''Hungry Hill'' is a novel by British author

Daphne du Maurier Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning, (; 13 May 1907 – 19 April 1989) was an English novelist, biographer and playwright. Her parents were actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and his wife, actress Muriel Beaumont. Her grandfather was Geor ...

, published in 1943. It was her seventh novel. There have been 33 editions of the book printed. This family saga is based on the history of the Irish ancestors of Daphne du Maurier’s friend Christopher Puxley. The family resembles the Puxleys who owned mines in

Allihies Allihies (; ) is a townland in the civil parish of Kilnamanagh, in County Cork, Ireland. The townland of Allihies is located at the western tip of the Beara Peninsula. History of copper mining From the Bronze Age the area had been a site of co ...

, a parish in

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

. The story spans the century from 1820 to 1920 following five male characters from a family of

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

landowners, the Brodricks, who live in a castle called Clonmere. It is divided into five sub-books and an epilogue. Each section covers part of the life of an heir. The sections include: Book One: Copper John, 1820 - 1828; Book Two: Greyhound John, 1828 - 1837; Book Three: "Wild Johnnie," 1837 - 1858; Book Four: Henry, 1858 - 1874; Book Five: Hal, 1874 - 1895; Epilogue: The Inheritance, 1920; The title sometimes is thought to refer to

Hungry Hill Hungry Hill or Knockday ( ga, Cnoc Daod) is the highest of the Caha Mountains on the Beara Peninsula in Munster, Ireland. Etymology The first part of the Irish name ''Cnoc Daod'' means "hill". The second part may be a dialectal variant of ...

which is the highest peak in the

Caha Mountains The Caha Mountains (''An Cheacha'' in Irish) are a range of low sandstone mountains situated on the Beara peninsula in south-west County Cork, in Ireland. The highest peak is Hungry Hill, tall. Other notable peaks include Knocknagree, Sugarloaf ...

, and du Maurier's description of the Hungry Hill is similar to the physical aspects of that place. Rather than simply referring to the hill, however, the title alludes to the curse put on the family by Morty Donovan, arch enemy of patriarch Copper John Brodrick, at the start of the novel, and the fact that the mines seem to "swallow up" the lives of the Brodrick family through five generations, by early death, dissipation and unhappiness. Many of the place names in the novel are imaginary, and the location is never directly stated to be Ireland, although it can be inferred from several references to "crossing the water" to reach London, Hal's embarkation from Liverpool en route to Canada, and, in the Epilogue, the

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-mil ...

(1919-1921). The story was made into a

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

in 1947 directed by Brian Desmond Hurst. Retrieved 2008-04-10.

Latest edition

References

External links

Review by Ann Wilmore

Key to actual places appearing under different names in the book, from "Beara: A Journey Through History" by Daniel M. O'Brien

1943 British novels British historical novels Novels by Daphne du Maurier Beara peninsula History of Ireland (1801–1923) * British novels adapted into films Family saga novels Novels set in Ireland Victor Gollancz Ltd books Doubleday, Doran books {{1940s-family-novel-stub

Latest edition

See also

References

External links