The Life We Remember - Annette Oppenlander

Inspired by the millions of German and Irish emigrants who sought a better life, this emotional and gripping tale of resilience, love, and survival will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

Skibbereen, Ireland, November 1848: The potato famine keeps Ireland in its grip, but carpenter Davin Callaghan is determined to help his parents keep their farm. After losing his wages in a mugging, he decides to hire on with the hated English and work on the railroad. But by the time, he arrives in Dublin and has saved enough for the crossing to Liverpool, the worst news reach him: his parents have succumbed to fever. His home gone, his country dying, he meets a young widow who is on her way to America... 

Löwenstein, Germany, November 1848: After a drunken gambling caper gone wrong, Mina Peters' husband forces her to leave her home village in the middle of the night. In Bremerhaven, they board a ship to start a new life in America. Mina has little hope they'll even survive the passage, subsisting on half-cooked grain, and living like rats in steerage, while her husband takes every opportunity to drink and gamble. 

Until she meets an Irish man who not only teaches her English, but helps her realize her own strength...