I just read The Law of Dreams by Peter Behrens. It’s a Governor General’s award winner from 2006. I came across it in our shelves when I was l picking some books to use to start the Twenty-Seventh Street Book Box. Tuffy P said she bought this one and for some reason she doesn’t recall, she didn’t read it. I was ready for a new book so I picked it up.

The Law of Dreams is an historical adventure story. It is the story of one Fergus O’Brien, who is driven away from his home, his people dead, during the “Great Hunger” of 1847. This is the story of a hard life, a life with very little promise, and a young man with the persistence and strength and dumb luck to survive and continue on. Many bad things and a few good things happen along the way. The book is an emotional roller-coaster.  He and his girl Molly find themselves on a boat making the crossing to Quebec, trading in an impossible life for the tiniest possibility that there is a little hope. It’s a pretty good read and it sure paints a vivid picture of Ireland and also Liverpool in the song. Still I wasn’t totally buying into the characters and the way the later third or so of the book was shaping.

It’s a somewhat glum read, but still I’d say I liked the book.  It would be interesting to read other books written around the same time and place and talk about the differences and similarities. Maybe Star of the Sea by Joseph O’Connor would be a good book to re-read at this time.