Donal Ryan: “Michael is a writer deeply attuned to the rich and tragic history of his native place. This is a work of fiction of the best kind, informed by the writer’s extensive learning and research, from which he has fashioned a story of astonishing breadth and depth. Never Forget: The Tribulations of Dún Dermot is an important and very compelling work, composed with skill and great empathy.”
Alan Kelly, TD: “An exhilarating journey into a past, which should never be forgotten. The turbulent years of the Great Hunger is brought to life here through an impressive gathering of research that has resulted in a story filled with a vast array of emotions. A quality piece of writing that is a page-turner.”
Within his fine premises on the upper east side of Manhattan in 1897. an elderly gentleman called Eogan Harrington is finally concluding his memoirs. They tell the story of a terrible calamity which befell a nation. Of a people who suffered greatly, having to endure famine and disease and the cruel threat of eviction, while the food produce of Ireland was exported to colonies far across the sea. He writes about his own, how they were detested by an absentee landlord, Colonel Samuel Paxton, and the blasted bailiff, John D. Willis-Carr. And of the blossoming love affair between a brother and a neighbour and their devotion to each other, even in such trying circumstances. He writes of the regular hardships which are faced within the community they lived. And how it was that the sinful shenanigans of a fool led the whole lot of them. down a terrible path, where it was a struggle to survive one day to the next. On a terrible journey which led to vengeance, to murder, and to the death of a parish...
