I really enjoyed this book which tells the story of Thomas born to a rich aristocrat's son and a servant. When the man dies the woman is forced to put Thomas into the care of the monks in a local school when she emigrates to America from her beloved Ireland. It then follows his adventures as he grows up and tries to make up for his early troubles and emulate his father.

This is a powerful saga with very believable characters and you really feel for the hurdles that are put in Thomas' way. ( )

I read her book [b:Paint the Wind|2976870|Paint the Wind|Cathy Cash Spellman|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nocover/60x80.png|158554] prior and thought I would like to read more. Unfortunately this book did not deliver.
The beginning was interesting, very heavy with historical facts, but the characters were endearing and I became interested in their fate.
The original cast floats away and we are left with a history lesson in Irish dockworkers union relations. The business overtones take over the entire story and make it extremely boring to me. I skipped ahead to find out if he got his inheritence and even that was lackluster.
( )

So Many Partings is the story of Tom Dalton, illegitimate child of the younger son of the manor Drumgillan and Irish peasant Mary Dalton. When Tom comes to New York as a young man fresh out of college and fresh off the boat, he finds friends and obtains work among the other Irishmen at the docks. Eventually Tom is mentored by ruthless businessman Diamond Jim Mulvaney and as he proves his mettle he quickly moves up in the ranks and hopes to one day earn enough to be able to court Diamond Jim's daughter Dierdra (much to DJ's consternation).

The rest of the book details early 1900's New York as Tom's work in Diamond Jim's empire involves him with the Tammany gang, dirty politics, and a labor strike at the docks between the Irish and the Italians that leads to tragic consequences for Tom and his new family, and finally culminates in the story of Tom's beloved granddaughter Megan and the treacherous betrayals by Tom's two sons.

While I enjoyed this book, at the same time I found something missing. It's not quite BIG enough in scope to be an "epic novel", nor is there enough romance to keep me on the edge of the seat waiting for two lovers to finally get together. Additionally, most of the characters were a bit clichéd and unoriginal - the madam with the heart of gold, the big Irish dockworker with the soft side no one knows, the ruthless business man who lets no one in his way (well almost), a few Mafioso types - that as much as I enjoyed the book I felt like I just left the table after a full meal and I'm still needing something more. It's a good book, not a great one, although it did quite well for this housebound reader on a snowy winter afternoon. Not too light and not too heavy, and definitely no where near as good as the author's fabulous Paint the Wind. ( )

Tom Dalton groeit op in de sloppen van Ierland. Zijn jeugdjaren worden gekenmerkt door troosteloze armoede, bloedig geweld en een gruwelijk geheim dat Tom overal waar hij gaat als een schaduw achtervolgt.
Ten einde raad besluit Tom de ellende van zijn jonge jaren te ontvlcuhten en naar Amerika te emigreren, om daar zijn fortuin te maken, zich algemeen aanzien te verwerven en het onrecht dat hem in zijn jeugd werd aangedaan te wreken.

Waar ik liefhad, wil ik sterven vertelt het levensverhaal van Tom Dalton, zijn familieleden en zijn nakomelingen: van hun liefdes en hun teleurstellingen, van hun hartstochten en hun verlangens, van hun triomfen en hun nederlagen, van hun momenten van opperste geluk en van troosteloze eenzaamheid.

Irish, many tragedies, lost loves, much drama; Hartington and Dalton families ( )