A Cruel Harvest, by Paul Reid
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A Cruel Harvest, by Paul Reid
Ebook PDF A Cruel Harvest, by Paul Reid
Ireland, 1790: In the midst of a violent storm, the small fishing village of Dromkeen comes under attack by Moorish pirates. Dromkeen is a poor settlement, but it is rich in what the pirates are hunting: slaves. Among those captured in the surprise raid is the young farmer Brannon Ryan, whose strength and fortitude make him a valuable commodity in the slave markets of North Africa. He is sold into servitude, forced to become a soldier of the sadistic sultan of Morocco. All the while, his heart remains in Ireland, where he can only hope that his beloved Orlaith has met a better fate. Back in Dromkeen, Orlaith has indeed survived, but she now faces a new nightmare. Widowed with an infant son and unable to manage her farm without Brannon’s help, Orlaith is forced to choose between watching her child starve to death or consenting to marry a man she does not love. With her farm in destitution, Orlaith must make a terrible decision and suffer its consequences. Stretching from the windswept coast of Ireland to the sun-baked hills of Morocco, A Cruel Harvest chronicles the adventures and heartbreaks that tie Brannon and Orlaith, no matter how distant their separation.
A Cruel Harvest, by Paul Reid - Amazon Sales Rank: #5580772 in Books
- Published on: 2015-09-15
- Formats: Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 6.75" h x .50" w x 5.25" l,
- Running time: 14 Hours
- Binding: MP3 CD
A Cruel Harvest, by Paul Reid Amazon.com Review Amazon Exclusive: Maeve Binchy Reviews A Cruel Harvest Maeve Binchy is the author of numerous bestselling books, including The Maeve Binchy Writers' Club, Heart and Soul, Nights of Rain and Stars, Quentins, Scarlet Feather, Circle of Friends, and Tara Road, which was an Oprah's Book Club® selection. She has written for Gourmet, O, The Oprah Magazine, Modern Maturity, and Good Housekeeping, among other publications. She and her husband, Gordon Snell, live in Dalkey, Ireland, and London. Read her exclusive guest review of Paul Reid's A Cruel Harvest:
They don’t come more swashbuckling than this. Eyes flashing, swords glinting, heads falling... and ships landing in the South of Ireland in 1790 to scoop up strong, lusty Irish lads for the slave trade. None lustier and braver than young farmer Brannbron Ryan, who is swept off to Morocco one dark night and away from the love of his life, Orlaith Downey, a virtuous and beautiful young widow with a small son to support.
These were hard times to be poor in Ireland; it was fifty years before the Great Famine but the harvests were scant and the living was far from easy.
Orlaith was finding it harder and harder to pay the rent, the man she loved had been swept away to the hot burning sands of Morocco, so the inevitable happens. Orlaith is beautiful and virtuous, and the wicked landlord thinks of a way that she can pay the rent. And it involves her becoming his wife.
So, with a heavy heart, Orlaith becomes Mrs. Randall Whitely, and she and her son go to live in the Big House. Where, as you might expect, they don’t know a moment’s happiness. All the time she holds a little hope that the brave Brannon may still be alive and well and planning to come back to Ireland and find her. But as time goes by this becomes more and more unlikely.
Meanwhile we follow Brannon’s terrifying life in North Africa, where he is sold into slavery, then forced to become a soldier of the sultan of Morocco, his days filled with the sounds and smells of war and violence.
The book alternates between the two worlds: Brannon fighting his way through more and more disasters, Orlaith afraid she will wither in the unloving home of the husband whom she can never love.
The tension is very well maintained and the pace alternates between the clock ticking slowness of Orlaith’s life with its ever increasing unhappiness in Ireland, and the violent, dangerous escapades of Brannon Ryan as he tries to negotiate for the freedom to go back and find the woman he loves.
The enemies of Orlaith and Brannon become our enemies as the book goes on. We yearn for a way they can get together, but it seems fraught with problems.
They asked for so little compared to all the people they have had to be embroiled with. They didn’t want big castle estates in Ireland nor tribal dominance in Africa. Surely these brave people must find each other again?
Readers will stay to the very last page of the story to know how it works out.
An impressive first novel by Paul Reid that will keep the reader's attention from start to finish. --Maeve Binchy
A Q&A with Author Paul Reid Question: Tell us about your inspiration for writing A Cruel Harvest--where does one get the idea for Moroccan pirates to invade a quiet Irish port town? Is there real history behind the storyline?
