BRIARHILL TO BROOKLYN

This debut historical novel charts an Irish family’s passage to America during the Great Famine.

In 1848, the Bodkin family set sail from Galway, Ireland, to New York City on a ship named the Cushlamachree. Reflecting on his family history, the author remarks that his book “relates what I have imagined about the Bodkins’ lives between 1848 and 1902, sewn together with places, names, and dates I have found to be factual.” The story opens with Martin, age “sixty-plus-six,” recalling his family’s life in Briarhill, a Galway “townland,” prior to the clan’s immigration. The narrative then switches to Dominic, Martin’s brother, an esteemed doctor and first-class passenger on his return voyage to America in 1894. Bodkin then skips back to describe Martin, Dominic, and their siblings boarding the “coffin ship” with their parents to first set foot in the New World. The author focuses predominantly on Dominic and his medical career after he became an Army nurse during the Civil War and Martin, a veteran of the same campaign who finds works as an ironmonger in Brooklyn. The tale describes the family navigating trauma and prejudice to find a foothold in America. Bodkin delights in capturing the atmosphere of a location and establishing a strong sense of place. Describing summer in Brooklyn, he notes: “Boys played games in the streets without shirts; mothers sat in the shade, waving fans near their faces; businessmen walking to and from offices took off their jackets.” The author also introduces meticulously detailed characters, creating a rich backstory for each. The tale of Nora Jones, who as a child is found in a curragh alongside her dead father and travels to America with the Bodkins, is particularly stirring. But while substantial background information is offered for female characters, the emphasis remains on male achievement. The narrative would have benefited from stronger, more believable female voices. In addition, Bodkin’s dialogue is often too on the nose, communicating facts in a dry, unrealistic manner. At one point, a character asserts: “It was only my grandfather who left for Newfoundland in 1780. As a young man, he left his parents to sail from Dublin to Newfoundland.” This novel captures the author’s family history with clarity, but sadly its flaws prevent it from truly standing out from similar titles.

A creatively embellished, if uneven, tale of an Irish family’s odyssey.