In Between Worlds

Shedding fresh light on a lesser-known aspect of the story of the Irish famine, Nicola Pierce takes readers on a journey through time, beginning on the eve of Maggie’s 100th birthday, as she casts her mind back to her childhood and adolescence during the Great Hunger of the 1840s … Pierce masterfully collapses time in this affecting historical fiction highlighting survival and sacrifice

-- Irish Examiner

I read every word in one sitting … it just keeps pulling you in … beautifully written and a lovely way of framing the story and the characters were wonderful … I’m going to read a couple more of your books even if they’re aimed at young people because I love them

-- LMFM’s Gerry Kelly show

stunning cover … created by Lauren O’Neill suggests a journey across oceans and possible ghosts, it is beautifully crafted and evocative … This is an emotional, beautiful and outstandingly imagined story … harrowing, beautiful, full of adventure and tells a story that is not often remembered

-- Armadillo Magazine

Stirring, awe-inspiring, richly told in expressive detail and in a genuine voice, perfectly paced, powerful…unforgettable … an amazing story … Nicola Pierce writes so descriptively that you are transported; you see, feel and smell … The characters come alive on the page … Maggie, the storyteller here, is wonderfully drawn throughout and filled with determination, confusion, courage, anxiety, that glimmer of hope and compassion for these strangers she finds herself thrown in with … the cover by Lauren O’Neill...just beautiful! It perfectly captures the pervading atmosphere that runs through the entire book and makes it a thing of beauty and joy to hold in your hand … a marvellous book on so many levels’

-- Fallen Star Stories

a fantastic story for younger readers about a group of young girls who were given the chance to leave Ireland during the famine in search of a better life in Australia. The author is able to provide the reader with so many great, real and human characters … ‘In Between Worlds’ is a fantastic novel, written extremely well by an author who obviously did her research into the Famine - student John Prendergast  

-- Mayo News, Tertulia Bookshop recommends

Nicola Pierce’s novel illustrates the fracturing of family and community dynamics as certainties such as religious faith and consolation, parental responsibility, and neighbourly support crumble in response to starvation and poverty … a thought-provoking spotlight on an under-explored aspect of Irish emigration history

Maggie’s retelling of the tragic story of 1840s Ireland helps us to understand the fear, pain and suffering of the time, although she herself remains hopeful of a brighter future

As in previous works, including Spirit of the Titanic and Behind the Walls, Drogheda-based Nicola Pierce blends fact with fiction to present Irish history afresh to young readers

-- Irish Examiner, Pet O’Con