Star Of The Sea: A New York Times Notable Historical Thriller of Ireland's Famine and Dark Secrets
Award-winning author Joseph O'Connor's Star of the Sea is a New York Times Notable Book and “thoroughly gripping” (People) historical mystery.
In the bitter winter of 1847, from an Ireland torn by famine and injustice, the Star of the Sea sets sail for New York. On board are hundreds of refugees, some optimistic, many more desperate. Among them are a maid with a devastating secret, the bankrupt Lord Merridith, his wife and children, and a killer stalking the decks, hungry for the vengeance that will bring absolution.
This journey will see many lives end, others begin anew. Passionate loves are tenderly recalled, shirked responsibilities regretted too late, and profound relationships shockingly revealed. In this spellbinding tale of tragedy and mercy, love and healing, the farther the ship sails toward the Promised Land, the more her passengers seem moored to a past that will never let them go.
As urgently contemporary as it is historical, this exciting and compassionate novel builds with the pace of a thriller to a stunning conclusion.
In the bitter winter of 1847, from an Ireland torn by famine and injustice, the Star of the Sea sets sail for New York. On board are hundreds of refugees, some optimistic, many more desperate. Among them are a maid with a devastating secret, the bankrupt Lord Merridith, his wife and children, and a killer stalking the decks, hungry for the vengeance that will bring absolution.
This journey will see many lives end, others begin anew. Passionate loves are tenderly recalled, shirked responsibilities regretted too late, and profound relationships shockingly revealed. In this spellbinding tale of tragedy and mercy, love and healing, the farther the ship sails toward the Promised Land, the more her passengers seem moored to a past that will never let them go.
As urgently contemporary as it is historical, this exciting and compassionate novel builds with the pace of a thriller to a stunning conclusion.
BUY THE BOOK
Join a book club that is reading Star Of The Sea: A New York Times Notable Historical Thriller of Ireland's Famine and Dark Secrets!
Community Reviews
I just read this book for the third time. This review will differ from my usual formal. This is one my top 5 favorite books of all time. I enjoyed reading it on my kindle this time so that I could look up words and phrases.
Admittedly, this book starts off slowly, and you will need to have some patience to get to the heart of the story. It can be a bit confusing at first - you are reading a book that's written as a book by a different author. The story goes from the present - November 1847, and the past - as far back as 1818 when some of the characters were children.
Why do I love this book so much?
Well, for one thing - the plot. It's incredibly entangled with twists and turns. It's put together in such a way as to be richly compelling. I love when a story surprises me, and this one did several times.
The plot does not thrive on it's own, it needs impeccable writing. I have never read a book that was so well written, and I probably never will. It's a thing that you come to appreciate when you have finished reading the book. It's written like it would have been written by a writer in 1847. I've called it Dickensian because of the language and plot. I'm sure Mr. O'Connor intended it thus. The task of using the vocabulary and expressions of 1847 - and including Irish language in addition to English accents, it makes a reader want to weep for the beauty of it.
But, it does not end there. The plot and writing are the layers on top of the historic events of the time. The Irish famine - which was just the culmination of years of famine and poverty - of 1845-49. The famine, its causes, and its effects are described and memorialized through this story. The historical events continue when it is revealed that the ship is one of the "coffin ships" that carried hundreds of Irish refuges from the famine. The passengers on these ships were stopped from disembarking due to the high rate of Typhoid infection. In fact, it was during this time that there was a great Typhoid epidemic in NYC which was blamed on the Irish immigrants.
Of course, I knew of the great Irish famine. I had learned of it in my history classes, but it was just a mention - maybe a couple sentences or one paragraph. The horror of over 1 million people starving to death is almost too much to comprehend. I appreciated the way that O'Connor gives you bite sized pieces of the tragedy through very personal stories. It's a tale of non-stop suffering, yet, in the early 1800s, you get the sense that people were very poor, but still could be happy. By the late 1830s, that was no longer the case.
