Description

A lyrical portrait of a young Irish woman reinventing herself at the turn of the twentieth century in America

In July 1882 Ellen OHara stepped off a ship from the West of Ireland to begin a new life in New York What she encountered was a world of casual racial prejudice that characterized her as ignorant dirty and feckless the butt of many jokes From the slim range of jobs available to her she like many of her kind found a position as a domestic servant working long hours and living in to save on rent and keep After an unfortunate marriage Ellen determined to win financial security on her own and eventually opened a boarding house where her two children were able to rejoin her

Vona Groarke builds this story from historical fact drawing from various archives for evidence of Ellen However she also considers why lives such as Ellens seem to leave such a light trace in such records and fills in the gaps with memory and empathetic projection Ellenscrappy skeptical and straighttalkingis the heroine of Hereafter whose resilience animates the story and whose voice shines through with vivid clarity Hereafter is both a compelling account of an incredible figure and a reflection on how one womans story can speak for more than one life