Nory Ryan's Song [Paperback]

Nory Ryan's family has lived on Maidin Bay on the west coast of Ireland for generations, raising a pig and a few chickens, planting potatoes, getting by. Every year Nory's father goes away on a fishing boat and returns with the rent money for the English lord who owns their cottage and fields, the English lord bent upon forcing the Irish from their land so he can tumble the cottages and clear the fields for grazing. Times are never easy on Maidin Bay, but this year, a terrible blight attacks the potatoes. No crop means starvation. Twelve-year-old Nory must summon the courage and ingenuity to find food, to find hope, to find a way to help her family survive.Reviewed in BooksellingKids' Pick of the Lists Part Twofor October 2000.Patricia Reilly Giff has written more than 50 books for young readers, including the Kids of the Polk Street School series.CHAPTER 1

Someone was calling.

        "Nor-ry. Nor-ry Ryan."

        I was halfway along the cliff road. With the mist coming up from the sea, everything on the path below had disappeared.

        "Wait, Nory."

        I stopped. "Sean Red Mallon?" I called back, hearing his footsteps now.

        "I have something for us," he said as he reached me. He pulled a crumpled bit of seaweed out of his pocket to dangle in front of my nose.

        "Dulse." I took a breath. The smell of the sea was in it salty and sweet. I was so hungry I could almost feel the taste of it on my tongue.

        "Shall we eat it here?" he asked, grinning, his red hair a mop on his forehead.

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