This was a brilliant read. As soon as I started reading this book I just knew I was going to love it. Highly recommended

Thank you Netgalley and the Publisher for my ARC in exchange for my honest review. This was an enjoyable book.

I really enjoyed this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it and found it hard to put down. A story that takes you back to when times were much simpler but so much harder at times. Excellent read.

Thanks to NetGalley for an early copy in return for an honest review
A very good read and one I can highly recommend to others.
I could not put this down.
Thoroughly enjoyable with an amazing cast of characters that you cannot help but engage with.

This was not my type of book and I was very disappointed in it.
I had such high hopes for this book

Thank You, NetGalley for a free copy of The Girl from Galloway in exchange for my honest review.

Hannah McGinley hasn't had an easy life. She finds comfort and happiness surrounded by her family. This book is full of emotion.

I recommend this book to others who don't mind emotional reads and readers of historical fiction.

Set in Ireland’s nothwest county of Armagh during the reign of Victoria in 1845, this story follows the life and struggles of Hannah McGinley, wife of Patrick, mother to Rose and Sam. Born in Scotland to a small and successful farmer, Hannah’s husband Patrick is a traveling laborer, leaving with many other Irishmen in need of work who travel to harvest and work farms for owners whose sons have moved on, or need help finishing the harvest. She’s still finding the contrast between her childhood life and the one she leads now, especially as all of her family are now scattered ‘to the wind’ and her little cottage is a bit out of the way. But there are bonuses, just up the hill is her husband’s Aunt Mary who is able to provide butter and milk, her handwork on napkins provides a steady (if small) income. But this is a time of little for many: little food, less opportunity and even less money.

Hannah’s children attend the local ‘hedge’ school, run by Daniel. A blind man with a knack for ‘seeing’ things that one might not expect, and a regular slate of visitors to his cottage who listen to his stories and share their own. Quite unexpectedly, his assistant teacher at the school is soon to be married, and Daniel needs help: two people have come to mind. Hannah with her knowledge of English, her ability to read and write, and her camaraderie with Daniel and Jonathan, a young man who claims his desire is to join the priesthood and help out where he can. With Daniel’s ability (and reticence) to display his English skills, he needs the help – but Hannah can serve to help gain a measure of the young man, and perhaps they can continue the school. It is at this point that another young man approaches, serving as the ‘information gatherer” for the Quaker Friends Society: having heard of the deprivations and poverty, they are looking for information and avenues in which they may be of help. Quickly this young man has ideas and information from Hannah, and their friendship takes its first tentative steps.

Full of the struggles of those who were most reliant on their small kitchen gardens, available work and the island staple of the potato, the story takes all of the perspectives: the worries from those who have little enough to share but want to do what they can for others, managing and finding ways to bring in donations and provide the children in the school with other options, and more than a share of personal tumult, the tale draws the reader into Hannah’s life and her own concerns, even as the government (read Parliament and the English landlords) seek to blame the locals for their own lack of opportunity, poverty and starvation, and watch as many are forced into workhouses, to emigrate, or simply starve in their homes in desperation. Intriguing as the school with its fifteen pupils is seeking to give the children more options than were ever offered their parents, and providing a little beacon of light as the characters come together to help, support and celebrate one another as they weather the famine of 46.

I received an eArc copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Thanks to Anne Doughty, HQ Digital and NetGalley for the giving me the opportunity to read The Girl From Galloway.
The books two main characters are Hannah McGinley and her husband Patrick, they live in Donegal Ireland with their two young children.
The story is about life in Ireland in 1845, Hannah's life as a wife, mother. and her relationship with her friends and neighbors.
The cottage school her children attend was threatened with being closed and the story is based around how Hannah helps to keep the school open and feed hungry families during the famine.
I of course have read about the great Irish famine, the failure of the potato crop due to disease and the book is set during this time.
I had no idea that Irish farm workers went to Scotland, worked for months on farms digging potatoes and spent so much time away from their families.
Then they returned home and struggled to find other work as many of them farmed land that had poor soil it didn't grow enough food to feed their families, they needed to earn money to buy extra food and pay rent.
This is the basis of the story is about how Patrick would be away working at Hannah's fathers farm, how Hannah and her children coped with him being away.
I found the book to be slow, at times the story rather frustrating.
Why didn't Hannah's dad a widower ask his daughter and her family to live with him in Scotland and Patrick help him with his farm? I didn't love The Girl From Galloway and it was a relief to finish the book! It might just be me so don't let my review put you off reading the book and I will still check out Anne Doughty's next book due to be released this year in May.

I didn't know what this story would be about. Hannah is such a strong woman in a time there was little to look forward to. The history of the potato famine is about people, and this story captures their grief, their desperation and their courage.

I loved this book! Great story about life during the famine in Ireland. Families helping each other to try to get enough food to live. Heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. A must read.

I didn’t enjoy this book, but I know it will appeal to certain readers. I know it will have an audience in our branch.

A wonderful read great characters friendships that last through the most difficult times.Highly

recommend looking forward to authors next novel.#netgalley#hqdigital.

found this a difficult book to start, perhaps the writing is a little slow-moving and plodding. Despite being touted as an historical novel, I felt the author was stretching to encompass the history in this book. Only my opinion.

I received this from Netgalley.com for a review.

Hannah McGinley hasn’t had the easiest life. But surrounded by her two children and her loving husband Patrick she has found happiness.

A rather slow moving dreary story.

2.75 ☆

I really enjoyed this book and I would highly recommend it. It has a great story line, excellent main characters and it is a real page turner. I read this book in one sitting and the hours just flew by!

Great read. The author wrote a story that was interesting and moved at a pace that kept me engaged. The characters were easy to invest in.

I received a copy of this book through netgalley.
It is a book thst I could not put down a pleasant read,about the hardships that people faced in the past and strong friendships in difficult times.
Loved the various characters throughout the book.

This was a book that I did not want to put down. The characters were special and human. I liked the setting in Ireland, There was a history lesson to be learnt.