When Anna Mallon’s brothers move to America for a better life, she knows she’ll never see them again. America is not for her. Ireland, and her family’s small farm, is the only home she ever wants. 

Shortly after, her Ma, who’s been sick for a long while, dies, leaving Anna with her father and two younger sisters, Jane, and Nuala [NEW-la], who has special needs. As Anna struggles to learn how to care for them like her mother did, a letter comes from her brothers with instructions to put Jane on a ship to America as well.

Fewer mouths should make life easier, but the Earl is raising the rents, and the Mallon’s crops are not producing enough to pay them. Soon, Anna fears they’ll be turned out of their home like so many others across Ireland, forced to wander the roads in search of help and shelter. In her worry and grief, Anna makes a mistake, getting herself and her father arrested. Anna manages to escape, run to the farm to grab her sister, and flee, fearing she’ll never see home or her father again.

They manage to reach an aunt they’ve never met, a skilled weaver who takes the girls in. As Nuala takes to her new life, Anna is still worried about her father and their farm, and sets back out on the road to home. What she finds when she gets there is more danger, but also a spark of hope and support, as her neighbors come together to fight for a better life right there in Ireland.  (New Hampshire Great Stone Face Award, 2021)