Paul Reid: This story found me rather than the other way round. Some years back I was staying in the coastal village of Baltimore in West Cork, and I came across a pub called the Algiers Inn, which is a rather unusual name for a pub in rural Ireland to say the least. So I made inquiries and discovered an extraordinary historical incident, where over a hundred villagers had been kidnapped by pirates in the year 1631, literally seized from their beds. They were taken to Algeria and sold as slaves, most of them never to be heard of again. I was stunned to learn that such a thing had happened in my own county. Further research unearthed many incidences of Irish and British peoples being taken as slaves for the North African market. It was from there that I started to formulate the idea for a novel, which eventually became A Cruel Harvest. It is set much later, in 1790, and the Sultan of Morocco at the time had an Irish mother. Moroccans describe him through history as the "Mad Sultan," for he was a very violent and unpredictable man. It was useful to work him into the story.
Question: How did you create the characters of Brannon and Orlaith? Did you base them on people in your own life? Which of the two is your favorite?
Paul Reid: The characters are entirely fictional, even though the story of the slave raid itself was based on truth. Brannon came to me early on, and it was through him that I wanted to relay the whole experience of being taken captive and sold into a foreign country. But I also had an urge to keep some of the story in Ireland, and thus Orlaith introduced herself. The idea of a romance between the two quickly took root. I admit Orlaith would be my favourite of the pair. She has to face her own battles, different to Brannon's but just as horrendous. She also has the added turmoil of trying to protect her son from the gathering threats around them, yet she keeps strong and keeps fighting and I admire her for that.
Question: You were born and raised in Cork in Ireland and live there to this day. What are some of your favorite haunts in and around your hometown?
Paul Reid: I am an outdoors-y kind of person and I'm lucky enough to live on the coast. The sea has always inspired me. It seems to have a haunting, solemn wisdom, as if to say it knows far more than we do. The harbour passage beside my house is where the Titantic made its final stop to take on passengers, and there are many other places of historical interest within Cork. My fiancee Rhona and I will often take a drive at random and find ourselves exploring some ruined castle or braving a stretch of wild cliffs. The county is rich that way, and the famous scenery of West Cork in particular always draws us, where we spend a lot of time in the summers. Outside of that I love to visit the area around Skeenarinky in Tipperary, where my mother's family hail from. It's a place of green glens and mountain lakes and beautiful wooded hillsides. I do a lot of writing there.
Question: You haven’t always lived in Ireland, though for awhile you worked as a ranch hand in the Australian Outback. What was that like and how did you end up there?
Paul Reid: It was hot and sweaty! I took a job on a farm in Queensland after I had been living in Sydney for some months, where I had pretty much blown all my money and was facing starvation, eviction, etc., unless I got my act together. The farm was quite an experience. I had never ridden a horse before in my life, but yet by the second day I was mustering cattle on horseback like a regular cowboy. Half of the cattle are probably still lost, of course. It was gruelling work. But great fun.
Question: What’s next from you?
Paul Reid: I'm currently working on another historical novel, this time set in Dublin and London during the Anglo/Irish War 1919-1921. It's something of a challenge, given the burdened history between Ireland and England, but I'm not a writer with an agenda so I aim to just let the characters speak their own minds.
About the Author Born and raised in Cork in the south of Ireland, Paul Reidhas spent years trawling the Irish coast, searching out its history and lore. A former musician who also spent time in Australia working as a ranch hand in the Outback, Reid developed a love for story-telling while still very young. A Cruel Harvest is Reid’s first novel and marries his fascination with the tales of his homeland with his love of imagination. He lives on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean in Cork Harbour.
