Irish Chain

Rose Dunlea is slow. At least that is what she being constantly told by theSisters at school in Halifax during the early 1900s. She’s been held backtwice now and if she fails again, next year she’ll be in the same class asWinnie, her younger sister. Although the war against Germany seems far away –her most pressing fears are the words that inexplicably tumble together on thepage whenever she tries to read them. They don’t make sense to her. Isolatedfrom her schoolmates and ashamed of her inability to read, Rose tries to escapeinto her Mam’s Irish Chain quilt, a handmade emblem of the family’s pastladen with love. But when that doesn’t help, Rose desperately prays to God sothat she doesn’t have to go to school anymore. Exactly one day later onDecember 6, 1917, two ships explode in Halifax’s harbor, resulting in thegreatest human tragedy Canada has ever seen. Rose’s life changes forever –and she’s sure it’s all her fault. A stunned and grief-stricken Rose draws on the heroic stories of hergreat-grandmother stitched into the Irish Chain quilt to find her own courageand inner strength. Irish Chain is a beautifully moving story aboutawakening the gifts within.