Bridget's Home

Book excerpt: "All I ever wanted was a home. A wee home..." Following their eviction from an English-owned tenant farm, Moira and Barnard Culligan's search for a home takes them far from their beloved Ireland to rooming houses by the Erie Canal and servants' quarters, railroad camps, and crowded tenements in Worcester, Massachusetts. Throughout their journey they raise children, face down the "Irish Curse," and contend with the prejudice of nativist Yankees who fear the destruction of democracy at the hands of "Papist" Irish newcomers. Overcoming bigotry, backbreaking work, illness, and loss, the Culligans' resolute experience of survival in 19th century New England is a story that still resonates in today's America, as 21st century immigrants- like their Irish predecessors- similarly struggle for acceptance in their newfound homeland.