Praise

“The narrative is capably told and heartfelt, effectively building a cozy and twee atmosphere, and Brady’s research on the famine, the crossing, and the squalor of Manhattan’s Five Points is evident… Saintly Tessa’s longing for Nifty, for Ireland, and for her father … is evocative of a lonely immigrant’s experience of rumination and loss. A heartfelt immigrant story…”

—Kirkus Reviews

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“Tessa's Landing begins with a young protagonist boarding a ship in Ireland en route to New York as she leaves behind everything she knows: her country and family as well as famine and injustice. I love a good coming-of-age story, and this one—filled with love and loss, surprise and regret—is made all the better by Brady’s compelling storytelling and beautifully observed characters. I read Tessa’s Landing quickly at first, gobbling it up, and then ever more slowly because I did not want it to end.”

—Lori Ostlund, author of Are You Happy?

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“A visceral, celebratory depiction of a young woman’s trials and triumphs in the 1840s after she leaves her family in famine-stricken Ireland to build a new life in New York City. In the present moment, when immigrants are routinely vilified if not abused by US officials, Brady’s novel is a welcome reminder of the persistence, ingenuity, and humanity of newcomers to America.”

–Alice Templeton, author of The Infinite Field and Archaeology, winner of the 2008 New Women’s Voices Prize in Poetry from Finishing Line Press

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“With a perilous sea voyage at its heart—on one of the notorious ‘coffin ships’ that did not guarantee safe passage—Tessa’s Landing reminds us that courage is not so much to be found in facing our challenges, but in how we do so. Set across the points of transition from one land to the next, one world to another, this is a tale of hard-won transformation. In this tale, a marvelously imagined vision of the Irish-American emigrant experience, the heroine is a true survivor: a woman of her time, speaking directly to our own.”

–Patrick Chapman, author of The Following Year 

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“Tessa’s Landing immerses us in the journey to America of a young Irish girl in the mid-nineteenth century. We follow both her challenges and her reactions to them in exquisite detail as she interacts with the well-developed characters around her. One can’t help rooting for this timeless exemplar of the American immigrant brought to us by Brady’s fine novel.”

–Bob Bachner, author of Last Clear Chance, Baby Grand,and Killing Jack Armstrong

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“A heartwarming story I didn’t want to put down. It gave me a compelling insight into a period of place and time previously unknown to me and a newfound appreciation for what I have. A satisfying ending that left me hoping for a follow-up book.” 

–Suzanne Harrington, History Quill

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“A rite of passage story in more ways than one. Tessa came through the storm literally and figuratively, and her landing was in the security of a new life, setting foot on American soil after a tumultuous journey.”

–Carol Mealing, History Quill 

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“Maureen Brady’s thoroughly compelling Tessa’s Landing sweeps readers away to New York City in the 1840s, where a young girl newly arrived from Ireland struggles to make a life for herself in a new land and to find her own sense of self. In Brady’s highly capable hands, this exciting and touching story as well as its deeply sympathetic main character come brilliantly to life.”

–Aaron Hamburger, author of Hotel Cuba and The Shiva Bandit