Jay McLaughlin

I loved Ms Lyons book about the Blue Ridge Tunnel so much I’ve hiked it twice - in two weeks! Once from the east and once from the west. She helped me understand not just the lives of pre-Civil War Irish immigrants - it was horrible - but how they (my ancestors) arrived here in the first place. Her description of the Irish potato famine was both shocking and mesmerizing. I’m already starting to read her book about the Blue Ridge Railroad. I’m thrilled!