This book is impeccably researched. You go along with everything that is happening because it's all believable because it really happened. At the end of the book, O'Connor reveals about 3 facts that were out of the time described, but still true. This is an amazing feat considering that this is still a book of fiction.
I love the language in this book. There are so many words that I understood from the context, but didn't really know. I looked up a lot of them on my Kindle, but I also found some words that were not in the dictionary - for example, "potatophagi" and "scrimshankers" or "priesteen". All of these examples are words, but because of the use of 1847 language, they are no longer in a contemporary dictionary.
O'Connor reveals the pinnacle event of the plot early on, you are only given the "what", but you cannot be sure of the who or how. The story keeps you at the end of your seat wanting to find out what happens with the different characters and what actually happens - it's a bit of a mystery until the end. It has you turning the pages (and getting new surprises) to the end. Even though I had read this twice before, I could not remember the details of the ending, so it was a surprise.
If you enjoy Dickens, if you enjoy a smart, clever plots, if you enjoy writing that makes you feel, if you enjoy learning something about history when you read, then you will enjoy this book.
Admittedly, this book starts off slowly, and you will need to have some patience to get to the heart of the story. It can be a bit confusing at first - you are reading a book that's written as a book by a different author. The story goes from the present - November 1847, and the past - as far back as 1818 when some of the characters were children.
Why do I love this book so much?
Well, for one thing - the plot. It's incredibly entangled with twists and turns. It's put together in such a way as to be richly compelling. I love when a story surprises me, and this one did several times.
The plot does not thrive on it's own, it needs impeccable writing. I have never read a book that was so well written, and I probably never will. It's a thing that you come to appreciate when you have finished reading the book. It's written like it would have been written by a writer in 1847. I've called it Dickensian because of the language and plot. I'm sure Mr. O'Connor intended it thus. The task of using the vocabulary and expressions of 1847 - and including Irish language in addition to English accents, it makes a reader want to weep for the beauty of it.
But, it does not end there. The plot and writing are the layers on top of the historic events of the time. The Irish famine - which was just the culmination of years of famine and poverty - of 1845-49. The famine, its causes, and its effects are described and memorialized through this story. The historical events continue when it is revealed that the ship is one of the "coffin ships" that carried hundreds of Irish refuges from the famine. The passengers on these ships were stopped from disembarking due to the high rate of Typhoid infection. In fact, it was during this time that there was a great Typhoid epidemic in NYC which was blamed on the Irish immigrants.
Of course, I knew of the great Irish famine. I had learned of it in my history classes, but it was just a mention - maybe a couple sentences or one paragraph. The horror of over 1 million people starving to death is almost too much to comprehend. I appreciated the way that O'Connor gives you bite sized pieces of the tragedy through very personal stories. It's a tale of non-stop suffering, yet, in the early 1800s, you get the sense that people were very poor, but still could be happy. By the late 1830s, that was no longer the case.
This book is impeccably researched. You go along with everything that is happening because it's all believable because it really happened. At the end of the book, O'Connor reveals about 3 facts that were out of the time described, but still true. This is an amazing feat considering that this is still a book of fiction.
I love the language in this book. There are so many words that I understood from the context, but didn't really know. I looked up a lot of them on my Kindle, but I also found some words that were not in the dictionary - for example, "potatophagi" and "scrimshankers" or "priesteen". All of these examples are words, but because of the use of 1847 language, they are no longer in a contemporary dictionary.
O'Connor reveals the pinnacle event of the plot early on, you are only given the "what", but you cannot be sure of the who or how. The story keeps you at the end of your seat wanting to find out what happens with the different characters and what actually happens - it's a bit of a mystery until the end. It has you turning the pages (and getting new surprises) to the end. Even though I had read this twice before, I could not remember the details of the ending, so it was a surprise.
If you enjoy Dickens, if you enjoy a smart, clever plots, if you enjoy writing that makes you feel, if you enjoy learning something about history when you read, then you will enjoy this book.
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.