to the paupers’ graveyard where they lie in restless sleep.
gemmamawdsley 