The Law of Dreams

The novel follows the young Fergus O'Brien, who lives and works with his tenant family on a potato farm in Ireland. When the Great Famine begins in 1847, a mold spreads through the potato farms of the country, ruining the crop. Even after ten weeks of the famine, Fergus's father refuses to leave the farm in County Clare, and eventually the family, save Fergus, is burned alive in their shack as they lie in bed, weak with hunger. Fergus is sent to a workhouse, where he comes to realize that he must leave soon before he dies of either fever or hunger. After escaping, he travels across the country, to Liverpool and Wales, joining a gang of thieves, working on the railways, and dreaming of the unknown land of America where he eventually emigrates. ==Reception==

The Law of Dreams was widely acclaimed by critics, who called it an "ambitious epic", "impressive, swiftly paced saga", "fearsome story," and "absorbing, unsparing and beautifully written account". Ron Charles, a senior editor of The Washington Post's Book World section, named it his favourite of 2006 and compared Behrens' style to "pure magic". Although one reviewer criticized the novel for "veer[ing] dangerously close to melodrama", In 2007, the novel was also nominated for the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award, the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best Book from Canada and the Caribbean. ==References==