Wildflower Girl (Children of the Famine) Read online

  Wildflower Girl

  When she was only seven, Peggy made a terrifying journey, with her sister Eily and brother Michael, through famine-torn Ireland. Now she sets out on another dangerous and frightening journey – to America. Crossing the Atlantic takes six long, uncomfortable weeks. What will Peggy find when she gets to the New World? And will she ever see her homeland and her beloved sister and brother again?

  ‘As gripping a story as the original, embracing not just a sense of place – Ireland – but a sense of time and history. Conlon-McKenna has crafted this book … not a word, spoken or unspoken, nor an emotion, is wasted. Pace and style keep the pages turning, and you are filled with a sense of wanting more at the end. Highly recommended’

  Books Ireland

  ‘The same good strong writing as is evidenced in

  Under the Hawthorn Tree’

  The Sunday Tribune

  WINNER 1992

  Historical Novel Category

  For all those who have sailed across stormy seas to find a new life

  Acknowledgements

  I would like to thank my husband James, and my children Amanda, Laura, Fiona and James for their love and encouragement.

  Thank you too to my family and friends, to my sister-in-law Brigid Brady, to my publisher The O’Brien Press, especially Michael O’Brien, and to my wonderful editor and good friend Íde ní Laoghaire.

  I wish to thank the Arts Council and Aer Lingus, the Ulster American Folk Park, Phil Bergin at the Bostonian Society, and Lolly Sharp at the Gibson House, Beacon Street, Boston.

  Thank you to all the librarians who have helped me along the way: my local library in Stillorgan, the National Library of Ireland, Trinity College Library, Dublin, the American Embassy Library, Dublin, Pearse Street Library, Dublin, Cobh Library, County Cork, Tim Cadogan at Cork City Library, and Boston Public Library.

  Contents

  Reviews

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Acknowledgements

  1 The Bridge

  2 Changes

  3 Farewell

  4 Queenstown

  5 The Fortunata

  6 Setting Sail

  7 The Storm

  8 The Long Voyage

  9 America

  10 First Foot Forward

  11 Skivvy

  12 The Runaway

  13 A Good Capable Girl

  14 The Likes of Us

  15 Roxanne

  16 The Wild Flowers

  17 The Kitchen Sink

  18 The Day Off

  19 The Missing Ring

  20 Maids of All Work

  21 Autumn Changes

  22 The New Housekeeper

  23 Mutiny

  24 Good Riddance

  25 Thanksgiving

  About the Author

  Other books by MARITA CONLON-McKENNA

  Copyright

  Other Books

  CHAPTER 1

  The Bridge

  PEGGY RAN IN FROM SCHOOL and straight away she noticed the large sheet of paper propped behind a jug on the kitchen dresser. She grabbed it.

  ‘I don’t believe it! I just don’t believe it! We got a notice about going to America too. A few in school told me their families had got them. The whole town’s talking about it.’ She was bursting with excitement.

  Eily looked across at her.

  ‘Whisht, Peggy! Take it easy.’

  Eily’s hands and arms were dusty to the elbows with flour. She was busy kneading dough to make bread.

  ‘Eily, aren’t you excited? How can you stand there baking bread when our whole future might depend on this bit of paper?’

  Peggy looked across the kitchen. Her big sister was staring into the bowl on the scrubbed wooden table and refused to meet her eyes.

  ‘There’s something up! That’s it! You’re hiding something from me.’

  The older girl stopped. With the back of her hand she pushed a loose bit of fair hair aside, then shrugged.

  ‘We’re not going.’

  ‘Eily, stop codding me. I’m not a fool!’ shouted Peggy.

  Eily shook her head.

  ‘No, I’m being serious, Peggy. Things have changed,’ she said. ‘So many things are different now,’ she added in a low whisper.

  ‘Changed!’ shouted Peggy. ‘Even I know they’ve changed. We’ve less money than ever. Some days we don’t even get one customer in the shop and none of us can get a job. There’s even more reason for us to go now.’

