Echoes of an Unmourned Hamlet ― Poems and Drawings in Memory of the Great Hunger in Ireland

Using dramatic photographs, intimate drawings, and fervent poetry, Susan O'Toole explores The Great Hunger in Ireland in a way that is both accessible and moving. Her goal is to feel and understand the famine on a human level removed from politics or blame. The result is an insightful and affecting portrait of a harrowing situation. Susan O'Toole has been making art inspired by the Irish potato famine for nearly twenty years. Seventeen years ago, after walking the land of an old famine site, she created “The Tree Sentinels,” a crescent-shaped line of eighteen trees looking toward the sea and the horizon to mark and keep safe the memory of those who suffered in that dreadful time. Susan O'Toole has again been moved by the plight of the long-departed residents of Ireland and the hardship they endured during the Great Hunger. This time Susan imagines their suffering through poetry and drawings. Remembering those unmourned and breaking the silence that surrounds that time is the string that resonates throughout these poems and drawings. Striking photographs of “The Tree Sentinels” from their creation to their present configuration enhance the impact of Susan's words and images. Echoes of an Unmourned Hamlet is the perfect gift book for anyone with Irish ancestry or anyone interested in Irish history.

Susan O’Toole lives in the beautiful countryside of West Cork, Ireland. She appreciates her quiet life in the community with good neighbors and the friendly folk from the local village. She has been creating public art in West Cork for over twenty years. Her most recent installation is “Genius of the Airways,” Memorial to Marconi (2017), Brow Head, Crookhaven. Other recent works include “Ballydehob Mermaid” (2015) in Ballydehob, and “6 Birds” (2016), a memorial to Michael Harrington who, along with five others, was transported from Ireland to Australia in 1868.