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Sunfire #8
Kathleen
Behind her was the home she could never return to. Ahead was the shining promise of America...and love. There were times she wished she'd never come to America.
Pretty, spirited Kathleen O’Connor arrives in Boston on a “coffin” ship from Ireland. She has escaped the devastating famine, but her boyfriend died at home and her parents didn’t survive the voyage to America. Still, the promise of a new life gives her hope. Patrick, a friend from the ship, finds a job for her as a maid with the wealthy Thornley family. They remind Kathleen of the landowners in Ireland who forced her from her home. She wants to despise them, but she can’t hate David Thornley, who is tender and handsome, and obviously attracted to her. Her secret love for David could force Kathleen to go back to Ireland or make her dreams for a new life in America come true.
Pretty, spirited Kathleen O’Connor arrives in Boston on a “coffin” ship from Ireland. She has escaped the devastating famine, but her boyfriend died at home and her parents didn’t survive the voyage to America. Still, the promise of a new life gives her hope. Patrick, a friend from the ship, finds a job for her as a maid with the wealthy Thornley family. They remind Kathleen of the landowners in Ireland who forced her from her home. She wants to despise them, but she can’t hate David Thornley, who is tender and handsome, and obviously attracted to her. Her secret love for David could force Kathleen to go back to Ireland or make her dreams for a new life in America come true.
360 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
1 person is currently reading
229 people want to read
About the author
Candice F. Ransom
43 books11 followersSee also
Candice Ransom
Ransom has published more than 150 books for children, and she is amazed every day that she's able to do this as her life's work. It's no small thing to discover at an early age (ten!) what one is meant to do, and then pursue that dream. For her, the best part of writing for children is that she can move between writing board books, picture books, easy readers, chapter books, middle grade novels, nonfiction, and biography. She is excited to move into picture book nonfiction with BONES IN THE WHITE HOUSE: THOMAS JEFFERSON'S MAMMOTH (Doubleday, 2020).
AMANDA PANDA QUITS KINDERGARTEN and the sequel AMANDA PANDA AND THE BIGGER, BETTER BIRTHDAY (Doubleday) are her first picture books with animal characters! She is proud of her easy readers featuring a brother and sister having fun throughout the year: PUMPKIN DAY, APPLE PICKING DAY, SNOW DAY, and GARDEN DAY. Look for more titles in this Level 1 series written in bouncy rhyme, plus the popular TOOTH FAIRY'S NIGHT (all Random House).
Ransom has published more than 150 books for children, and she is amazed every day that she's able to do this as her life's work. It's no small thing to discover at an early age (ten!) what one is meant to do, and then pursue that dream. For her, the best part of writing for children is that she can move between writing board books, picture books, easy readers, chapter books, middle grade novels, nonfiction, and biography. She is excited to move into picture book nonfiction with BONES IN THE WHITE HOUSE: THOMAS JEFFERSON'S MAMMOTH (Doubleday, 2020).
AMANDA PANDA QUITS KINDERGARTEN and the sequel AMANDA PANDA AND THE BIGGER, BETTER BIRTHDAY (Doubleday) are her first picture books with animal characters! She is proud of her easy readers featuring a brother and sister having fun throughout the year: PUMPKIN DAY, APPLE PICKING DAY, SNOW DAY, and GARDEN DAY. Look for more titles in this Level 1 series written in bouncy rhyme, plus the popular TOOTH FAIRY'S NIGHT (all Random House).
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
August 10, 2016
So, you're stuck in the cargo hold of a ship that may or may not fall apart in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean at the first sign of a brisk storm. Your mother just succumbed to the fever that killed your lover and your younger siblings. Your father is lying near death of this same fever. You're headed to a foreign country were you don't have a job or know a soul. Your only possession is an English grammar book. So, what do you wish for? Why, to fall in love, of course.
Things that remind Kathleen of Rory: flowers, skies, lakes, flames(!). Things that remind her of her parents: um, people throwing dirt on the pier?
"I have just seen the shoulders and the back of the head of the son of my employers. I am in love."
Curls falling like ribbons, ginger curls, burnished curls, russet curls. Kathleen doesn't have hair, she has *curls*. Soooo, why does the cover model have stick-straight hair?
"I have VOWED to hate all rich people forever and ever!"
Kathleen, you're the best-est ever jewelry maker!
So, I'm pretty sure maids had to wear uniforms (not wisteria-green organdy gowns) when working. And *no* woman would leave the house with her hair unbound in the 1840s. (Even if it was waist-length, red-gold curls.)
This book would have been much, much better if the idiotic love story was GREATLY reduced and the author focused more on Kathleen's dream to be a goldsmith.
2.5 stars
Things that remind Kathleen of Rory: flowers, skies, lakes, flames(!). Things that remind her of her parents: um, people throwing dirt on the pier?
"I have just seen the shoulders and the back of the head of the son of my employers. I am in love."
