I’ve long been a fan of Mary Logue, author of the Claire Watkins mysteries. I think it’s her background as a poet that lends her books a concise crispness not always to be found in today’s overly long novels. While this book clocks in at a little over 200 pages, it’s packed with character and action from the first page to the last.

It’s the story of Brigid Reardon, who escapes the Irish potato famine in 1880 and heads to America with her brother Seamus. In the first 12 pages, Brigid leaves home, takes the ocean voyage, is almost raped on board, and forms a friendship with Seamus’ shipboard friends Paddy and Billy.

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