A Boy from Ireland

Liam's English father disappeared years ago. Now, at age fourteen, Liam is sent to Connemara, Ireland, to live with his uncle, a fierce patriot who holds England accountable for famines and all that the Irish suffered under her rule. Uncle Patrick despises Liam for his English blood. So do the Connemara boys who torment and bully him. Before long, Liam is ensnared in a centuries-old battle.

To raise money for the republican cause, Uncle Patrick goes to New York, taking Liam along. Liam imagines he will find his father there and be free. As he travels harsh Hell's Kitchen's streets in the horse-drawn wagon of the black man who hires him, Liam discovers that violence breeds violence in this new world as it did in the old one. Irish and English, blacks and whites, and even horse and man are drawn into a destructive whirlwind. Living with the uncle who hates him, still pursued relentlessly by a Connemara boy, desperately seeking his father, Liam is drawn in, too.

Liam longs to escape. With no one to turn to, he has to save himself.

A Boy from Ireland links racial and national conflicts to those faced by any young adult, raising issues that are especially relevant today.