Hazel McIntyre was born and grew up on the Inishowen peninsula of Co. Donegal, Ireland. Hazel's Mother was French Canadian and her stories and memories of growing up in Winnipeg made the family ties with Canada very real. Letters, photographs and gifts on birthdays kept the family bonds with the Canadian side of their heritage. Hazel recalls one birthday gift from her Canadian Grandmother. 'It was a snowsuit' she remembers.
'That winter was a particularly mild one in Inishowen and I was desperate to wear that suit. So on a November morning with a sleety shower or two, I donned the snowsuit. The turf fire in the schoolroom was warmer than usual that day and then the sun came out. Well, I sweltered for the entire day. But I still loved that blue Canadian suit."

Hazel began writing ten years ago. As she explains "Inishowen has a long tradition of storytelling. During the growing years storytelling around the turf fires was still the main source of entertainment. It was an art form in its own right. Sad to say, that way of life has all but disappeared and we are much the poorer for its passing." Hazel McIntyre has published three books since I 994, and is working on a fourth. "Out of my three books, 'Lament in the Wind' was my greatest challenge," she says. "The famine was without a doubt the biggest tragedy in our history and as my research went on I became totally engrossed in its scale. I hope the result is a fitting tribute to their courage."

Hazel and her husband Charles are making plans to visit the 16th Irish Festival Miranlichi, New Brunswick in July 2000.

LAMENT IN THE WIND.

Hazel McIntyre's latest novel 'Lament In The Wind' was launched in October 1999. Beginning in the present, the carefully researched work of fiction set against the background of famine Ireland, tells the compelling story of Cassie O' Connor. It has already been described, as a story of that will live long in the memory of the reader. 'Lament in the wind is not only Hazel McIntyre's tribute to the victims of The Great Hunger, but is also a tribute to the courage and dignity of the human spirit.

An interesting footnote to Hazel McIntyre's third book is that young Irelander, Thomas Darey McGee, escaped to America in 1848 via Culdaff in Co. Donegal where McGee- disguised as a clergyman--hid in a farmhouse until passage was secured for him on a Derry emigrant ship. By 1858 he had established the 'New Era' newspaper in which he advocated the creation of a Canadian nation. On July the first, 1867, he was a member of the Canadian legislature which admitted New Brunswick as one of the four original provinces of the Dominion of Canada.

'As I followed the turbulent life and times of Cassie O' Connor from County Donegal to New Brunswick, I was reminded of T. S. Elliot's lines;

"Beneath the bleeding hands we feel
The sharp compassion of the healer's art
Resolving the enigma of the fever chart."

Thanks to Hazel McIntyre for the Information in this article
Hazel will be submitting monthly short stories to the Carndonagh & Inishowen news

Hazels Website
E-mail hmcintyre@esatclear.ie