Curls falling like ribbons, ginger curls, burnished curls, russet curls. Kathleen doesn't have hair, she has *curls*. Soooo, why does the cover model have stick-straight hair?
"I have VOWED to hate all rich people forever and ever!"
Kathleen, you're the best-est ever jewelry maker!
So, I'm pretty sure maids had to wear uniforms (not wisteria-green organdy gowns) when working. And *no* woman would leave the house with her hair unbound in the 1840s. (Even if it was waist-length, red-gold curls.)
This book would have been much, much better if the idiotic love story was GREATLY reduced and the author focused more on Kathleen's dream to be a goldsmith.
2.5 stars
October 19, 2015
Waxing Nostalgic #14- This book is full of adventure, starting with Kathleen's tragic journey from Ireland, her stint as a pick pocket in Boston, and then her employment at the wealthy Thornley home. She is a strong and tender girl but the love that she finds makes me question whether it would really blossom at that time of prejudice against the Irish and the societal class differences.
June 27, 2013
I have to say, this held up pretty well! The writing isn't bad at all. The heroine is a COMPLETE Mary Sue, but if you can get past that, it's a good way to get a little light romance and learn about Irish immigration in the 1800s. What more could you want?
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July 30, 2008Date below: not first reading
August 4, 2025
I'm doing a reread of the great old Sunfire YA romances of the 1980s. Kathleen was my favorite back when I was a kid, and it still holds up. It is incredibly romantic, action-packed, and frequently very dark. It has many similar tropes to certain poor-girl-meets-rich-aristocrat Regency historical romances I've read, but the interesting thing about this is how much (utterly grim) history Ransom folds in about the potato famine. Her prose is lush yet restrained, emotional and evocative, and so beautiful it's a pleasure to read. The research is so well done-- and the pacing is great. The ending was so deeply satisfying I melted.
Of course not all the research is perfect (if you're Irish you will definitely notice a few errors), but I think she does a solid job for the most part. I wish this book was still in print, as copies are getting incredibly expensive. However, at least it can be found on archive.org.
Definitely recommended.
Of course not all the research is perfect (if you're Irish you will definitely notice a few errors), but I think she does a solid job for the most part. I wish this book was still in print, as copies are getting incredibly expensive. However, at least it can be found on archive.org.
Definitely recommended.
June 19, 2017
This character is a bit depressed most of the time. She endures great hardship and that's certainly part of it. However, the book's progression is slow and sad for a long time. Also, she has about 6 conversations with her love interest before they end up engaged. It's a bit ridiculous.
July 18, 2018
My all time favorite book I read it to pieces and had to buy another one. Just a feel good easy read. So amazing. About an Irish girl who comes over wearing the great famine to America. She becomes a servant in Boston and falls in love.
December 18, 2016
Kathleen didn't even bother to establish herself as a person before she commited to romance. I didn't think her romance was very genuine at all.
August 22, 2016
I finally have completed my collection of Sunfires! Or at least the thick ones that are, in general, the best of the bunch. This one was, by far, the hardest to come by. Every search led to a price tag of upwards of $100, and I wasn't paying that. Finally found a good copy on Amazon for 67 cents, plus tax.
With a price like $100, I expected this to be a really fantastic book. Like a super rare book because it was so good. The plot has everything you would think you would want. The immigration of the Irish to America is a fascinating topic of discussion. It just goes to show that Americans will find something to nitpick about no matter what race comes into the country. But I digress.
So we have an interesting part of history. We have a tragic, lonely main character who has to survive a new country by herself. Everyone she has ever loved is dead and she has been starving for the past two years. The trip on the ship is horrible. The story is so engaging at this point, what could possibly go wrong?
The freaking romance.
Everything about the romance story in this plot snatched everything that was amazing and engaging about this book and made it a to a snooze fest. Instead of our heroine struggling to find herself and her place in a new land, we have her in a good job that she happens to be perfect at with two "perfect" boys to pick from. I'm terribly sorry if that is harsh. If I had read this book in high school, maybe I would have enjoyed it more. But the romance seemed forced and unrealistic. After Kathleen going through such hardships, I don't want her to have some rich, aristocratic boyfriend. I want her with someone who will understand her pain and support her in her endeavors.
With the romantic suitor plot, it brought down my opinion of Kathleen. I really wanted to like her feisty, shy, and dreamer nature, and I did. She's a likable girl. There is a chapter after she arrives in America of the harsh conditions she finds herself in. That's perfect. Despite being the "BEST MAID 'EVA," her coworkers sabotage her and the family she works for are snobs(mostly). That's fine. She has a whole subplot where she goes to be an apprentice for a jeweler, and she wants to change the negative stereotype of the Irish in the Americans' eyes. That's great! But then we have to slug through her feelings toward two boys. I don't like either one of her suitors really, don't even remember their names. Both of them seemed to want to tell her what to do and feel at every turn, and neither seemed to be a good fit for her.
