Song of the Silent Harp

BJ Hoff

Description

Song of the Silent Harp, Book One of BJ Hoff's acclaimed and bestselling Emerald Ballad series begins the five-book saga of three friends raised in a tiny Irish village devastated by the Potato Famine of the mid-1800s, as they struggle to survive and hold onto their faith during Ireland's darkest days...Nora Kavanagh has lost her husband and young daughter, and now lives in fear of losing her home. She and her young son, Daniel, have only one hope for survival, the poet/patriot-and love of Nora's youth--Morgan Fitzgerald. But his dangerous involvement with a band of Irish rebels keeps him in constant danger and puts the possibility of a future for him and those he loves in jeopardy.Michael Burke, a close childhood friend of both Nora and Morgan, left his homeland for America and is now a New York City policeman. A widower with a difficult, rebellious son, he still remembers Nora with love and fondness and wants nothing more than to help her escape the cataclysmic famine and build a new life...with him.This panoramic epic of love and faith and adventure spans an ocean to follow three of BJ Hoff's most memorable characters in their quest for survival and courage and hope.

Sujets

• Historical romance

Informations

• Publié par: Harvest House Publishers
• Date de parution: 01 juillet 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780736939829
• Langue: English

Extrait

Song of the Silent Harp
This popular novel of the Famine period glows with love and faith amid the hardships, and even cruelty, of life under absentee landlords in nineteenth-century Ireland.
The author has created a cast of complex characters in a panorama that stretches from County Mayo to Dublin, London, and eventually New York, where the Kavanaghs are to work out their destiny.
All the color and imagery of a film enliven this story as it unfolds against a background of aborted revolution, disappointed love, the elemental struggle for life fulfillment in a harsh society.
Rarely has a novel captured so authentically the enduring faith of the Irish peasant that sustains Nora Kavanagh through the tribulation and struggle of that harrowing period.
A compelling and uplifting read that adds to an understanding of Ireland in the last century.
D R. E OIN M C K IERNAN , F OUNDER I RISH A MERICAN C ULTURAL I NSTITUTE
The Emerald Ballad Series
BY BJ H OFF
Song of the Silent Harp
Heart of the Lonely Exile
Land of a Thousand Dreams
Sons of an Ancient Glory
Dawn of the Golden Promise
Song of the Silent Harp
T HE E MERALD B ALLAD
BJ H OFF
HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS EUGENE, OREGON
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New International Version , NIV . Copyright 1973,1978,1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.
Verses marked AMP are taken from The Amplified Bible, Copyright 1954,1958,1962,1964,1965,1987 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Used by permission. ( www.Lockman.org )
My Child by B.J. Hoff used by permission of Abbey Press. Reproduction prohibited except by written consent of Abbey Press, Saint Meinrad, Indiana.
With the exception of recognized historical figures, the characters in this novel are fictional, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The village of Killala in County Mayo, Ireland, does exist. The suffering that took place there during the Great Hunger of the 1840s was all too real, and has been documented in numerous journals. Nevertheless, it is depicted herein by fictional characters.
Cover by Koechel Peterson Associates, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota
Cover photos iStockphoto; Thinkstockphotos; Shutterstock; Dreamstime; Stock.xchng
BJ Hoff: Published in association with the Books Such Literary Agency, 52 Mission Circle, Suite 122, PMB 170, Santa Rosa, CA 95409-5370, www.booksandsuch.biz .
Previously published as Song of the Silent Harp, book one of An Emerald Ballad series, Bethany House Publishers.




SONG OF THE SILENT HARP Copyright 1991 by BJ Hoff Published 2010 by Harvest House Publishers Eugene, Oregon 97402 www.harvesthousepublishers.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hoff, B. J., 1940- Song of the silent harp / BJ Hoff. p. cm. - (The emerald ballad ; bk. 1) ISBN 978-0-7369-2788-8 (pbk.)
1. Families-Ireland-Fiction. 2. Irish Americans-Fiction. 3. Ireland-History-Famine, 1845-1852-Fiction. I. Title.
PS3558.O34395S6 2010
813 .54-dc22
2010004618
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other-except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 / RDM-SK / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Jim-My Hero My Husband My Best Friend.
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
My warmest thanks and appreciation to Harvest House Publishers for publishing this new edition of Song of the Silent Harp, the first book of The Emerald Ballad series, and for their ongoing support and encouragement of my work.
Much gratitude is due the late Dr. Eoin McKiernan for the information and assistance he so kindly and patiently provided throughout the development of this series.
Thanks also to the following: Ivor Hamrock of the Mayo County Council, Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland; John R. Podracky of the New York City Police Museum; and the late Thomas Gallagher of New York City.
A special note of appreciation to the librarians at the Fairfield County District Library, Lancaster, Ohio, for their continuing and always cheerful assistance.
A BOUT BJ H OFF

