First, thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for an advanced copy of "Hereafter" in exchange for a fair and honest review!

Okay! I really enjoyed this one! It wasn't exactly what I was expecting based on the summary-- I was expecting more, but that being said, I wasn't mad about it! It ended up making me think a lot about my own Irish family members sailing into New York to make their way south only to face the same hardships that had at home or, sometimes, worse.

It was a wonderful exploration of family and legacy and the stories we tell ourselves in order to fill in the gaps about the people we love(d) and the people whose lives led to ours, regardless of how far their lives are separated from your own. The choices your parents, grandparents, great grandparents, etc. affect their lives, yes, but also yours. We don't get the whole story nor do we get a lot of the factual story-- it'd be impossible to, and that's, I think, the point. Connections and family, mess and chaos, continents separated by large waters, bridged by love, severed by disappointment, are threaded throughout.

But I like that in a book. :)

4/5

This biography follows the trail of the Irish diaspora, especially during the Potato Famine years. The author leads us up a line of her own ancestors, mainly regarding her own great-grandmother Ellen. This Ellen would have been young and single like a great many of her peers who had sailed forth to America in droves, to be servant girls in order to send funds back to their starving, destitute families.

The bread crumb trail was somewhat lacking so Vona Groacke (the author) surmises much based on history of such Irish lasses, in general, and bits and pieces she managed to ferret out of various archives and from relatives' talk to piecemeal them together.

It was interesting to a certain degree and I did learn somewhat of the plight and circumstances these brave young ladies endured. However, I also got bogged down in the telling, frequently, sloughing through in fits and starts to find those morsels, which would attract me to carry on to the end.

~Eunice C., Reviewer/Blogger~

October 2022

Disclaimer: This is my honest opinion based on the complimentary review copy sent by NetGalley and the publisher.

Using scant public documents available, the author painstakingly pieced together the shards of her great grandmother’s life.
I loved all the family research that was conducted. I was surprised at some of the informations Groake uncovered and wondered about the voids she couldn’t fill.
I was aghast at a revelation late in the book, severing bonds between a grandmother and granddaughter that was totally unnecessary,
I appreciated the prose part because poetry isn’t my thing.

I am sorry to say I couldn’t get into this book. The idea for the story intrigued me but the actual telling left me disappointed . There are many facts that are interesting and the Irish plight was described well but the book didn’t flow for me and I didn’t finish it.. Three stars was for a good idea and effort but I would not recommend this book. Sorry.

This books reads like a poem and/or riddles. It is history or is it fiction? Could be even fantasy. You are taken back to the mid 1800's (history mixed with fiction) to current days (non-fiction) to a visiting spirit (fantasy or non-fiction depending on your views of such things). The author, Vona Groarke, is looking for pieces of information from her Great Grandmothers past to write her story. When she doesn't find it, she makes it up as she goes along.

Hereafter
By Vona Groarke

This is the story of a woman who is trying to make a connection with her great-grandmother, Ellen O'Hara, who came to America during the Irish potato famine.

The storyteller manages to discover a great many facts about those times and the Irish who came to New York and other New World places in order to keep those left back in Ireland afloat. However she is frustrated by the gaping holes she discovers in her more specific search for information beyond the bare bones facts concerning Ellen's life. She learns that her great-grandmother came to New York; that she worked in service in affluent private homes; that she eventually married a John Grady and bore a son and a daughter. Subsequently John disappears from the narrative and Ellen returns to Ireland to leave her children with her parents until she can make a home for them. She eventually – after 11 years – has opened her own boardinghouse and brings her children home.

All this the narrator finds, but she never gets close to what she really wants – to know intimately the thoughts and heart of her great-grandmother.

I found this book to be moderately interesting, though I'm not sure what the author wants the read to gain from it.

“Hereafter: The Telling Life of Ellen O'Hara,” by Vona Groarke (ISBN 9781479817511), Published Date: 15 Nov 2022, earns five stars.

“Hereafter” is an astounding piece of work, full of life, pathos, and the spirit of hope. It is a tale of Ellen O’Hara, an Irish immigrant who arrived in New York in the 1880s. Her courageous journey to establish a life in the United States while supporting family back in Ireland occurred often, but far more often, such journeys were not documented.

In the process of being assimilated, she experienced the discrimination that many immigrants face, in her case, for being Irish and a woman. Hers is story of survival and ultimately thriving, which allowed her to bring her children and a sister from Ireland to the United States to be with her

While “Hereafter” is Ellen O’Hara’s story, it could be the story of millions of immigrants. What stands this story apart from others is it is beautifully told by her descendant, Vona Groarke, via an evocative narrative, poetry, and more—all complemented by a well-researched history. Notably, it is such a clever book; one you can’t put down and one your feel privileged to have read.

Sincere thanks to the author, and NYU Press, for granting this reviewer the opportunity to read this Advance Reader Copy (ARC), and thanks to NetGalley for helping to make that possible.