Eva Kelly O'Doherty won acclaim for her poetry and essays penned during the Great Famine of Ireland. She was but a teenager when she first submitted a poem to be published in Dublin's new literary newspaper, the Nation. She wrote poetry based on Irish lore until the Famine began taking its toll on the population. Within four years, Ireland lost half of its population to disease, starvation, and emigration that was sometimes forced. Eva's pen turned to denunciation of colonial policies, and she joined the members of Young Ireland in condemning the colonial government. She met one Young Irelander who was a brilliant medical student treating Famine fever, typhus, dysentery, and other starvation symptoms. He, too, protested government policies. Eventually, he was arrested for sedition, tried, and convicted. After languishing months in Dublin prisons, he was deported, sent to the prison colony in Australia. After six years, he was pardoned on the condition that he never set foot on British soil. Nevertheless, he dared to return to Ireland and married Eva, despite the danger of being discovered.
Eva's story is framed as a memoir that begins in Brisbane, Australia, when she is seventy-six. She was asked to writer her memoir by an Irish priest who was instrumental in having her collection of poems published in Ireland. Eva's voice controls the narrative as she recalls her young life, her romance with Kevin O'Doherty, and her affiliation with Young Ireland. The narrative follows the historical record of the Great Famine, which began in 1846 and lasted four years.