BJ Hoff s bestselling historical novels continue to cross the boundaries of religion, language, and culture to capture a worldwide reading audience. In addition to The Emerald Ballad series, her books include such popular titles as Song of Erin and American Anthem and bestselling series such as The Riverhaven Years and The Mountain Song Legacy. Her stories, although set in the past, are always relevant to the present. Whether her characters move about in Ireland or America, in small country towns or metropolitan areas, reside in Amish settlements or in coal company houses, she creates communities where people can form relationships, raise families, pursue their faith, and experience the mountains and valleys of life. BJ and her husband make their home in Ohio.
For a complete listing of BJ s books published by Harvest House Publishers, turn to page 429.
Contents
Dedication
Acknowledgments
About BJ Hoff
A Pronunciation Guide for Proper Names
Prologue: Eoin
P ART O NE
SONG OF SORROW THE HUNGER
1 Daniel
2 Morgan
3 Nora
4 Michael
5 Do You See Your Children Weeping, Lord?
6 And the Fool Has Condemned the Wise
7 A Gaunt Crowd on the Highway
8 Winter Memories
9 Evan s Adventure
10 The Letter
11 The Sorrowful Spring
12 Night Voices
13 A Starless Night
14 Choices and Wishes
P ART T WO
SONG OF SILENCE THE WAITING
15 Night Watches
16 So Many Partings
17 A Most Unlikely Hero
18 Dan Kavanagh s Lament
19 An Encounter on the Road
20 The Wind Is Risen
21 A Gathering of Heroes
22 Undertones
23 As the Shadows Advance
24 Flight of Terror
25 To Stand with the Gael
26 One Last Goodbye
P ART T HREE
SONG OF FAREWELL THE PASSAGE
27 Erin, Farewell
28 Changes and Challenges
29 A Visit to Five Points
30 Nora s Turning
31 The Most Fearful Dread of All
32 Secrets Aboard the Green Flag
33 Where Is God?
34 The Keen Comes Wailing on the Wind
35 To Set the Captive Free
36 Whisper of Darkness
37 Afternoon Encounters
38 A Clashing of Swords
39 A Tale of Deception
40 How Far the Shore
41 A Meeting in Dublin
42 Survivors in a Strange Land
43 People in the City
44 A Reunion
Epilogue
Discussion Questions
Other fine BJ Hoff books published by Harvest House Publishers
Great reviews for BJ Hoff s Mountain Song Legacy trilogy
A Pronunciation Guide for Proper Names
Aidan
den

Aine
n ya

(Anne)

Caomhanach
Kavanagh

Conal
K n al

Connacht
K n ot

Drogheda
Draw he guh


Eoin
wen

(older form of John)

Killala
Kil l l

Padraic
Paw rig

(Patrick)

Sean
Sh n

(form of John)

Tahg
T ge

Tierney
Teer ney
On the willow trees in the midst of Babylon we hung our harps. For there they who led us captive required of us a song . Our tormentors and they who wasted us required of us mirth.
P SALM 137:2-3 ( AMP )
P ROLOGUE
Eoin
These are the clouds about the fallen sun, The majesty that shuts his burning eye: The weak lay hand on what the strong has done, Till that be tumbled that was lifted high.
W. B. Y EATS (1865-1939)
Drogheda, Ireland 1649
E oin Caomhanach, your harp will sing no more until the evil of Black Cromwell has been forgotten in the land and the survivors of his butchery return from exile.
Eoin s harp rode his shoulder in silent obedience as his grandfather s command echoed throughout the dim upstairs room. For a moment the old man looked as if he would say more; instead, he turned and went to stand at the narrow window, where a pale blade of late evening light struggled to pierce the gloom. Like a shadowed statue, Conal stood gazing down upon the ruins below.
Drogheda had finally fallen. After a seemingly endless siege and a three-day orgy of savagery and slaughter, the town s destruction was complete. The massacre of its defenders had been swift and thorough, the slaying of its innocent people brutal and merciless. The streets, now virtually deserted, were haunted by the eerie hush that follows disaster. The only sounds to break the silence were the cries of the wounded, an occasional angry shout between soldiers, and the screaming of the gulls over the River Boyne.
Yesterday, Eoin had crouched on one of the breastworks with his bow, watching as the wall around the town was breached by the hordes of Cromwell s New Model Army. He had stared in stunned disbelief as the first wave of shouting, blood-crazed troopers came pouring through the break. Today his heart raced and pounded in his ears as he remembered the surging tide of round black helmets and rust-red doublets exploding on the town in demented fury, chanting psalms and screaming curses in the same breath. On foot and on horseback, with muskets cracking and swords clanging, they hacked and shot and stabbed until the breach was soaked with blood and littered with fallen soldiers.
Losing his bow, Eoin was quickly swept up in the wave of retreating men, then stalled in the chaos and press of the massacre. From there he gazed in sick horror as Sir Arthur Aston, the defending commander of the city, was upended by a mob of jeering troopers, then bludgeoned to death on the bridge with his own wooden leg. As if in a daze, the lad watched the brightly colored feather from Aston s hat wave bravely in the warm harvest breeze before sailing to the ground in final defeat.
Eoin could no longer remember his route of escape. He vaguely recalled hearing the voices of the people at St. Peter s singing the Gloria just before the wooden steeple roared to a blaze; within seconds the church s shelter became a funeral pyre. He dimly remembered trying to avoid stepping