The Second World War is over and, in England, farm hands are in short supply.

Beestings and Boilie is an evocative tale of the struggles of a migrant Irish family who move from Malin Head, the most northerly point in Ireland, to an equally remote farm in Northumberland. 

Told through Maggie’s eyes, one of the younger members of a family of ten, she describes the long and dismal journey across the Irish Sea in a cattle boat and the heartbreaking choice her mother was forced into at that time. She recounts the adventures and perils of farm life; a tragic accident; a devastating fire and a long barefoot walk across the sands. 

Their small horizons rarely changed, until one day they embarked on yet another long journey.