Gallowgate

By: Mary Edward

Narrated by: Lianne Walker

Scotland, 1849. The O'Donnell girls are driven from their Wicklow home by starvation and an Anglo-Irish landlord. After losing their father, the three sail to Glasgow with thousands of others in search of a new start.

Determined not to give up, the two older sisters, Maeve and Kathleen, find back-breaking work in Templeton's carpet factory, while the youngest, nine-year-old Finola, is enrolled in a new Catholic school.

After meeting the wealthy Patrick Reilly and his wife, the three receive a promise for a better and more prosperous life. But in tumultuous and dangerous mid-19th-century Scotland, they will need to give it their all to survive and reach their goals.

A story of survival, social history, and second chances, Mary Edward's Gallowgate is a fictitious, yet informative look at young Irish immigrants' life in 1850s Glasgow, Scotland.

©2021 Mary Edward (P)2023 Mary Edward

Enjoyable glimpse into Glasgow history

I was drawn to this book because I am descended from Irish immigrants who settled in Glasgow in the mid-nineteenth century, as the characters in this story did, along with thousands of others. I feel left with a strong impression of the time and place, of the poverty and kindness, prejudice and hope.

There are some elements of the plot that jarred a little. Méabh is a rather one-dimensional character, full of virtue, but without much depth. Her distrust for the O'Reillys and her anger at their attempt to secure a decent position for Kate seems out of proportion, and seems to be maintained despite her continuing reliance on their generosity and goodness throughout the story. Her relationship with Danny, while depicted as deeply loving and comfortable, is oddly chaste and dispassionate, and it slightly strains credulity that without even a real kiss, still less the definite prospect of a wedding date, Danny is so utterly and patiently devoted to her.

Male authors frequently receive deserved criticism for their attempts to write convincing female characters, failing to understand the real needs and desires that motivate women, but the converse is also true, as demonstrated here. Danny is handsome, fiercely loyal to Méabh, devoted, utterly self-sacrificing... but makes no demands whatsoever, expresses no needs, is functionally asexual, and happily submits to her wishes from beginning to end. I was disappointed that the story ended without a wedding between them, or at least a passionate kiss. Danny has earned one.

Overall the story was exciting and involving, and I was genuinely dismayed at the bad news when it came, so convinced was I that I was about to hear a happy ending. But that came later, in an exciting and fulfilling denouement that left me warm, happy, and completly satisfied. Unlike poor Danny.