Small Beauties: The Journey of Darcy Heart O'Hara

Small Beauties: The Journey of Darcy Heart O'Hara by Woodruff, Elvira. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780375826863.

"One day this child shall hold the very heart of our family in the palm of her hand," predicts Granny on the day Darcy Heart OHara is born in a cottage on Derry Lane, in the town of Pobble OKeefe, in County Kerry, Ireland. Darcy grows up to be a noticer, delighting in the small beauties all around her: a dew-covered spider web, castles in the clouds, a shiny wooden rosary bead. Life is simple but sweet in Pobble OKeefe, with her family gathered round the hearth in the evenings while Granddads voice fills the small room with stories. But in 1845, a blight strikes the land, the potatoes turn rotten, and Darcy and her family must leave Ireland forever. How will Darcy ever find a way to to bring the small beauties of home across the sea to America? Elvira Woodruffs story of emigration, heartbreak, and hope is vividly illustrated with the warm, evocative oil paintings of Adam Rex.