Hungry for Home: Leaving the Blaskets - A Journey from the Edge of Ireland

by Cole Moreton

Chronicles the dramatic events that led to the inhabitants of the remote Blasket islands off the coast of Ireland to abandon their ancient homes and medieval way of life in 1953, following the lives and fates of this vanished people and of the Kearney family, who had made new lives for themselves in America. 15,000 first printing.

Genres: Ireland, Nonfiction, History, Historical

288 pages, Hardcover

First published July 10, 2000

About the author

Cole Moreton is a writer and broadcaster exploring who we are and what we believe in. His BBC Radio 4 series The Boy Who Gave His Heart Away won multiple awards including Best Documentary in the BBC Radio Awards, Best Writing at the World’s Best Radio Awards in New York and gold for Audio Moment of the Year at the Arias.

Cole writes for the Mail on Sunday and was named Interviewer of the Year at the Press Awards 2016, then shortlisted again in 2018. His work has appeared in the Financial Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph and The Sunday Times, and many other.

The first of Cole’s non-fiction books was Hungry For Home: A Journey To America From The Edge Of Ireland and published by Viking in 2000. This combination of journalism, travelogue and dramatised true events told the story of the evacuation of the Great Blasket Island in County Kerry and followed the journey taken by the islanders to new lives in the United States. It was shortlisted for the prestigious John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for a first book in any genre.

His second book was called My Father Was A Hero (Viking) and told the story of the men and women who returned home to London after WW2 but could not handle peace time. His third book Is God Still An Englishman? How Britain Lost Its Faith (But Found New Soul) was published by Little, Brown. It explores the dramatic changes in British culture and spirituality over the last 30 years and celebrates the possibilities for the future.

His fourth book was a retelling of the story of The Boy Who Gave His Heart Away for HarperCollins. His debut novel The Light Keeper will be published in August 2019.

Reviews

[Gerard Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this several years ago and genuinely loved it. I'm Irish and no longer living there, which helps, but in the end it was the writing that really gripped me. Moreton has discovered the art of writing non-fiction with the delicacy and beauty of fiction. He pursues his 'quarry' - here the ultimate fate of West irelands displaced island-dwellers - with the passion of a Colin Dexter and the pace of a john Grisham. He seems to genuinely care about the people he meets, and by the end of the book so do we. Not only an intriguing read about a little-known history, it is alos a master class in positive journalism. Reccomended.

[Kerrie]

When young man dies tragically Christmas Eve 1946 without a doctor or a priest, it is the final catalyst for the inhabitants of Blasket, an island off the Dingle Coast, to forever leave the what was their centuries-long home. This book delves into the hardships of the life on this barren, windswept island where tempests, hunger, and isloation always had the defining upper hand.

[Kathryn Guare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my God, this is a book that just wants to wring tears from your eyes on practically every page. It is the very movingly written true story of the people of the Great Blasket, a mountainous island that is part of a little archipelago off the west coast of Ireland (Dingle Peninsula), which is the last bit of Europe your feet can rest upon before you are out on the open Atlantic.

The tiny community that lived there, mostly from the 1800s until 1953, truly were a people set apart, even from the rest of Ireland. They spoke only Irish, they engaged in a continuous, unending struggle to eke out a living through fishing and subsistence farming, and they were often completely cut off from the mainland for long periods by the wild weather of the North Atlantic.

They had only each other to relieve their own loneliness, but inevitably, the best and youngest amongst them slowly drifted away, emigrating in search of a better life. For those that remained, their hearts and courage were finally broken in 1947, when one of their young men contracted meningitis and died during several days of raging storms that knocked out all communication with the mainland and any hope of medical attention. In 1953, the Irish government evacuated the remaining population from the island and re-housed them, mostly in the area of Dunquin on the Dingle peninsula.

Their story is told by an Englishman (!), and I wish he'd indicated what led him to become so attached to the subject - if it was mentioned I missed it. He carefully traces out the steps of emigration, and his research leads him to Springfield, Massachusetts, where he makes a poignant discovery - the close-knit Blasket Island community did not disappear entirely from the face of the earth - many of them moved to the same little patch of ground in America, and there reconstituted themselves.

This is an obscure little jewel of a book for anyone, but especially if you have Irish roots. Just be sure to have the hankies ready.

[Simon Bendle · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book of two halves. Moreton writes beautifully about the desolate far west of Ireland and the tough Blasket islanders forced to abandon their traditional ways of life. He’s somewhat less interesting when he follows some of them to America and muses about their run-of-the-mill lives there.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting read about the Blasket Islands of County Kerry. What attracts me to these types of books is the story of "home", family, and emigration.
Worth a read if you are interested in Irish history.

[Margaret]

This book is an incredible tale of the end of one way of life that will for ever influence another. The descriptions of this part of Ireland made me day dream of my own visits there.