  ‘Listen, Peggy, I told you! We’re not going away. We’re not leaving Castletaggart and that’s all there is to it!’

  ‘We … We … There are three of us. Why should you always be the one to decide for us?’ Peggy could feel her blood boiling. ‘What about me?’

  ‘You? You’re still only a child, Peggy. Someone has to be in charge…to take care of you just like a mother…’

  ‘A mother! A mother!’ Hot tears pricked Peggy’s eyes. ‘You! You’re not my mother!’

  Eily’s face went pale. In that instant Peggy felt the sting of a slap across her face.

  ‘I hate you!’ screamed Peggy. ‘I hate you! I hate you …’ She kept shouting it as she pushed open the back door and ran down the narrow alley that led to Market Lane.

  Two women were gossiping on a doorstep and stopped in mid-conversation to stare at her. She stuck out her tongue at them and ran hell-for-leather through the back end of Castletaggart towards the old bridge and river. She hoped there would be no one there.

  Her prayers were answered. The place was deserted. She leant over the low stone bridge. Beneath it the water flowed strongly, dragging the riverweed forwards. She stared into the river, blocking out the town from her sight and her mind.

  Anger and disappointment raged inside her.

  I won’t forget about going. She can’t treat me like a baby! she thought.

  Her breath came in gulps and tore her throat.

  It’s not fair!

  She was almost hypnotised by the movement of the sparkling water below and fascinated as her tears plopped into it and disappeared. Absentmindedly she put her hand up to rub her eyes. Her cheekbones smarted. She shook her head and watched the fine dust of white flour speckle the water. A tiny silver fish darted out from beneath a rock, opened its round mouth and swallowed bit after bit of it. Peggy began to giggle and shook her fingers over the water, watching the fish gobble each speck.

  Already she felt calmer. In the distance she could hear a cuckoo. A forest of oaks and beech trees ran along the far side of the river, the fast-flowing water providing protection for the birds and animals against the people of the town.

  This was a special place, a place where town and country met. It was her favourite spot in the whole of Castletaggart. Very few people bothered with this bridge. It was usually quiet down here, whilst the main town bridge always seemed to have crowds of people hanging around it.

  Peggy pulled herself up on the bridge wall and sat on the uneven stone. She let her bare feet dangle over the clear sparkling water below.

  Sometimes she’d sit here for hours, it was always so peaceful. Ever since she was a little girl it was the place she ran to …

  She remembered running away down here the very first morning she was meant to go to her new school in Castletaggart. But her two old great-aunts found her just as she was about to throw her new shoes into the river. They loved Peggy and her brother and sister so much. Auntie Nano had begun to give out to her, but Auntie Lena had coaxed and cajoled her away from the bridge and helped put the black sturdy laced shoes back on. Peggy smiled to herself. Even at seven years of age she’d been a little devil. Auntie Len
a had understood her worries about starting school. All the other children had Mammies to take them there.

  They had marched her back to the door of the bakery shop, and then with Eily coming along too, they had all set off together through Castletaggart to school. It was early morning on a glorious autumn day, all the shops were starting to open up and droves of children were headed in the same direction towards the small white-washed building which shone like a beacon at the top of Castletaggart Hill. At the school gate a fit of shyness and pure fear shook Peggy.

  The two old ladies hugged her, then Eily squeezed her hand and walked her right up to the green wooden door. Just as she was about to run into the large schoolroom to try and get a seat on the bench beside her friend Julia, she looked back.

  Nano and Lena stood ramrod stiff and straight and proud in the middle of the group of mothers anxiously waiting at the gate. And even from a distance Peggy could see that Eily’s blue eyes were filled with tears – as if she was one of the mothers …

  ‘Peggy! Peggy!’ The call jolted her out of her dream.

  She looked up. A wave of guilt washed over her. Eily was standing a few yards away, wiping her hands on her apron.

  ‘I knew I’d find you here. I’m so sorry, Peggy!’

  ‘Oh, Eily, I shouldn’t have said what I said!’

