The Pawnbroker\’s Reward

Declan ORourkes award-winning album, Chronicles of the Great Irish Famine, was released to critical acclaim in 2017. It illuminated an extraordinary series of eye-witness accounts, including the story of Pdraig and Cit ua Buachalla. Four years on, in Declans meticulously researched literary debut, the story of the ua Buachalla family is woven into a powerful, multilayered work showing us the famine as it happened through the lens of a single town Macroom, Co. Cork and its environs.

Local pawnbroker Cornelius Creed is at the juncture between the classes. Sensitive and empathetic, he is a voice on behalf of the poor, and his story is entwined with that of Pdraig ua Buachalla. Through these characters utilising local history and documentary evidence Declan creates a kaleidoscopic view of this defining moment in Irelands history.