Really for me this was not a difficult prompt. With my family background there are masses of runaways, but I decided to look at my mum’s family… And my Irish ancestors.
It has to be the potato famine… Did you know that recently they have found that the particular blight that caused the famine appears to be extinct? Thank goodness.
So here it is:
Synopsis
A family is destroyed by the blight. Already only just able to make enough to pay the rent, the day they open the store and find a stinking black mass instead of potatoes is the day the family runs. As they take to the road they have to survive famine, thieves and the trials of the road before they are able to reach the ships. Once on the ships they find there are only a few choices available. Half the family sail to England and the other to Canada. The story follows the two families and whether they will survive.
Logline
Kathleen opens the store only to discover the latest crop of potatoes are a stinking black mass. That night the family runs knowing that they cannot pay the debts they owe, now they must make it out of Ireland, a land that will kill them if they stay.
Kate Murray - Cleaver 