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Through the eyes of 12-year-old Lorraine, this haunting novel from the award-winning author of Hidden and Hush gives insight and understanding into a little-known part of history - the Irish potato famine.It is the autumn of 1846 in Ireland. Lorraine and her brother are waiting for the time to pick the potato crop on their family farm leased from an English landowner. But this year is different - the spuds are mushy and ruined. What will Lorraine and her family do?Then Lorraine meets Miss Susannah, the daughter of the wealthy English landowner who owns Lorraines familys farm, and the girls form an unlikely friendship that they must keep a secret from everyone. Two different cultures come together in a deserted Irish meadow. And Lorraine has one question: how can she help her family survive?The Irish potato famine altered history forever and caused a great immigration in the later part of the 1800s. Lorraines story is a heartbreaking and ultimately redemptive story of one girls strength and resolve to save herself and her family against all odds.



About the Author

Donna Jo Napoli

Donna Jo Napoli is both a linguist and a writer of children's and YA fiction. She loves to garden and bake bread, and even dreams of moving to the woods and becoming a naturalist. At various times her house and yard have been filled with dogs, cats, birds, and rabbits. For thirteen years she had a cat named Taxi, and liked to go outside and call, "Taxi!" to make the neighbors wonder. But dear dear Taxi died in 2009. She has five children, seven grandchildren, and currently lives outside Philadelphia. She received her BA in mathematics in 1970 and her Ph. D. in Romance Languages and Literatures in 1973, both from Harvard University, then did a postdoctoral year in Linguistics at MIT. She has since taught linguistics at Smith College, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Georgetown University, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and Swarthmore College. It was at UM that she earned tenure (in 1981) and became a full professor (in 1984) . She has held visiting positions at the University of Queensland (Australia) , the University of Geneva (Switzerland) , Capital Normal University of Beijing (China) , the University of Newcastle (UK) , the University of Venice at Ca' Foscari (Italy) , and the Siena School for the Liberal Arts (Italy) as well as lectured at the University of Sydney (Australia) , Macquarie University (Australia) , the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa) , and the University of Stellenbosch (South Africa) and held a fellowship at Trinity College Dublin. In the area of linguistics she has authored, coauthored, edited, or coedited 17 books, ranging from theoretical linguistics to practical matters in language structure and use, including matters of interest to d/Deaf people. She has held grants and fellowships from numerous sources, including the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Mellon Foundation, the Sloan Foundation.



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