[David Lumpkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the first part of the book very interesting, albeit dark. As it went on, I lost interest. However, worth reading for the historical coverage of this family.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

This took a little while to get going, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The first trip my husband and I took together was to the West Coast of Ireland. We stayed for several days on the the Dingle Peninsula and impulsively decided to take ferry over to Great Blasket for a day. The other people on the little boat headed over to the long stretch of beach, but we have a cove beach all to ourselves. It was magical there on the island. Reading this book, I see how lucky we were to have happened on to it on such a beautiful day - I had no idea how often the boat trip wasn’t possible. I have a much better sense now of how difficult life had become on the island, forcing the exodus. I can’t even imagine how sad that must have been to watch your community dwindle to nothing.

[Anne Herridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so well written and had a tremendous emotional impact on me. It tells the true story of one of the last families of the Great Blasket island off the coast of Co. Kerry, many of whom emigrated to America, but weaves the story very skillfully across the decades and across the world. The author tells each family member's story in a way that engenders deep empathy and concern for them and a longing to know more. By the time I had finished the book I felt as if I knew each Blasket islander personally and had lived alongside them, sharing their joys and sorrows. I learned much from this evocative account. Well worth the read!

[Vanessa Donovan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up in the lighthouse I just stayed at in West Cork, Ireland. Harrowing, sorrowful at times but a testament to the spirit of the Irish, and those who wish to always preserve the Gaelic speaking community.

[Lauren · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't get in to this one. After about 40 pages, it still hadn't captured me so I gave up.

[Rebecca Hyvonen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An evocative memoir of a special Irish place

[Elizabeth Quinn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not long after the turn of the 20th century, a spate of books appeared that were written by Irish-speaking inhabitants of the Great Blasket Island, including Tomás Ó Criomhthain, Peig Sayers and Muiris Ó Súilleabháin, and describe the subsistence lifeway of the westernmost point in Ireland. In the late 1940s the dwindling population of the island was relocated following the death of a young man from meningitis while the single telephone and transport to the island were cut off by bad weather. Cole Moreton picks up the story at that point, describing that incident and the dispersion of Blasket inhabitants, including many who emigrated to Springfield, Massachusetts, and his own efforts in the 1990s to visit the island. I was disappointed by his account, which is largely anecdotal and lacking in the kind of details of the relocation that I'd hope to find, such as the financial arrangements of resettling the last Blasket families. Although Moreton interviewed many former Blasket inhabitants, they don't offer any special insights -- those who remained on the Dingle Peninsula continue to live in modest circumstances and those who moved to the U.S. live typical middle-class American lives. Moreton's recreation of their moves shows them to be unremarkable -- most caught an ocean liner in Cork, a far cry from the hardships endured by 19th century Irish emigrants. Moreton's description of his own attempts to visit the Great Blasket and his eventual success was also unremarkable. For those interested in the Blaskets, this is an unnecessary book.

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since the history of Ireland and its emigrants is one of the subjects of my professional and personal research, I'm always on the lookout for books that can take me further into it. Not only did Hungry for Home educate me about the culture and history that are very particular to the Blasket Islands (and which are fading away now that no one has lived there since the 1950s), it further deepened my understanding of the motivations and experiences of Irish emigrants in general. The Blaskets were one of just a few places where a pure form of Irish was still the primary language spoken and where the way of life had changed very little for hundreds of years. Moreton, who is a Brit, approaches the topic humbly and respectfully, and was able to interview a number of former islanders. This book may also be of interest to those readers who have an interest in the history of Springfield, Massachusetts, where many Blasket emigrants settled.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. At first it was difficult to keep track of the names and families but the story itself was wonderful, especially since I have family who immigrated from Dingle and settled in the same community (Hungry Hill) in Springfield MA! As a genealogist, the story behind their immigration to the states was fascinating!

[Angela · Rating 1 out of 5]

The premise of the book is interesting, but the writing of the story I found to be confusuing and hard to follow. I often couldn't figure out if he was telling the story of the people and their experiences or his experience in trying to re-create what they went through. It just dragged on and I was glad when it was over.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book about people and a place you'd never imagine. For students of narrative nonfiction, this is a tremendous example of creating a good read from sparse dry facts, thin interviews, and careful observation.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Close to 5 stars! The story of the last residents of the Blasket islands.

[Juliette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating non-fiction/historical fiction account of the Blasket Islanders.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

a fascinating reade

[David Koblos · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book about the Blasket Islands in the Southwest of Ireland, their Gaelic speaking people, their utter remoteness from Europe, and its relative proximity to America.

[John Kane · Rating 5 out of 5]

A modern accounting of the Blasket history. Pretty expansive and descriptive.

[Paul Mullen · Rating 4 out of 5]

sentimental, nice

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved reading about this remote island of Ireland.