During the famine of 1845-50 over one million of the Irish population died in a crop failure unprecedented in the history of modern Europe. Dependency on the potato as the main source of food brought widespread starvation and disease throughout Ireland and was followed by mass emigration to Britain, North America, Canada and Australia. A century and a half later, the famine is a catastrophe that has never been forgotten, a pivotal point in the destiny of modern Ireland.

Beautifully reproduced documentary illustrations and eyewitness testimonies interwoven with a gripping text, bring this disaster vividly to life.