  ‘Still, I shouldn’t have slapped you.’

  ‘I really am sorry – ‘twas a dreadful thing to say.’ Peggy jumped down and ran and hugged her older sister. ‘Let’s go home,’ she said.

  They walked slowly back towards the shop. They passed a row of old cottages, every single one of them empty. Those occupants who hadn’t died during the Great Famine had long since abandoned them and left Castletaggart.

  ‘God, this place is getting fierce shabby,’ muttered Eily. ‘At this rate there won’t be a sinner left here soon.’

  Peggy bit her lip and fought the impulse to say I told you so.

  ‘Look, Peggy! Kennys’ drapery store has closed down.’ Eily stopped and peered in through the planks that boarded up the vacant shop window. ‘Not a thing in the place!’

  Peggy stood on tiptoe so that she could see in. Every shelf was empty and a roll of dusty material lay forlornly on the counter. It seemed that every day a little bit more of Castletaggart changed. The town was no longer the busy place Peggy and Michael and Eily had finally arrived at, starving and homeless, nearly seven years ago in the middle of the Great Famine.

  ‘Come on, Peggy! We’d better get a move on or all my baking will be up in smoke,’ joked Eily. ‘Anyways, I don’t like leaving Nano on her own.’

  The two of them quickened their pace until they reached the small shabby bakery shop at the bottom of Market Lane that was home.

  ‘Run up and say hello to Nano, Peggy, but mind you don’t say a word about the notice – there’s no need to upset her!’

  CHAPTER 2

  Changes

  THAT EVENING THE FOUR OF them sat around the table in the small cosy kitchen.

  ‘You’re the best cook in the world, Eily,’ declared Michael, helping himself to some more stew. Peggy noticed that Eily barely touched her own food. It was so frustrating for her, baking and cooking, and then at the end of the day having so little to show for her hard work. But customers were thin on the ground. A boy from the butcher’s in the Main Street had left in a sheet of figures – another overdue account. And the flour barrel was only a third full.

  ‘I’m working at the Big House tomorrow afternoon and evening, Peggy, so you’ll have to give Nano a hand with the shop,’ said Eily. Peggy nodded. ‘No running off or forgetting about it!’

  ‘Is there no chance of a job for you there?’ asked Michael.

  ‘If there was any kind of kitchen job going it would be mine. But you know yourself it’s hard enough for them to keep the staff they have already.’

  ‘Well, let’s be grateful for the few hours of work you do get there when they’re extra busy,’ urged Nano.

  ‘Oh, I’m going daft. I nearly forgot to tell you, Nano, I met the landlord up at the cattle market. He said he’d drop into the shop within the next day or two,’ said Michael.

  ‘Billy Kelly! What would he want?’ Nano was worried. ‘Is it about the rent do you think?’

  Peggy was just dying to talk about the notice on the dresser.

  ‘Not tonight,’ mouthed Eily.

  Michael disappeared off to help a friend with milking and Nano got up from the table and wandered into the empty shop. ‘It’s the only place I can find time to think.’

  Eily ran upstairs to change. Peggy whistled as she cleared up and brushed the floor. Hearing a tap on the small window, she stopped and ran to the door.

  ‘Good evening, Peggy!’

  ‘Come on in, John, she’ll be down in a minute.’

  The young farmer stepped in and sat down near the range to wait for Eily. Out of the corner of her eye, Peggy studied him. He was tall and kind of handsome with thick black curls. His hands and face were tanned and weather-beaten from working out in the fields, and although his clothes were clean, his jacket needed patching and his shirt was frayed. He was very quiet, but Eily seemed to be mad about him. Young love – that’s what Nano always whispered when she saw them together.

  Eily smiled and put on her shawl when she saw John Powers.

  ‘We’re going up the town for a bit of a walk. Will you finish up here, Peggy? And don’t forget to warm some milk later to help Nano sleep.’

  ‘I’ll be fine,’ said Peggy smirking, watching them walk arm in arm down the lane. Eily deserved some happiness.

