The Journey to The Broken Season
History informed the writing of The Broken Season. A deeper appreciation of the novel’s setting, its characters, and plot comes of recalling the waves of Irish immigration beginning in the eighteenth century and intensifying during the mid-nineteenth century as a result of The Great Hunger (potato famine). Between 1845 and 1852, roughly one million Irish died, and another one and a half to two million emigrated with the greatest numbers of Irish arriving on American shores. Many who survived the voyage ended up working in the mines and building the railroads in Appalachia.
“For years, I wrote about other writers and their work, but I always wondered what it would be like to mix research with imagination,” said Jim Haughey. “Writing historical fiction gave me the freedom to create something entirely my own while still grounding it in history.”
Journey into The Broken Season with this curated playlist and photographs to evoke the place and a storied past.
Deserted Famine Village, Achill Island, Ireland
“It was at the height of the hunger, d’ye see. Some of the landlords did what they could, but the people were dying in droves.”
“The air smelled of blasting powder, the dust lingering as the tunnel traffic quickly resumed—wagons, nipper boys, muck gangs—a hive-like bustle engaged in tearing out the heart of the mountain.”
A Scarred Landscape: Entrance to Stumphouse Tunnel, Walhalla, South Carolina
“He will be buried up on that mountain, his grave marked only by a slab of granite. His memory will pass from the earth and the reason for his going will fade too.”
Old grave markers, Stumphouse Mountain, Walhalla, South Carolina
“As they retraced their steps, the light at the mouth of the tunnel formed a semi-circular archway. For a moment, Donnelly imagined he was walking toward the entrance to a world not seen this side of heaven.”
Stumphouse Tunnel entrance, interior view, Walhalla, South Carolina
“T’was my father’s. Thing must be over sixty years old or near enough it. More of an antique now than anything. Use it to scare away the deer when they’re eating up our cabbage patch.”
Old blunderbuss, Glencolmcille Folk Village, Donegal, Ireland
The Broken Season is published by Redhawk Publications in Hickory, North Carolina.
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