Reviewed by Emma Crowley
San Francisco, 1893: When Maggie O’Halloran steps off the train in California, she knows she must be brave for her friend Brendan and her brother Danny. Having fled both New York and Chicago, they all have broken spirits and fear having to start again. Can Maggie find courage and strength for them all?
Maggie soon finds a boarding house that will take them in. In a lively part of town, and with a colourful clientele, it is not somewhere she ever imagined staying. Until one night when they are woken by a distressing cry, and Maggie finds herself assisting a doctor to save a young woman’s life.
Working through the night by candlelight, Maggie realises this may be her true calling. When the doctor asks if she would consider training as a nurse, she says yes immediately, hopeful she might have finally found her purpose in life. Will this now give her the courage to tell Brendan how she truly feels?
But before she can risk her heart, Brendan reveals that Danny is in trouble once more. They are leaving at dawn for Alaska to mine for gold, and Maggie is both shocked and heartbroken. Should she stay, and continue the work that has given her life such meaning? Or should she sacrifice everything, and follow those she loves even further into the unknown?
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of A New World for the Irish Daughter to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
Book four in Kate Hewitt’s, Maggie O’Halloran series, sees Maggie, her brother Danny and friend Brendan stepping off the train from Chicago into a new world for her that of San Francisco. This is another chance for a clean slate and new opportunities having once again had to flee after turbulent and emotional times in Chicago. This is their third time starting over having reached America from Ireland and settled in New York where they met Brendan, then moving to Chicago so hopefully this will be the final stop that Maggie and co have to make in what has been a rollercoaster of a ride since they first set foot upon American soil. I have loved every book in this series and have been rooting for a positive, plentiful and solid outcome for Maggie but in this new story the author still had plenty more troubles and ups and downs in store for her characters. I had thought with the previous book that it was becoming a bit too formulaic with the characters settling somewhere, trying to make a go of things and things take a positive turn only for more danger, angst and uprooting occurring. But on reflection having finished this book all that needed to happen because in reality life wasn’t easy for new settlers and to reach the good times they had to traverse challenge ng and difficult experiences.
Maggie is determined to make a go of things and put past events behind them, but Brendan remains indifferent after what he witnessed in Chicago. Throughout the majority of the book, it was like he had retreated into himself and the man Maggie first met in New York was no longer there. The cheerful, capable, stalwart, kind and warm hearted man didn’t make himself known and, in some ways, you couldn’t blame him. He was traumatised and on an emotional level regarding Maggie, he had tried numerous times to express his feelings for her and to be there for herself and Danny when the worst befalls him, but he got nothing back in return. That’s one thing that frustrated me about Maggie, she hid her feelings deep within her core when all she had to do was release them and let love in. Things could have been so much easier for her but I thought she chose to tread an unnecessary path at times. She rejected Brendan more than once as she was determined to forge her own way but in doing so it had left her with nothing and the loneliness she experiences for the vast majority of the book I thought well really it was of her own making.
Upon reaching San Francisco, all Maggie wants is a roof over her head and to find a way to keep her body and soul together. She is in survival mode and I thought when they finally find her father who abandoned them in Ireland several years ago that this would be the turning point for everyone. But discovering he lived in a brothel run by Jessie who was a shrewd hard-nosed businesswoman meant that they were still very much done on their luck. I loved the section of the book set in Chicago. History was coming to life in a real and visceral way. It was a fresh and exciting time when what would go on to be major cities were only beginning to emerge. The detail throughout the book was incredible and clearly there was lots of extensive research undertaken by the author. Without going into detail through one thing and another Maggie ends up training to be a nurse. I thought it was ingenious the event that led to this seed being planted in Maggie’s mind and it opened up many avenues and strands from which the plot grew from.
Nursing gave Maggie a purpose and she felt she was doing good in the world helping people but again it alienated her from her family and Brendan and I thought there was no chance of them ever coming back as one and securing the steady, peaceful and happy life they had all craved in America. Maggie tends to run from her emotions especially when it comes to Brendan maybe because she was afraid and thought she wanted things which in turn only left her emptier than ever. I liked the new Maggie when she was training to be a nurse. Her ambition returned and I felt she was getting stronger on a professional level but when it came to emotions of the heart I thought she still wavered and needed to become more solid in this area. Around the halfway mark, the book takes another turn and as usual Danny and his father Declan have gotten into trouble and are leaving San Francisco. I was distraught for Maggie because she only had short time to go to be qualified. In my mind she made a very rash decision following the news given by Brendan of her family’s troubles. She was up and gone in an instant and I know family is everything but she should have out herself first for once. Not to mention that Brendan was deeply unhappy that she was accompanying them to the great unknown of Alaska which was meant to be wild.
The later half of the book set in Alaska was fantastic. There were endless beautiful descriptions of the landscape and the ways of life so very different from what they had experienced before. It was great to see the plight of the Native Americans highlighted and how something Maggie selflessly did connected to this theme. The Gold Rush and the Klondike were all brilliantly described and explored and I thoroughly enjoyed this part of the book as there were lots of twists and turns as they navigated new adventures and troubles at a time when the area was establishing itself and experiencing an influx of people searching for gold. It was history brought to life in a fantastic way and I felt this was where Maggie was coming of age both professionally and emotionally. I never knew how things were going to pan out because with every turn of the page something new was happening and there were so many differences and separations to overcome. Maggie, faces her greatest challenge in Alaska but whether she emerges from it successfully or worn down to her core you will have to read this fascinating and engrossing story for yourself.
A New World for the Irish Daughter brings to a close Maggie’s story. Although the selfish part of me would love a short story just to further wrap things up as there was no epilogue which would have done this. I feel I have come full circle with Maggie and her family and friends and I have loved every minute of her journey. She has searched, striven, struggled, fought, loved, lost and grieved and I have felt every bit of those emotions alongside her. This book and the entire series is definitely well worth a read as you will get so much from it.
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