Only the River Runs Free (The Galway Chronicles #1) by Bodie Thoene (1997) Ex Libris Used Books

Hardcover with DJ in Very Good (VG) condition. 

“Only the River Runs Free” is an action-packed story of Ireland in the 1830s and 40s. It was a time when English landlords held power over Irish tenant farmers and seeds of bitterness were sown that would last for generations.In an endeavor to eliminate all influences of Irish heritage, the English forced an intellectual and spiritual bondage on Ireland, as well as a bitter physical bondage of servitude. Freedom had become so rare that the Irish coined a saying, “In Ireland only the river runs free.”

Freedom is indeed a rare commodity in the village of Ballynockanor. Since the death of the hereditary descendent of the family Burke and the mysterious disappearance of his only son, the tenant farmers have lived under the callous cruelty and grinding oppression of a greedy English landlord. In this dark time in Ireland’s history the inhibitants of the poverty stricken village feel little hope for the future.

Yet one poor befuddled old woman speaks of freedom, truth, hope. Mad Molly Fahey promises the priest and villagers that a miracle is on its way to the beleaguered Ballynockanor, She says, ” A secret miracle, Father, but a miracle it will be, never doubt.” And on Christmas Eve, when a stranger crosses the frozen river and engers the village, a chain of events begins that will forever change the lives of those who live in Ballynockanor.

Set in a place and time in Ireland’s history affecting the age in which we now live, “Only the River Runs Free” is the story of a passionate people which shows the roots of the troubles that brought so many Irish to the shores of America–and which continue to plague England and Ireland today.