From the bestselling author of Under the Hawthorn Tree
Praise for Marita Conlon-McKenna
‘Marita ... is a natural storyteller.’
MARTIN WADDELL
‘In all of Conlon-McKenna’s books there is an underlying sense of resilience, of self-reliance and of enterprise in even the poorest of people.’
CELIA KEENAN
The Big Guide to Irish Children’s Books
‘Conlon-McKenna sees herself very much as a storyteller, and the outstanding feature of her work is its strong narrative thrust.’
VICTOR WATSON
The Cambridge Guide to Children’s Books in English
CHILDREN OF THE FAMINE TRILOGY
Under the Hawthorn Tree
‘Makes a whole part of our history come alive, while it still remains a thrilling adventure tale’
RTÉ Guide
‘Historically true and emotionally vivid’
The Sunday Times
Wildflower Girl
‘Gripping … embracing a sense of time and history … highly recommended’
Books Ireland Fields of Home
‘A very rich and appropriate end to the trilogy’
The Big Guide to Irish Children's Books
Other Books by
Marita Conlon-McKenna
The Blue Horse
‘A beautiful story sensitively told’
Sunday Tribune
No Goodbye
‘A brilliantly written story of loss and hope’ writing.ie
Safe Harbour
‘Great story’
The Irish Times
In Deep Dark Wood
‘An absorbing tale of magic and dragons’
Sunday Independent
A Girl Called Blue
‘An uplifting, warmhearted story’
Fallen Star Stories
MARITA CONLON-McKENNA is one of Ireland’s best-loved, award-winning children’s authors. She has written numerous best-selling books for adults and children, and they have been translated into many languages. Under the Hawthorn Tree, her first novel, became an immediate bestseller and has been described as ‘the biggest success story in children’s historical fiction’. Its sequels, Wildflower Girl and Fields of Home, which complete the Children of the Famine trilogy, have also been hugely successful.
Other books include: The Blue Horse, No Goodbye, Safe Harbour, In Deep Dark Wood, and A Girl Called Blue
Marita is a winner of the International Reading Association Award, the Osterreichischer Kinder und Jugendbuchpreis, the Reading Association of Ireland Award, and the Children’s Books Ireland Children’s Book of the Year Award. She is a former Chairperson of Irish PEN. Her work has been adapted for stage and TV. Under the Hawthorn Tree is also available on DVD. Visit obrien.ie and maritaconlonmckenna.com for full details of all Marita’s books.
MARITA CONLON-McKENNA
This edition first published 2025 by The O’Brien Press Ltd, 12 Terenure Road East, Rathgar, Dublin 6, D06 HD27, Ireland.
Tel: +353 1 4923333; Fax: +353 1 4922777
E-mail: books@obrien.ie; website: obrien.ie
First published 2023
The O’Brien Press is a member of Publishing Ireland.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilised in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including for text and data mining, training artificial intelligence systems, photocopying, recording or in any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 29 28 27 26 25
Design and chapter illustrations: Emma Byrne
Cover and map illustrations: Phillip Cullen
Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY
Published in
For all my wonderful grandchildren –Holly, Sam, Ben, Max, Evie, James, Alex, Harry, Luke and Lily.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks are due to my publisher and friend Michael O’Brien, who was there from the very start of my writing journey. He will always be remembered with huge gratitude, respect and affection. Thanks to my editor Susan Houlden for her insight, care and encouragement. It has been great working together. Thanks to Ivan O’Brien, Kunak McGann, designer and artist Emma Byrne and all the amazing team at the O’Brien Press. Thanks to Phillip Cullen for cover and map artwork.
My deep gratitude also to my wonderful agent Caroline Sheldon. Thanks to writer Sarah Webb, for her years of friendship and patience, listening to me ramble on about my latest book idea.
Thanks to all my wonderful readers, wherever you are. Huge thanks to the dedicated librarians and booksellers who help to make the magic of reading still happen.
Above all, my thanks to my husband, James, and my amazing family for their constant love and support.
THE WOODS
ROADTO VILLAGE
STARLING LAKE
HOLIDAY COTTAGES
OLD SHED
HERB GARDEN
MAGGIE’S STUDIO
VEGETABLES
FAIRY HILL
BEACH
Come away, O human child! To the waters and the wild, With a faery, hand in hand, For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.
‘The
Stolen Child’, WB Yeats
Changes
Today my life is going to change forever, thought Anna sadly as she put on the pink satin dress she had to wear for her mum’s wedding. The cosy routine of just the two of them living in the quaint two-bedroom terraced house in London’s Notting Hill was about to end.
