The Whitest Flower

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Set against the backdrop of the Great Famine, this is the story of the triumph of one woman amidst Ireland's despair. It is August 1845. In Dublin's Botanic Gardens, Phytophora infestans is discovered for the first time. The bacteria was to result in the Great Famine, an event of holocaust proportions that affected every man, woman and child in Ireland. England's shame; Ireland's tragedy . Ellen O'Malley is one such victim. She loses her husband, is duped into going to Australia to lead a better life, leaving three of her beloved children behind. She travels aboard a coffin ship and arrives emaciated and ill with her new baby. But Ellen, a woman with an indomitable spirit, rises above her oppression and eventually returns to wreak revenge on those perpetrators of her misery.

Reviews

'Irish history is like a gold seam for historical novelists -- there to be mined. Occasionally a nuggest is produced and Graham's is one of those.' Ireland on Sunday 'The guy can write. Lyrical music. Musical prose.' Sunday Independent 'Posted for worldwide literary success. A gripping page-turner about one of the grossest stains on the British Empire.' Hotpress 'A remarkable and emotional odyssey which uses the great Irish famine and the subsequent diaspora as the subject matter for a novel of immense potency.' Irish Post 'This huge sweep of a novel will whisk you from Ireland to Australia and Canada.' Woman's Realm

Author Bio

Brendan Graham is the songwriter who penned the last two Irish winning entries in the Eurovision Song Contest. Highly promotable, he is a public figure in the Irish music business with many media contacts. The Whitest Flower is his first novel.