Esty’s Gold
1840s Ireland. 12-year-old Esther Maher is the naïve daughter of a well-to-do Catholic middleman, who collects rents for his English landlord. It’s an unusual job for a Catholic and, as the potato famine worsens, his position becomes increasingly difficult. When he is killed bravely defending Irish peasants, Esty’s comfortable life changes for ever.
She’s taken on at the Big House as a servant. Suddenly, she’s on the other side of the fence: one of the have nots rather than one of the haves. The other servants sneer at her. Then she hears rumours about some of the servants who are fighting British rule. Esty must grow up fast and decide whose side she is on. Life is hard but there is a glimmer of light. She retrieves her mistress’s discarded copies of The Illustrated London News and reads about those who have made a fortune gold-mining in Australia. It becomes her dream of a better life.
When the chance comes to emigrate with her family to the gold-mining town of Ballarat in Australia, she jumps at it. But life there has its own problems. They have to cope with theft, greedy and corrupt officials at the Gold Office, and all the dangers of heat, insects and disease. But Esty refuses to be beaten and she comes up with an idea which could transform their lives…
I enjoyed this. Mary Arrigan propels us into the story and we both feel and learn with Esty. The plight of the Irish peasantry at this period is both chilling and heart-rending, and the struggles to make a living in the harsh mining town is equally evocative and absorbing. Aimed at girls of 10 plus, it would make an excellent introduction to a study of the Irish potato famine and its consequences for those forced off the land. Recommended.
