The Blight

In 1845 Ireland had eight million peasants
who primarily subsisted on the potato for food and
sustenance. They planted and cultivated this food for
generations, eating little else. Without a formal education,
the Irish peasants raised their families by merely growing
this simple vegetable. All that was needed was seed and a
patch of land. Then one fateful autumn in 1845, a
treacherous blight withered most of the potato crops, which
left the majority of Ireland starving. Since it was their
only food source, there was no alternative but to perish.
Based upon historical facts, The Blight leads you through
the personal lives of one particular family as they
struggled for survival throughout that famine. From death
and despair to endurance and generosity, all the facets of
human tragedy are exposed in this gripping story. The author
has made every attempt to document the facts of The Great
Potato Famine as they actually occurred while using a
fictitious family as the victims of this historical tragedy.
Written on a personal level, The Blight reveals the dynamics
of famine and shows, once again throughout our precarious
history, how very cruel government or humankind can be.