Set in the 1860s, Land unfolds in the traumatic aftermath of Ireland’s Great Famine (1845-1852; also called the Great Hunger and the Irish Potato Famine), a catastrophic period of mass starvation that reshaped the nation. The immediate cause of the famine was a potato blight, Phytophthora infestans, which destroyed the crop that a third of the population depended on for survival. The blight’s impact was exacerbated by British colonial policies that saw other food crops continue to be exported from Ireland while its people starved. At the time, the British government’s policies were built around the economic doctrine of laissez-faire (a fully unregulated economy) and assumed that the market would eventually correct the high demand in Ireland by itself. Instead, the continuing long-term effects of the famine underscored the perception that the British government was widely indifferent to the plight of the Irish colonies. Protestant evangelicals in Britain likewise suggested that the famine was a providential form of divine judgment against the predominantly Catholic Irish, and they argued that the famine would end once the Irish had resolved the perceived failures of their moral character (Donnelly, Jim. “The Irish Famine.” BBC, 17 Feb. 2011). 

The Great Famine triggered one of the 19th century’s largest mass migrations, as over a million Irish people fled starvation. Many embarked on perilous transatlantic voyages in overcrowded, disease-ridden vessels that became known as “coffin ships.” A primary destination was British North America, and all ships sailing for Québec were required to stop at the Grosse Île quarantine station in the St. Lawrence River. Established in 1832 to contain cholera, the station was completely overwhelmed by the influx of famine emigrants. During the summer of 1847, known as “Black ‘47,” tens of thousands of passengers, many already sick with typhus or “ship fever,” were held on ships that stretched for miles down the river. The island’s limited facilities couldn’t cope with the crisis, and thousands died in makeshift “fever sheds” before ever reaching the mainland. Over 5,000 Irish immigrants are buried in mass graves on Grosse Île, which now is a National Historic Site of Canada.

According to historical estimates, the famine resulted in over 1 million deaths from starvation and disease, which, along with the mass exodus from Ireland, caused the local population to fall by as much as 25% (Kinealy, Christine. This Great Calamity. Gill & Macmillan, 1994). This period left deep scars on the national psyche, fueling resentment toward British rule. The following decade saw growing support for nationalist groups like Young Ireland, which attempted an insurrection in 1848 against the British government. Through the end of the century, Irish nationalism grew into the dominant political ideology in Ireland, gaining a major representation in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

O’Farrell’s novel traces the legacy of loss that the Great Famine created. The landscape that Tomás is tasked with mapping is haunted by this recent history; he must document emptied villages and erase the cottages of families who died or fled. The widow who takes in Tomás and Liam embodies this trauma, recounting how the Great Famine decimated the local population and left her the sole survivor of her family. Her story provides a direct, human connection to the destructive historical statistics, illuminating the deep and personal grief that underpins the novel’s world. Later in the novel, Enda’s journey follows the historical path of the mass migration to North America. After arriving in Québec, she’s diagnosed with ship fever and sent to the quarantine hospital on Grosse Île, directly connecting her fictional experience to the real-life tragedy that befell thousands of Irish emigrants.