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Joseph O’Connor is Sinead’s brother. Let’s get that out of the way. I’d previously read two of his books. Cowboys and Indians, I think, and possibly The Secret World of the Irish Male, both of which I cannot recall a single word from. Now I’m fifty pages into his latest, Star of the Sea (USA) and I know it’s likely I’ll read this one again.

The book feels like a classic, made up of bits of ship log, recollections, poetry, letters to and from emigrants, newspaper columns and illustrated with etchings.

It’s the story of the passengers on a ship, the Star of the Sea, that sails from Ireland to New York in the winter of 1847. On board are refugees from the potato famine, an Anglo-irish Lord and his family, a budding novelist, a maharaja and a murderer. Even before the ship sets sail, one or two unfortunate passengers die of hunger, others succumb to disease on board, all carefully noted in the ship’s log by her captain.

While set in the past, you feel a more recent history inevitably foreshadowed in the thoughts and actions of the men and women aboard the ship.

The language is rich and Irish as are the characters, and O’Connor knows all their voices. I can’t wait to see what happens to these people.