The Winds of Morning: Book Review

'The Winds of Morning' , is a historical fiction novella written by Gifford MacShane as a part of the 'Donovan Family Saga'. We follow the main character Molly, as she navigates her life during the third year of 'The Great Famine' in Victorian Ireland, 1848. Molly has to work to protect her two younger brothers after their parents died, and risks getting fired from her father's job. During this time she meets a man named John Patrick Donovan, who vows to protect her and her brothers, and makes the brave decision to marry him despite only knowing him a day. Molly, John Patrick and her brothers embark on a journey together, meeting emotional hardships along the way.

Introductions

Reading the first chapter, I immediately felt connected to both the characters and the plot. The characters were filled with back stories and flashbacks, and were accurate to the the time period. As well as having accurate dialogue, which is usually my favourite part of historical fiction, there were visual differences in the speech, representing accents and tones, which was so interesting to me and reminded me a bit of Wuthering Heights, as well as historical Irish words and descriptions adding to the immersion, complete with a glossary of meanings in the back of the book. My favourite character has to be John Patrick. He was the perfect love interest for Molly and definitely a person a lot of people will love when they read the book. He was respectful, generous and protective, but sometimes not in the best of ways, showing anger towards people who has wronged, not just Molly, but the townsfolk as well. The story did not disappoint on the emotional front, every chapter had me feeling heartbroken, angry or happy or sometimes a mix of all and had me stepping into their shoes. I honestly was in tears in some parts of the book, thinking about the horrible way some people had to live in this time, usually living with no bath or bed and made me reflect on how lucky I am today. The way Gifford MacShane wrote so respectfully and accurately about the potato famine, shows me that she put a lot of effort and research into this book, something that makes a great author. The book ended perfectly for me, with no cliff-hanger, but I love the option to continue reading the series or just stop at a happy ending. A sneak peak of the next book was also included.

Pros

• Beautiful writing, which is accurate to the time and location.

• Characters you can connect with on a deeper level.

• Unique plot that's not written about a lot, from what I have seen.

• Short chapters filled with lots of information.

Cons

• Written in third person, which I know some people struggle to read, although its not an issue for me.

Conclusion

All in all, Winds of Morning is a beautiful love story that is also informational and includes views from the lower class. I would recommend this story to anyone who likes historical fiction or potentially even schools, to learn about The Great Famine. This book has minimal trigger warnings but does include, talk of sex work and suicide (just the first chapter) , death and illness, so it would be suitable for mature teens and adults. Gifford MacShane did and amazing job on this book and evoked emotions perfectly thoughout the whole book. My interest never dropped once and I even found myself thinking of the book throughout my day, so overall, I rate this book a 4/5 stars.

To anyone who has read this book, feel free to comment your opinion in the comments and to anyone wanting to read this book, I hope I helped you come to your decision. I would greatly appreciate if you would consider following and sharing my blog and joining my book club group if you liked this post, and contact me with any requests or questions you may have.