Rent Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850

Synopsis

In 1845, a disaster struck Ireland. Overnight, a mysterious blight attacked the potato crops, turning the potatoes black and destroying the only real food of nearly six million people. Over the next five years, the blight attacked again and again. These years are known today as the Great Irish Famine, a time when one million people died from starvation and disease and two million more fled their homeland. Susan Camell Baroletti tells the compelling story of men, women, and children who survived against all odds: they defied landlords and searched empty fields for scraps of harvested vegetables and edible weeds, walked several miles each day to hard-labor jobs to earn meager wages and to reach soup kitchens, and committed crimes just to go to jail, where they were assured a meal. Black Potatoes is the story of the heroes among the Irish people and how they held on to hope. "Bartoletti incorporates period pen-and-ink sketches and poetry laying bare the fragility, injustice, and stratification of Irish peasant society…Fascinating historical reading." – School Library Journal, starred review "Bartoletti humanizes the big events by bringing the reader up close to the lives of ordinary people." – Booklist, starred review

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