A Girl Called Blue (15 page)
Read A Girl Called Blue Online
Authors: Marita Conlon-Mckenna
MARITA CONLON-McKENNA
is one of Ireland’s most popular children’s authors. She has written eight best-selling books to date, and they have been translated into many languages.
Under the Hawthorn Tree,
her first novel, became an immediate bestseller and has been described as ‘the biggest success story in children’s historical fiction’. Its sequels,
Wildflower Girl and Fields of Home
, which complete the
Children of the Famine
trilogy, have also been hugely successful. Marita lives in Dublin with her husband and four children.
Under the Hawthorn Tree
Wildflower Girl
Fields of Home
No Goodbye
Safe Harbour
In Deep Dark Wood
The Blue Horse
Granny MacGinty
Under the Hawthorn Tree
is also available on video
Visit www.obrien.ie for full details of all Marita’s books
This eBook edition first published 2012 by The O’Brien Press Ltd,
12 Terenure Road East, Rathgar, Dublin 6, Ireland
Tel: +353 1 4923333; Fax: +353 1 4922777
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.obrien.ie
First published 2003
eBook ISBN: 978
–
1
–
84717
–
458–1
Text © copyright Marita Conlon-McKenna 2003
Copyright for typesetting, editing, layout, design
© The O’Brien Press Ltd
UNAUTHORISED COPYING IS ILLEGAL
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilised in any form or my any means, including electronic, digital, mechanical, visual or audio, or mounted on any network servers, without permission in writing from the publisher. Carrying out any unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution. For permission to copy any part of this publication contact The O’Brien Press Ltd at [email protected].
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Conlon-McKenna, Marita
A girl called Blue
1.Orphans - Juvenile fiction 2.Orphanages - Juvenile fiction 3.Children’s stories
I.Title
823.9
’
14[J]
The O’Brien Press receives assistance from
Editing, typesetting, layout, design: The O’Brien Press Ltd
Image of girl on front cover courtesy of Matt Harris
All characters and events in this book are entirely fictional and any resemblance to any person, living or dead, which may occur inadvertently is completely accidental and unintentional.
MORE BEST-SELLING BOOKS FROM
MARITA CONLON-McKENNA
UNDER THE HAWTHORN TREE
Winner of the International Reading Association Award; Reading Association of Ireland Award
Eily, Michael and Peggy are left without parents when the Great Famine strikes. Starving and in danger of being sent to the dreaded workhouse, they plan their escape. Their one hope is to find the great-aunts their mother has told them about. With tremendous courage they set out on a journey that will test every reserve of strength, love and loyalty they possess.
WILDFLOWER GIRL
Winner of the Bisto Merit Award – Historical Fiction
Peggy, from
Under the Hawthorn Tree
, is now thirteen and must leave Ireland for America. After a terrible journey on board ship, she arrives in Boston. What kind of life will she find there? And how will she cope in this new, strange place without Eily and Michael?
FIELDS OF HOME
For Eily, Michael and Peggy the memory of the Famine is still strong, but Mary-Brigid, Eily’s first child, has the future to look forward to. What kind of future will it be? Ireland is in turmoil, with evictions, burnings, secret meetings and fights over land. Meanwhile Eily, Michael and Peggy each have their own troubles. Will they ever have land and a home of their own?
THE BLUE HORSE
Winner Bisto Book of the Year Award
Katie’s whole world is turned upside down when her family’s caravan is destroyed by fire. Everything they had is gone, and instead of pulling together it seems as though her family is falling apart. They move to a new house, to a school where nobody wants to know her, and Katie wonders just how many changes she can take. In her fight for acceptance, she learns a lot about herself.
NO GOODBYE
When their mother leaves, the four children and their father must learn to cope without her. It is a trial separation between their parents. Each of them misses Mum in their own way, but the big question for all of them is: will she ever come back?
SAFE HARBOUR
During the Second World War, two English children are evacuated from the horrors of the London Blitz to live in Greystones, County Wicklow, with a stern grandfather they have never met before. How will they adapt to this new life in an unfamiliar place?
OTHER BOOKS FROM THE O’BRIEN PRESS
FARAWAY HOME
Marilyn Taylor
Winner Bisto Book of the Year Award
Two Jewish children are sent from Nazi-occupied Austria to Millisle, a refugee farm in Northern Ireland. The war has changed everything forever, and no one can tell them what their future holds. Will they ever see their families again?
Based on the true story of Millisle refugee farm in Ards, County Down.
WAR CHILDREN
Gerard Whelan
Winner Bisto Merit Award; Reading Association of Ireland’s Children’s Book of the Year Award
Six stories – one set in Dublin, the others in the countryside – about children who get caught up in the happenings of the War of Independence. A powerful collection of stories that linger in the mind long after the book is finished.
KATIE’S WAR
Aubrey Flegg
Winner Peter Pan Award (IBBY Sweden)
When Katie’s father returns from the Great War, he is shell-shocked, his personality destroyed. Four years later he has more or less recovered, but now Ireland is on the brink of civil war. There are divided loyalties in Katie’s family, and she isn’t sure which side to believe. Who is right?