  Later Peggy tiptoed into the darkened shop. It was small and clean. On one wall the shelves were stacked with jars of preserves – chutneys and jellies and jams; the other counter was for the daily bake – soda bread, brown bread, wheaten loaf, scones and fancy breads. The smell of the hot bread would fill the shop and the street. There was a small drawer unit which held fancy bakery items like glacé cherries, sugared violets, marzipan fruits.

  Nano was sitting in her old chair rocking backwards and forwards. She always did that when she was worried or troubled.

  * * *

  The next afternoon the shop bell rang. Peggy looked through the kitchen door and saw Eily talking to Billy Kelly, the landlord. She motioned to Peggy to get Nano.

  ‘Auntie Nano, come quick, Mr Kelly’s in the shop. He wants to talk to you.’

  ‘Fetch me my good shawl – yes, the black one, pet, – and will you tidy my hair a bit at the back there please.’

  Peggy got the bristle brush, re-did the bun of hair and fixed it tight with a few extra hairpins. Nano was anxious, but managed to appear serene as she walked into the shop, shook Mr Kelly by the hand and sat down in her chair.

  ‘Girls, will one of ye fetch this good man a cup of tea, and how about a slice of that fresh apple and cinnamon tart you made this morning, Eily?’

  ‘That would be grand, Miss Murphy, thank you,’ replied Mr Kelly.

  He was a tall, thin, nervous type of man and he paced around the room a few times, before finally sitting down.

  ‘I don’t exactly know where to start,’ he mumbled.

  ‘The beginning – ’tis usually the best place,’ smiled Nano, sensing his nervousness.

  ‘Well, Miss Murphy, I’ve come along today to ask you if you’d be interested in buying this piece of property outright. You’ve been a tenant for nigh on forty years.’

  Nano let out her breath with a gasp. ‘Oh, Mr Kelly, you must know that if I had enough savings I’d have bought the shop long ago.’

  ‘Miss Murphy, the asking price would not be too high. I know myself the roof is sagging and in need of repair,’ he pleaded. ‘Isn’t there any way you could afford it?’

  Nano didn’t say a word, but just shook her head slowly from side to side. Peggy passed her a cup of weak tea. She sipped it and stared at the man beside her.

  ‘Mr Kelly, will I tell you something?’ she said at last. ‘You are
the living image of your late father, Tom. He was a good man too …’

  ‘My father was fond of you and your sister and we always had the finest cakes in the town on rent day.’ He tried to smile. ‘Miss Murphy, you can see yourself how bad things are in the town. I’m a married man myself with four young children, but even with five pieces of property, things are not good. People can’t afford to pay their rent.’

  Nano began to apologise. ‘Are we late with our rent again?’

  ‘No, listen, Miss Murphy, that’s not what I’m here about. The truth is I am selling off all my interests in the town and moving to Dublin with my family. I have a brother who has his own business there.’ He stopped. ‘What will become of us? Are we going to lose the roof over our heads? What about the three children?’

  ‘I’m sorry, there’s nothing more I can do. I need to raise funds myself. The O’Donnells and the Kennys have accepted assisted passage to America. I’m not the only landlord forced to do this. A group of us are trying our best to look after our tenants, so letters of application for a ship’s voucher have been delivered to many in this part of the town.’

  Eily and Peggy stared at Nano. Her face was as pale as snow and her lips looked blue.

  ‘It came yesterday,’ Peggy said and ran to the kitchen dresser to get it.

  Nano stared at it blankly. ‘So you want to pack me off on one of those old coffin ships to the New World, is that it?’

  ‘No, Miss Murphy. It’s just that many people want to go to America. We’re only offering to help them. The youngsters might consider it,’ he finished off lamely.

  ‘How long have I got left here?’ Nano asked.

  ‘It will take a bit of time to find a buyer, though there is someone interested. I suppose a few weeks.’

  Nano stood up. ‘I’m not blaming you, Mr Kelly, and I’m only glad that my poor sister Lena never lived to see this day. Thank you for coming to see me.’