A new book uses eyewitness accounts, original paintings and vivid illustrations to tell the heartbreaking tale of the Irish famine.

Written by Kerry author Jerry Mulvihill, “The Truth Behind the Irish Famine 1845-1852” features 72 original paintings and illustrations alongside eyewitness accounts to visualize and create a better understanding of the darkest time of the year. Irish history.

Mulvihill commissioned six internationally renowned artists to produce the paintings and illustrations based on the more than 400 eyewitness accounts featured in the book.

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Representation of an artist of a famine burial. Jerry Mulvihill.

“After extensive research into the illustrations and paintings of the time, it became very clear to me that the heart-wrenching and real events of the mid-1800s in Ireland had in fact never been described at all,” wrote Mulvihill in a recent Irish Times editorial.

“I wanted to describe this period of history exactly as it has been described in history books and other sources. The sadness, the horror, the expelled, the dying, the emigrants and the export of food – all the realities of the great hunger, which until now had been visually hidden. ”

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Famine emigrants prepare to leave Ireland. Jerry mulvihill

Mulvihill spent three years researching Ireland’s famine years, drawing on newspaper accounts, eyewitness statements and comments from British politicians.

Reports from American and German travelers were among the heartbreaking accounts of the Irish famine, describing with painful precision the famine and poverty to which the Irish were subjected.

Meanwhile, Mulvihill found that newspaper articles of the time differed considerably depending on whether they came from Ireland or England.

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Danny Howes / Jerry Mulvihill.

The Cork Examiner, for example, accurately described the poverty and famine that many Irish people faced over the seven-year period. The Times of London, for its part, dismissed the reports as exaggerations and chose to portray the Irish as inhuman.

“Great Hunger is understood to be the result of Irish seditiousness, potato addiction and racial traits. Illustrator John Leech caricatured the Irish by portraying them in rags and, at times, with simian traits.” Mulvihill wrote in the Irish Times.

Kerry’s author has been widely praised for his latest work, with Irish President Michael D. Higgins describing it as “a wonderful and widely studied book”.

Former President of Ireland Mary McAleese described the book as “a fascinating quest for the truth”, while Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales “said it was” a fascinating book, which explores the tragic events in the history of our two countries “.

Tanáiste Leo Varadkar, Irish presenter of the Late Late Show Show Ryan Tubridy, former Sinn Féin chairman Gerry Adams and several other Irish politicians and celebrities also praised the convincing exploration of famine and its causes. .

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Jerry Mulvihill.

Hardcover editions of “The Truth Behind the Irish Famine 1845-1852” can be purchased at www.jerrmulvihill.com for € 30, while paperback editions cost € 25. All copies are signed by Mulvihill, while international shipping is available. Mulvihill’s two children’s books and his “History of the Puck Fair” are also available for purchase on his website.