In the middle of the potato famine in Ballymor in Ireland Kitty McCarthy is struggling - with the potato crop failing again she is unable to feed her family - her husband was killed in a mining accident and four of her children have already died from starvation - luckily her oldest son Michael is working but Gracie her only other remaining child is weak from lack of food - Kitty is desperate to save her

In the present day Maria has arrived in Ballymor to research her ancestor Michael McCarthy a renowned artist....and especially to see if she can find out what happened to his mother Kitty the beautiful redhead who is the subject of many of his paintings but who he lost touch with and never managed to find again

A great book working well in the two timelines and I found the history of people living in Ireland through the potato famine fascinating as it is an area of history that I know little about - definitely worth reading as are the previous books by this author

In Ballymor, Ireland in 1847, Kitty McCarthy is struggling to keep her family alive due to the potato famine that has already killed all but two of her children. In the present day, Maria has arrived in Ballymor to research the life of her ancestor, the Victorian artist Michael McCarthy. Will she be able to discover the circumstances surrounding his early life and also what became of his beloved mother, Kitty?

I have loved all of Kathleen McGurl's previous books and The Daughters of Red Hill Hall was one of my favourites of last year. I had, therefore, been eagerly anticipating The Girl From Ballymor, and am pleased to say that it is just as good as the rest!

One of the things I like most about Kathleen McGurl's books is how she seamlessly merges past with present and this is evident here. Speaking as somebody who has ancestors who left Ireland during the potato famine, I found Kitty's plight highly emotive and could understand her desire to ensure that her son escaped to a better life. Despite living in horrendous conditions, Kitty was an incredibly strong woman and, like Maria, I too became engrossed in the mystery surrounding what became of her. Inevitably, her story was never going to end well, and when her fate was finally revealed it was tinged with more than a touch of sadness.

Sometimes in a dual-timeline story, I find myself liking one of the timelines more than the other but this is not the case in The Girl From Ballymor. Both parts of the story were equally as engaging and were interlinked in a way that moved the plot on. I felt that Maria was a very real character and could sense her trepidation as major changes were about to affect her life in a huge way.

With its cross-genre approach, The Girl From Ballymor will appeal to fans of historical and genealogical fiction and also anyone who enjoys a gentle mystery. This is another great book from Kathleen McGurl and I hope there isn't too much of a wait before the next one!

With thanks to HQ and Net Galley for the ARC.

This was a very interesting, and quite sad, story set in the present day and during the Irish potato famine in the mid-1800s.

There are alternate chapters between Maria from the present day, who is researching her family history and most specifically Michael McCarthy, and Kitty in the 1840s, Michael's Mother, struggling to keep her family alive.

Maria has come to Ireland from the UK on her own, leaving her boyfriend at home. He has just proposed and Maria is thinking about it, but because of her family history, she is unsure if she wants to get married. And there's another issue that initially she hasn't told him about too. So she's taking the time away to try and get her head around things.

I found Kitty's side of the story more interesting than Maria's, I found Maria a bit of a hard character to like, whereas you had to really admire Kitty for doing whatever she could to try and keep her family going. It was such a very hard life and you felt so sorry for her, and everyone else caught up in it. If they could get the money together for the fare to sail to America it's no wonder people were leaving for a, hopefully, better life as it really couldn't have got much worse in Ireland at that time.

At least all Kitty's sacrifices were worth it for Michael, as he managed to become very successful and have a happy life. And even if he sadly didn't manage to solve the mystery of what happened to his Mother, it was finally resolved by accident in the present day by Maria and some others, another very sad part of the book.

A very atmospheric, sad, but ultimately uplifting story that I will long remember.

This book runs in two time periods. In the present Maria has come to Ireland to investigate her ancestor and artist Michael McCarthy. She is also running away from making life changing decisions. In the past we follow Michael McCarthy's story and that of his mother.

The two words which spring to mind about this book are - bland and mediocre. It is basically an okay book but there is nothing that takes it away from the basic run of the mill. This is a lightweight book which attempted to have suspense and twists in it but failed. The twists can all be seen a mile off and the suspense just did not build.

The two main problems were description and characterization. They were both sadly lacking. Both time periods of the book are set in County Cork in Ireland. A beautiful part of the country with wild countryside and a rich heritage. Michael McCarthy's story is primarily set in the time of the tragic potato famine. As you can see there is much in this book which really does require rich description. Unfortunately I felt that much was missing from the descriptions. I never got a true sense of the beauty and wildness about the countryside. There are so many fantastic adjectives that could be used to evoke detailed pictures in the readers minds but I felt they were lacking in this work. At no point did I feel that I was truly part of this area and the action. The haunting effects of the famine, the skeletal bodies, the people desperate for food was mentioned but somehow the description just did not bring it alive. It was all really quite bland.

There was a similar problem with the characters. They were quite cardboard. There are attempts to distinguish people - Aoife at the pub is always wearing rock band t-shirts, Paulie is the old man sat at the bar and so on. However, I never felt I got to know the main characters let alone the supporting cast. Maria has issues to resolve from the past but I never get to feel them. I never get inside her head or indeed anyone elses. These characters did not become people I was interested in, they were just two dimensional characters on the page.

The story itself in this book is adequate. The book holds together with no gaping holes in the plot. However, I cannot see it being more that a very light holiday read which is very easy to put down. I never felt a part of this book and couldn't bring myself to care about the characters.

I was given a free copy of this book via Netgalley.

Another great book from a great Author. Not my favourite of her books but a good story with likeable characters.