A beautifully written book, much of which is very poetic/lyrical and mythical although the story changes as it moves to another generation and has more of a political tone, while continuing the same saga with the similar swept away theme. I found that reading about the Irish Potato Famine and the Fenians at wikipedia.org and D'Arcy McKee helped me understand the Irish and Canadian history which is a backdrop of the book. I highly recommend it - it's one of the best written novels I've read in years.