In the end, I feel like this book could have been AMAZING. The romance, which is the whole point of the book, just isn't there for me. It doesn't mesh. It's definitely better than some Sunfires I've read, but I'd rank it at about 10th place out of 15 if we are just looking at the longer Sunfire novels.
With a price like $100, I expected this to be a really fantastic book. Like a super rare book because it was so good. The plot has everything you would think you would want. The immigration of the Irish to America is a fascinating topic of discussion. It just goes to show that Americans will find something to nitpick about no matter what race comes into the country. But I digress.
So we have an interesting part of history. We have a tragic, lonely main character who has to survive a new country by herself. Everyone she has ever loved is dead and she has been starving for the past two years. The trip on the ship is horrible. The story is so engaging at this point, what could possibly go wrong?
The freaking romance.
Everything about the romance story in this plot snatched everything that was amazing and engaging about this book and made it a to a snooze fest. Instead of our heroine struggling to find herself and her place in a new land, we have her in a good job that she happens to be perfect at with two "perfect" boys to pick from. I'm terribly sorry if that is harsh. If I had read this book in high school, maybe I would have enjoyed it more. But the romance seemed forced and unrealistic. After Kathleen going through such hardships, I don't want her to have some rich, aristocratic boyfriend. I want her with someone who will understand her pain and support her in her endeavors.
With the romantic suitor plot, it brought down my opinion of Kathleen. I really wanted to like her feisty, shy, and dreamer nature, and I did. She's a likable girl. There is a chapter after she arrives in America of the harsh conditions she finds herself in. That's perfect. Despite being the "BEST MAID 'EVA," her coworkers sabotage her and the family she works for are snobs(mostly). That's fine. She has a whole subplot where she goes to be an apprentice for a jeweler, and she wants to change the negative stereotype of the Irish in the Americans' eyes. That's great! But then we have to slug through her feelings toward two boys. I don't like either one of her suitors really, don't even remember their names. Both of them seemed to want to tell her what to do and feel at every turn, and neither seemed to be a good fit for her.
In the end, I feel like this book could have been AMAZING. The romance, which is the whole point of the book, just isn't there for me. It doesn't mesh. It's definitely better than some Sunfires I've read, but I'd rank it at about 10th place out of 15 if we are just looking at the longer Sunfire novels.
August 3, 2022
Kathleen sets off with her parents just about getting ready to leave Ireland, the only home she has over known but in just a matter of 2 months (2 chapters for us) she makes it to Ireland but alone.
She can't help but morn her past and the loved ones she lost along the way yet she is strong and braves America even when she has nobody with her. Treated as poorly as she is I admire Kathleen and her bravery.
To keep spoil free I simply say to the boy she ends with, I love him and how he grows and deals with his own struggles. He is the perfect fit for Kathleen, both longing for a life of their own with each other. 🥰 As for her friend the relationship he has with Kathleen is just what she needs from him and I am happy for the path he creates for himself.
I could read her story a thousand times. It will never get old and I'll never stop dreaming. I believe in the magic.
*Also, I find it funny how a key feature of her is her green eyes and long Curly red hair yet the cover is straight. How odd. 😅
She can't help but morn her past and the loved ones she lost along the way yet she is strong and braves America even when she has nobody with her. Treated as poorly as she is I admire Kathleen and her bravery.
To keep spoil free I simply say to the boy she ends with, I love him and how he grows and deals with his own struggles. He is the perfect fit for Kathleen, both longing for a life of their own with each other. 🥰 As for her friend the relationship he has with Kathleen is just what she needs from him and I am happy for the path he creates for himself.
I could read her story a thousand times. It will never get old and I'll never stop dreaming. I believe in the magic.
*Also, I find it funny how a key feature of her is her green eyes and long Curly red hair yet the cover is straight. How odd. 😅
August 11, 2011
On page 94, he dazzles her with his eyes. On page 212, we have flouncing! As always, Ms Ransom's Sunfire fare is heads above the others. I particularly liked how she was determined to make her own way in a trade that was not very ladylike, and her capacity for telling people they couldn't tell her what to do. A real spitfire!
July 3, 2017
I originally read this series back in the 80s, checking them out from my elementary school library. Having re-read them as an adult I think they stand the test of time and are still relevant as far as historical fiction is concerned.
November 11, 2021
Retro reread from my childhood.
July 15, 2022
2 = nostalgic
Kathleen flees Ireland with her family during the Potato Famine, only to lose them to sickness on the ship. A fellow Irishman helps her find employment, and possibly love.
Kathleen flees Ireland with her family during the Potato Famine, only to lose them to sickness on the ship. A fellow Irishman helps her find employment, and possibly love.
October 24, 2016
This book contains a lot of tumbling curls that cannot be contained by a maid's hat. A lot.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews