Some Reviews for Legacy of Hunger

LEGACY OF HUNGER: DRUID’S BROOCH SERIES #1 is an historical fiction set in the late 1840s, as upper-class 23 year old Valentia McDowell travels with her maid, Maggie, and 21 year old brother, Conor and his manservant, Brendan, to her Irish homeland in search of her roots and her grandmother’s brooch. Exactly why the brooch is so important, and exactly why, at this point in time it is so important for Valentia to make the arduous journey to Ireland is not clear. As LOHDBS#1 is the first fiction published by author Christy Nicholas, who has two earlier Ireland travel guides on her resumé, I am willing to give the author a break on this lack of clarity.

The plot is neatly summarized by the book’s Amazon page blurb, which is also the frontispiece to the Kindle version, so there is no need for me to repeat a plot summary without adding unneeded spoilers. The writing is more than adequate, and there are few if any grammatical or typographical errors. There are, however, several anachronistic turns of phrase that did yank me out of the novel from time to time (e.g., “The family here sounded like a real piece of work.”, and “…a gold-digging debutante”. But there were few and far between. The pacing is leisurely, and the bulk of the novel consists of (interesting) long descriptive passages of the Irish countryside and towns and villages.

I liked the novel enough to finish it. Nichols obviously did a lot of research for the novel (and her previous travel guides) and it shows. She does good job of describing the two week voyage across the Atlantic on a luxury Cunard Line sailing/steamship hybrid (who knew?), which was, unlike a modern trans-Atlantic journey, fraught with dangers large and small. Once in Ireland, Valentia, who became ill on the voyage, and her entourage stop at a rather posh spa in the Conemarra (west coast) region for rest and recuperation. At the spa, and on her subsequent all-over-the-island search for the brooch and relatives, Valentia learns about the horrors of “the Hunger” caused by not only the potato blight, but by the inhumane oppression of the British and their wealthy Irish co-conspirators. Valentia, who was generous to begin with, undergoes a transformation and becomes a political activist, gradually throwing off the customs of her upper class-based upbringing and becoming the champion of the poor and oppressed, and writing endless letters to Parliament on behalf of Home Rule.

There are several opportunities for Nicholas to have turned this into a romantic historical fiction fantasy, and there are certainly bits of fantasy, but there are no steamy sex scenes or even any strong passion. I’m not sure why. I think the novel would have been improved by their addition. As to the magic, there is but a very wee bit. The biggest mystery of all is why this is called LEGACY OF HUNGER: DRUID’S BROOCH SERIES #1, since the end, which occurs in 1895 with Valentia in her 70s, is very clearly the end, although we know almost nothing of what happened in the intervening 45 years or so.

In the end, LOHDBS#1 is more of an Irish travelogue, and a history of the Hunger, as well as the coming of age of a strong-willed American immigrant who learns to cast of the reins of her class-based upbringing, than a dashing romantic historical fiction. More’s the pity, as I think more romance, sex and magic would have spiced things up considerably. The amount of money that Valentia gave away to the poor and the amount she spent on her quest seemed astronomically high and inconsistent with her second class passage across the Atlantic. Valentia appeared to have (and travel with!!!!) nearly unlimited funds that were readily replenishable en route .I think Ms. Nicholas has potential as a writer and look forward to seeing what comes next.

JM Tepper

disclaimer: I received an e-book copy of this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.