Yes, it’s been quite a while since I last posted. Won’t make excuses. Won’t make promises. Please stay tuned. The writing proceeds.
Lord willing, more to come.
Thank you for staying.
Here’s the note to parents, teachers, and students that introduces curriculum for The Broken Harp posted on milicomathersreads.com:
In the summer of 2019, my husband and I traveled to Scotland and Ireland as a celebration of his retirement. For me, Scotland made good memories, but Ireland held a beauty like home. Not a home I’d ever experienced, but a home of my soul.
On the way to Belfast from Scotland, an Irish woman struck up a conversation with me as we traveled across the Irish Sea. She commuted via the waterway a few days a week to work in Scotland as a nurse.
She told me about her uncle who had joined the British effort during World War II and died in battle. “We were not allowed to speak his name when we were growing up because he was a Catholic who fought for the British. But I think that was wrong. He was a hero.”
That conversation produced the seed from which The Broken Harp sprouted. The sprout grew into a minor obsession with the history and culture of my Irish forebears.
Ireland is a country we often overlook in studies about World War II, what the Irish called The Emergency. That’s unfortunate because Ireland’s history during that time is fascinating.
Set in Ireland in 1941, The Broken Harp follows protagonist 12-year-old Brian as he strives to identify and pursue goodness during a time of great challenge. Brian’s father has been arrested, accused of belonging to the Irish Republican Army. Dad, a drywall stone mason, had been the keystone of the family, the rock that held the other pieces in place. Without their patriarch, the family struggles to find what is right and good.
Ireland’s government saw the IRA as a threat to the neutral stance the country was trying to maintain even as it behaved favorably to the British war effort. The government didn’t want to become embroiled in a war less than 20 years after gaining their independence from England.
Because Germany had assisted Ireland during the war for independence, many Irish citizens favored the German cause. Even so, many Irishmen joined the British effort.
Despite or, perhaps at least to some degree, because of the division among the people, the government decided to spend the war years preparing to defend the island from invasion by either side.
Ireland’s refusal to fight on the side of the British resulted in an embargo of necessary goods, gasoline, fertilizer, seed, and foods like flour. The Broken Harp illustrates the hardship the embargo caused as well as support for Germany among those still resentful of British abuse. I avoid any vivid description of that abuse, which would render the work unsuitable for young readers and most older ones as well.
The pages contain a sprinkling of American history and culture with the introduction of a crop duster/knuckle-ball pitcher from Iowa who joined the RAF to fight the Nazis before Pearl Harbor.
Inhabitants of the Emerald Isle immigrating to America represent a bigger version of “Go west, young man” than we Americans experienced ourselves. The Irish in America today outnumber the Irish in Ireland by seven to one. The primary characters in this book do indeed go west.
The American Dream is to make a better life, a free life, a thriving life.
No matter our nationality, we can find that life in Christ. To follow Christ, we seek truth, goodness, and beauty.
This book is the second in a series that began with Wandering Swallow, a story about a young girl attempting to escape North Korea during the famine of 1995. Her journey with her grandfather takes her through China to an unexpected destination, one of faith. Hana finds truth on that journey.
In The Broken Harp, our protagonist Brian seeks goodness.
The third book in the series Counting on Jude is currently in process with hopes of publication in 2027. That book marks the completion of the series encompassing truth, goodness, and beauty. That story is based on some of the descendants of characters in the other books and is set in current times.
The assignments are writing-intensive and are adjustable in depth and length according to a student’s skills and level. Writings may be shorter or longer depending on interest and time allotted for the activities.
In the meantime, enjoy this journey to World War II-era-Ireland. Learn about Ireland’s divisions (more than Catholic versus Protestant) and to a nuanced discussion of what deepened the divisions leading to The Troubles of the late twentieth century. Learn how bitterness divides people and how some choose to overcome division to pursue virtue.
Best of all, learn how goodness truly means following Christ for His glory.
God bless!
Milico Mathers
Cover and logo credit Lily Hildebrand.
Our new website milicomathersreads.com is accepting reviews for middle reader books–especially those written by middle school students. Message me at nancyehead@yahoo.com or in the comments below.
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