But the attraction is mutual, powerful and undeniable. Due to the social gap separating them, a romance between them is unthinkable even more so, dangerous. But Jing's prudent and peaceful existence is disrupted when she condescends to the attentions of Sun, the charming son of an elite military member. A small error would be enough to ruin their lives.

Jing knows that both their future and the welfare of her family depend, in view of the authorities, on their good behavior. Jing's father has been jailed for 'rightist' and her mother struggles to feed her three children. In China's heavens reigns one solitary God, Mao. Fields of Home, the third part of the trilogy, which follows all three siblings Eily and Michael at home in Ireland, and Peggy as she heads out West in the US.'Under the Hawthorn Tree' tells the story of Jing, a naive city schoolgirl to be transferred to a remote village for 're-education' during the Cultural Revolution.Wildflower Girl, the second part of the trilogy, in which Peggy goes to America.Under the Hawthorn Tree was filmed for Channel 4 and screened as a four-part series in March 1999. The book, originally written in English, has been translated into Irish, French, Dutch, German, Spanish, Danish, Swedish, Italian, Japanese, Persian, Malay, Arabic and Korean. Under the Hawthorn Tree received the Children’s and Young Adult’s Book Award for Older Reader Category in 1991. The journey ahead is dangerous and the children are weak, but they are determined to make it to Castletaggart - to the only family they have left. Eily makes a decision they would make the long journey to find Nano and Lena, the aunts from their mothers stories. After waiting for their parents for a few days, the three siblings are forced to leave for the workhouse. Desperate and worried that she won’t be able to feed her children alone, she leaves to search for her husband. Their mother ends up selling all of her belongings except for the clothes on their backs. Their father has gone to find work on the famine roads, and the children and their mother struggle each day, getting barely enough food to survive. Ten month old Bridget dies of famine fever and is buried under the hawthorn tree in the garden: in Irish mythology, the hawthorn is linked with the otherworld Ireland is in the height of The Great Hunger. The novel tells the story of three siblings, Mary Ellen (Eily), Michael and Margaret (Peggy) O'Driscoll, who live in a small cottage in their home district of Duneen. It was published by the O'Brien Press in May 1990.

Under the Hawthorn Tree is a children's historical novel by Marita Conlon-McKenna, the first in her Children of the Famine trilogy set at the time of the Great Famine in Ireland.

Under the hawthorn tree trilogy