I really enjoyed Roseanne Parry’s middle grade novel, Heart of a Shepherd. I said at the time that Heart of a Shepherd was very Catholic, and so is this historical fiction story set in 1863 about Irish immigrants, Danny and Kathleen O’Carolan. Kathleen is the older sister, fiercely protective of her younger brother, Danny. Danny is something of a scamp and prone to trouble, as he proves when just off the ship from Ireland, he is almost inveigled into joining the Union Army as a drummer boy.

The book is a coming of age novel about immigrants and identity and perseverance and trust and holding onto one’s faith and respect for different groups of people. That’s a lot of thematic elements to pack into one story, but Ms. Parry writes well. Danny’s and Kathleen’s adventures in the New World of New York City are embedded in a realistic and vivid picture of the Civil War times, and yet the two protagonists are easy to identify with in today’s world of immigrants and identity politics and questions of whom or what to trust or hold on to.

I look forward to reading Roseanne Parry’s other middle grade novel published this year, A Wolf Called Wander, and I will look for other novels by the same author. Historical fiction isn’t always as popular these days as it used to be, but this novel might a good one to try out if you or your middle grade reader is inclined in that direction or is studying immigration or the Civil War era.