These three events
are bridged by a succession of women, the first of whom, Lily Duggan, crosses
the ocean in the other direction, leaving Ireland for America to escape poverty
and famine. Life is not much easier in America, but Lily prospers. After
serving as a washerwoman and nurse in Civil War battlefield hospitals, she
marries and raises a family. Her daughter, Emily, is a bookish girl who
eventually becomes a journalist and covers the story of Alcock and Brown’s
take-off from Newfoundland. Emily and her daughter, Lottie, cross to Ireland by
ship where Lottie marries and has her own daughter, Hannah. Together Lottie and
Hannah bear the personal suffering brought on by “The Troubles,” and then
Hannah alone must deal with the consequences of the financial collapse of 2008.
The progress made in 150 years can be astounding.
People regularly travel by plane across the Atlantic Ocean. Political and
religious violence ceases to terrorize the citizens of the British Isles. And
in 2008, another black American visits Ireland, this time rather than an
escaped slave he is the President of the United States. The abolition of
slavery, the development of intercontinental flight, a treaty to end a long,
violent struggle are important developments in the course of history. And, inevitably, the course of history
affects the lives of the ordinary people of the world.
