At a glance
So Far From Home: the Diary of Mary Driscoll, an Irish Mill Girl, Lowell, Massachusetts, 1847
Children's fiction
So Far From Home: the Diary of Mary Driscoll, an Irish Mill Girl, Lowell, Massachusetts, 1847
144 pages · First published 2003
Fourteen-year-old Mary Driscoll leaves famine-stricken Ireland and comes to Massachusetts in 1847, where she finds work in the textile mills of Lowell. Her diary records exhausting factory schedules, boardinghouse life, homesickness, and the difficult calculations immigrant workers make between wages, safety, and family needs. America offers opportunity, but industrial labor is far from the easy prosperity Mary might have imagined. Barry Denenberg’s Dear America novel explores Irish immigration and the Lowell mill system through a young worker whose distance from home is measured emotionally as well as geographically.
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Milton Mill Tea
A fragrant cup of tea suits a lively, lighthearted reading mood.
What you'll need
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- Steep the tea and any herbs or whole spices in hot water according to the tea type, then strain. Stir in sweetener and juices. Serve hot.
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- Glassware: Mug.
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Irish Wind
For adults of legal drinking age. Please drink responsibly.
A warming pour with a sharp edge suits a lively, lighthearted reading mood.
What you'll need
- 1 1/2 oz Irish whiskey
- 1 tbsp honey ↗
- 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice ↗
- 4 oz hot water
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How to mix it
- Add Irish whiskey, honey, and lemon juice to a warmed mug. Top with hot water and stir.
- Garnish: Lemon wheel.
- Glassware: Mug.
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