Ronald Dube

I read The Black Thorn in four sittings. I could not put it down.Other reviewers write about the deprivations of the Irish peasants imposed by the Anglo Saxon usurpers and overseers. The same race and culture torments the Irish immigrant coal miners in Pennsylvania. Desmond creates despicable and heroic characters that seem real, and make the narrative believable. You feel like reaching in the book and throttling the bad guys.that happens often enough. there's a great interlude of action in the Civil War and the Story line in Ireland and the coal mines in Pennsylvania. The Black thorn is on par with the great novels of Kenneth Roberts, James Michener, and Leon Uris.