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Most helpful customer reviews
33 of 36 people found the following review helpful. Romance and adventure in one breathtaking sweep By W. Sparrow Paul Reid's debut novel, A Cruel Harvest, is an irresistible tale that intertwines romance and adventure in one breathtaking sweep. Reid's book transports the reader to faraway places with striking realism: from the verdant, wind-blown Irish coastline, to the squalor of a slave ship, to the opulence of a sultan's palace, and to the desolate sun-scorched deserts of Morocco. This book will not only capture your imagination, but your heart, as well.The story begins with two young lovers, Brannon Ryan and Orlaith Downey, whose lifelong future together is clearly fated. But when Moroccan pirates raid the tranquil little village of Dromkeen, their courtship is cruelly interrupted as Brannon is seized and tossed into the hold of a cramped and filthy ship. For those captives who survive the voyage, the ordeal is far from over. Brannon's trials begin with backbreaking labor and his plight increases tenfold when he is forced to serve in the sultan's army. Through it all, we see a fearless and sometimes headstrong Brannon, determined to do whatever is necessary to return to his beloved.Back in Ireland, even though Orlaith evaded capture, she soon faces her own grueling hardships. Even while trying to raise her son on her own and scratch a living out of a meager patch of land, she still clings to the faith that Brannon has survived. But as Brannon's absence lengthens and starvation threatens her son's very life, it seems her only hope is to wed the heartless and ignoble landowner, Randall Whitely. In her own right, Orlaith is both courageous and strong, a heroine to root for. It is impossible not to become emotionally engaged with both Brannon and Orlaith, as each battles their own moral dilemmas.A Cruel Harvest is an ardent love story filled with majestic vistas, characters both frighteningly and heartwarmingly real and action so intense you'll feel your pulse quicken. The contrast between the two settings, Ireland and Morocco, and the exquisite detail with which Reid portrays them guarantees that this will be a captivating read from beginning to end. This is one of those rare books you won't rush through, simply because you'll want to savor every word. The clarity of the storytelling and poeticism of the prose makes it a truly memorable read.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful. Action, adventure, historical novel, piracy, slavery in Islamic lands, 18th century Ireland By Beesusie This book is action-adventure-romance starting in 18th century Ireland which is a colony of the English. This is partly a historical novel, however, not immersed in the historical atmosphere. It does depict the plight of the Irish under English rule which would apply to both the 18th and 19th centuries. The interesting aspect of this is the slave trade by Moorish Islamic pirates and the conditions under which of one of the captives, Brannon Ryan, lived as a slave. There are vivid and fascinating descriptions of life among Moorish royalty, where Brannon ends up being a slave. This alone makes the book worth reading.Orlaith, a widow with a toddler, and Brannon, a local farmer are in love, and though not betrothed, do plan to marry in the near future. Orlaith manages with Brannon's help and life has steadiness until the slave raid by Moorish pirates. Orlaith's life in Irland is described including her marriage to a local lord struck by her beauty--she thought Brannon was dead, and her child almost died of starvation.This book is a good read and the characters are depicted so we care about them. I recommend this book for engrossing light reading also giving the reader the opportunity to learn about historical cultures and life.I must say, irrelevantly, that I put down a Pulitzer Prize-winning book, "The Known World" after a hundred pages feeling that the characters in that book were depicted very shallowly, and life in the American slave-owning south was not described in a coherent fashion. "A Cruel Harvest" IS MUCH MORE INTERESTING AND WELL-WRITTEN IN MY OPINION.
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful. A good story that could use some more polish By poltroon Cruel Harvest is based on a story I had not heard before, of North African ships raiding the Irish coast for slaves. The depiction of the horrible conditions of the slave ships is thorough and vivid. And yet, Orlaith, lucky to escape the slave ship, and others, exist in a parallel situation as the landlord uses his power not only to extract draconian rents, but also to bed any woman he pleases, while allowing his tenant's children to starve.Brannon, our strapping hero, deeply in love with Orlaith, is taken, and it is through his eyes that we see the slave trade, the ineffective response of the British, and the sands of North Africa. Brannon survives the initial journey and sale, and eventually ends up purchased by the Sultan of Morocco, a leader known within Morocco to be unusually and exceptionally brutal. However, the Sultan inexplicably takes a fancy to Brannon, and he eventually ends up a soldier in the Sultan's guard.Brannon wants nothing more to escape and return home to Orlaith; Orlaith wants nothing more than to escape and find a way to ransom Brannon. Both are the property of brutal owners; both plot against them. Brannon's story is given considerably more coverage than Orlaith's, as he travels across Morocco and participates in a rebellion against the Sultan.The basic premise of the novel is excellent, and I enjoyed the unusual settings. It reminded me of the universally tribal nature of slavery, that groups have been willing to buy and sell anyone "other" than the immediate tribe without much regard for shared humanity. However, there are some rough spots: a captive monstrous python who excitedly and eagerly pounces on human victims? Pythons are slow and torpid. Skilled fire walking does not involve burning the bottom of one's feet and withstanding the pain. There are several places in the story where an event or fact seemed improbable (not least of which the ending) and yet the improbable event was not necessary - it just disrupted the flow. At the end, the author seemed to feel the need to say SO THERE! TAKE THAT! to the last of the bad guys in a way that Brannon and Orlaith probably could have done without. But, our characters were game to the end and did their best to keep up with the plot.I'm glad I read it, but I think it could have been a 5 star novel with another round of careful edits.
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