This was a very good historical novel. A story of Irish immigrants to America in the decades before the Civil War. A tale of family, of the inhumane enterprise of slavery, abolition, and of human nature. Olivia was a very likable character for me. I enjoyed her telling of the story and I appreciated her unwillingness to believe what everyone else believed when it came to religion. In a conversation with her future husband, he said this to her: "It is one thing to stand in opposition to Christianity as you have done. Another altogether to truly understand people too compromised to worry about the condition of their souls. If there is a God--and like you, I wonder--would He not want us to turn our efforts toward saving each other rather than madly fretting if we ourselves are saved?" Later on, her brother says this to her in a letter: "But it is in human flesh they mostly deal...the trading of which would curdle your blood. I tell you, Livvie. It's as if these people had no heart or mind or sense of pain. I would deny that this was the very country to which we came so long ago, and with the highest of expectations."
