Sing, Wild Bird, Sing
Sing, Wild Bird, Sing is a heart-wrenching story of the Irish immigrants of the potato famine. In 1849, we meet Honora as a young, married woman living in Doolough, Ireland. The entire village is starving. The wealthy landowners order them to march over the mountains for help. Though few survive, they go only to discover there is no help. In the midst of tragedy, she is the only one to survive the return trip.
Not knowing what else to do, Honora starts walking—west. She will walk to America if she must. Once at the docks she meets three young women who take her in, feed her, and clothe her. In America, Honora, like other immigrants before her, thinks life in the New World will be easy, but she quickly discovers that is a lie, so she moves on, going west, always west. Her traveling companion, Mary, leads her to Bolt, Oregon, where she has an old acquaintance from Ireland, Ignatius. He has promised them work and a place to stay.
When they get to Bolt, Honora discovers yet more insults and oppression, and she enlists the help of a rather naïve cowboy who helps her escape and then marries her.
The story is breathtaking in its scope. Life in Doolough is horrifying, but Honora’s will to survive is magnificent. However, I would have liked to have seen a stronger character arc from her, as she never really changed much for me, and I found myself waiting for that moment when she figured it all out. But perhaps, as many never do, that is the way of some people in the world. I would read more from Jacqueline O’Mahony any time.
