The Great Hunger

In the spring of 1847, Patrick Byrne and Catherine Daly stood in the potato fields of County Clare, Ireland, and planned their future together. Within months, the Great Hunger would destroy everything they knew. When the potato blight returns with devastating force, Patrick—desperate to feed his starving family—steals grain from a landlord's stores. His capture and seven-year sentence of transportation to Van Diemen's Land tears him from Catherine just months after their hasty wedding. Sent to the brutal Port Arthur penal colony, Patrick endures systematic cruelty designed to break his spirit. Only the memory of Catherine keeps him human through the darkness. Left behind in Ireland, Catherine watches the famine claim her mother, her sister, and nearly everyone she knows. As the parish empties through death and emigration, she makes an extraordinary decision: she will cross the world to find Patrick, no matter the cost. Against all odds, Catherine survives the four-month voyage and arrives in Van Diemen's Land in 1848. But finding one man among thousands of convicts scattered across the colony proves nearly impossible. For four agonising years, she searches—working as a seamstress in Hobart Town, following rumours, refusing to give up hope. Their reunion in 1852, after years of separation and suffering, is only the beginning. Patrick, scarred by Port Arthur but granted a ticket-of-leave, must rebuild himself. Together, they make the bold decision to start fresh in Victoria, claiming eighty acres of rough land near Port Fairy. From 1852 to 1899, Patrick and Catherine transform wilderness into The Long Fields—a thriving farm and a legacy that will span generations. They endure drought, isolation, and the backbreaking labour of frontier life. They raise four children who will become doctors, teachers, farmers, and adventurers. They help build a community from scattered settlers of Irish, Scottish, Chinese, and English descent. But THE GREAT HUNGER is more than a story of survival. It's an epic exploration of what love can endure, what ordinary people can achieve when they refuse to quit, and how suffering can be transformed into something beautiful. Through Patrick's struggle to overcome the trauma of Port Arthur, Catherine's courage in following her heart across the world, and their joint determination to build something lasting, the novel asks: What makes a life worth living? What makes sacrifice meaningful? How do we honour those who came before while building the future? Spanning five decades and following the family into the 20th century, THE GREAT HUNGER weaves historical authenticity with intimate human drama. From the horrors of the Irish famine and the cruelty of the convict system to the hope of building a new life in colonial Australia, this is a story of resilience, redemption, and love that refuses to die. At its heart, it's the story of two people who survived the impossible—and in doing so, created a legacy that would flourish for generations. It's a testament to the strength of the human spirit, the power of love, and the truth that some promises are meant to be kept, no matter what stands in the way. THE GREAT HUNGER Is of sweeping historical fiction in the tradition of Bryce Courtenay's The Potato Factory and Colleen McCullough's The Thorn Birds—an epic journey from tragedy to triumph that will stay with readers long after the final page.