‘Anna.’ She could see her mum hesitate for a fraction of a second. ‘Promise me that you’ll be okay. I want us both to enjoy the wedding and look back on it as a day to remember.’
Anna nodded meekly, though she knew in her heart that nothing would ever be the same again.
‘Doug really likes you, Anna, so please just give him, and us, a chance!’
Anna said nothing as her mum squeezed her hand. Mum marrying Douglas meant moving into his big house in
Kensington. Anna would be living miles away from all her friends and would have to take the crowded Tube to school every day.
‘Be happy for me, Anna. Please be happy for me today of all days!’
‘I am,’ whispered Anna, ‘honestly I am.’ Her mum smiled. ‘You look so pretty.’
‘And you look beautiful,’ said Anna, taking in her mother in her cream silk suit with her shimmering dark eyes, flawless skin and black hair pulled back softly from her long thin face. Glancing at her own hazel eyes and freckles in the mirror, Anna knew they didn’t look in any way alike.
‘Here’s a special present to say thanks for being the best daughter and flower girl ever,’ murmured her mum, passing Anna a blue box. Inside it was a gold star bracelet and earrings.
‘I love them,’ declared Anna as her mum fastened the bracelet onto her wrist.
The wedding was small with only close family and friends gathered together in a hotel overlooking the river to witness the marriage ceremony and enjoy a fancy meal afterwards.
Anna sat beside Douglas’s two sons, Greg and Peter, who were much older than her.
‘I guess we’re related now,’ joked Greg. ‘We’ll be your stepbrothers.’
Anna swallowed hard, realising she was part of a strange new family now.
She had laughed and hugged and posed for photos till her heart ached. She had smiled as Douglas kissed her mother and her mum had shown off her glinting gold wedding ring.
Tomorrow she was going to stay with her dad for a whole month while Mum and Douglas went on honeymoon, travelling around South America. Anna had begged, cajoled, argued and promised to be good – anything to try and persuade her mum to change her mind and let Anna come with them. But Mum and Douglas had been resolute.
‘You and your dad are always going on and complaining about not seeing enough of each other, well now while I am away the two of you will have plenty of time together.’
Mum had arranged for Anna to travel with Kate, her mum’s friend, after the wedding and go and stay with her dad, who was now living in Ireland. Ever since the divorce, Anna had seen less and less of her dad as he was often away working. They’d never spent more than a few days or a week together, and now Anna had to spend a whole long endless month with
him. It was so unfair, but no one cared what she thought or felt about it!
‘I don’t want to go to stay with Dad!’ She was still protesting angrily when they left for the airport.
‘Please, Anna, just try to make the most of it,’ urged her mum as they met up with Kate and said their goodbyes at Heathrow. ‘It’s only going to be for a few weeks while I’m away.’
Anna blinked hard, trying not to cry as her mum and Douglas walked off together to check in for their flight to Brazil.
Betwixt and Between
Her dad was waiting for her, his tall, lanky figure standing in the middle of the crowd at the arrivals hall in Dublin Airport.
‘Anna!’ he shouted as he rushed towards her, flinging his bony arms around her and hugging her close in welcome.
‘Hi, Dad,’ said Anna, feeling suddenly shy and awkward with him.
‘Kate, thanks for keeping an eye on Anna for us on the flight. Roz and I both appreciate it.’
Kate smiled at them both and said, ‘I was happy to help and it was nice to get to chat with Anna.’
‘Good time at the wedding?’ asked Dad vaguely as he took one of Anna’s bags and searched for his car keys in the pocket of his jeans.
‘It was wonderful,’ replied Kate. ‘Roz looked beautiful and the wedding went smoothly – without a hitch!’
Anna said nothing. She had no intention of discussing Mum’s wedding in the noisy airport terminal.
‘If you want, I can drop you home, Kate, before Anna and I head out west,’ offered Anna’s dad.
‘Thanks, Rob, but I have my own car here,’ said Kate, giving Anna a hug. ‘Bye, Anna. Have a great holiday!’
As Anna watched her mum’s friend walk away, she suddenly felt very alone, even though she was standing next to her dad. ‘How was yesterday really?’ he asked, his shoulders tense, and his eyes hidden behind a pair of dark sunglasses. ‘You okay about it?’
Anna said nothing for a moment. Then she lied, ‘I’m fine, just fine about it all. Mum looked great – really beautiful.’
‘Your mother is a beautiful woman,’ her dad said thoughtfully. ‘I’m glad she’s happy.’
Anna swallowed hard. She was still angry with her mum who, despite all Anna’s pleas and protests, had gone away for weeks to South America with Douglas, while she was stuck with her dad! There had been no place else for her to go except to stay with him and his new partner, Maggie, and her little
