Flight from Famine: The Coming of the Irish to Canada - Softcover

Mackay, Donald

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0771054459 ISBN 13: 9780771054457

Publisher: McClelland & Stewart, 1991

Synopsis

This is the moving story of the mass migration that brought a million Irish men and women to Canada in the first half of the nineteenth century. After leaving conditions so bad that one witness described how “they wandered into towns and died in the streets,” many arrived penniless, hoping to “make good” in the new world. In one tragic year, 5,000 died at sea and another 5,400 got no farther than a grave on Grosse Īle. But, despite the countless daily hardships facing settlers in a harsh new land, by the time of Confederation the Irish were the second-largest ethnic group after the French.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

“Terrific popular history....Death ships lurching across the Atlantic, epidemics raging in Quebec, Catholic-Protestant skirmishes in the Ottawa Valley, the body of Thomas D’Arcy McGee being paraded through packed Montreal streets....Flight from Famine is a testament to the resilience and courage of a community.”
–Montreal Gazette

About the Author:

The author of ten books of popular history, Donald MacKay lives in County Wexford, Ireland.

About this edition

• Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0771054459
• ISBN 13: 9780771054457
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368