Black '47: A Story of Ireland's Great Famine

A Graphic Novel

Damien Goodfellow author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:O'Brien Press Ltd

Published:29th Apr '19

£13.99

Available to order, but very limited on stock - if we have issues obtaining a copy, we will let you know.

Black '47: A Story of Ireland's Great Famine cover

A gritty graphic novel about Ireland's Great Hunger. Jack and his family have been evicted by their landlord and given one way tickets to the USA. They refuse to leave Ireland, unknowingly placing themselves in grave peril. When Jack falls in with a rebel group, his father is killed and Jack and his family are left to fend  for themselves in a Ireland during the famine in 1847.

This is one family's story of Ireland's great hunger told in powerful illustration and compelling words. This graphic novel brings the suffering and immediacy of the Irish Famine.

Following on from the success of political graphic novels this is accessible, informative and insightful history at its best.

Goodfellow’s graphic account will ensure its memory continues to haunt readers of all ages for many years to come

* Evening Echo *

Damien Goodfellow has created an intense graphic novel that brings a small segment of the tragic moment in Irish history to life. It's dark, atmospheric graphics take the reader directly into the time with texture, powerful emotion and realism. The reader has a strong experience of the landscape, the people, the depths of despair, the fragility of life and hope and the sheer strength and determination it took to survive. The story is never rushed, creating a pace that perfectly creates the sense of the family’s journey and hardship.  The written text is used sparsely, making it an easy read and also opening up a greater understanding of the tale through its' combination with incredible illustrations. A moving, compelling historical book that will ignite further interest in the Great Hunger

* Fallen Star Stories *

masterly artwork ... Damien Goodfellow’s novel makes the Great Famine devastatingly accessible in new ways ... largely unique in the way it uses the graphic novel format to narrativise the crisis ... The novel is rooted in the traditions of comic books, and its art is impressive. The drawings, often cinematic, juxtapose indigence and death with the desolate beauty of the Irish landscape and the splendour, but also squalor, of the big city. This viscerally brings the poverty and suffering of 19th-century Ireland into the present ... beautifully adapts the conventions of the graphic novel to make the history of the Great Famine devastatingly accessible in new ways

* Irish Times *

the graphic lines of the pictures, and the dark toned colour palette gives a real sense of desperation and fear that runs through the entire story … a harrowing but important read

* Clare People *

this graphic novel brings history to life with its haunting illustrations, capturing the stark reality of poverty and hunger

-- Children's Books Ireland Reading Guide

ISBN: 9781847173652

Dimensions: 297mm x 210mm x 8mm

Weight: 497g

96 pages