This is the story of the Great Famine in Ireland and the violent adventures of young Fergus O’Brien who undertook to escape it.
Set in l846, in County Clare, the book describes the inhuman living conditions of farmers and their tenants ruled by overseas landlords. This is not a political account. Behrens points out in remarks at the end that the British people probably had no more idea of the suffering in Ireland than most of us in North America do of the people today living in Somalia, or Eritrea. “The Law of Dreams” simply recounts the horrific life Fergus experienced from the moment his father and mother and sisters were burned to death when their cabin was destroyed and he escaped, to tramp his way first to a ship to Liverpool, living a rough life with the Bog Boys en route, then to work on the railroad in Northern Wales, and finally to a ship going to Canada with a life on board that you can hardly believe for its suffering.
Fergus has both courage, and indomitable dreams. The Toronto Star points out that this book “has to resonate with North American readers, no matter how their ancestors came to these shores.”
It is vividly-written historical fiction, with a story you won’t soon forget.
Review by Anne McDougall