Mark McGowan, *Finding Molly Johnson: Irish Famine Orphans in Canada*. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2024.

Ireland's Great Famine led to the most severe refugee crisis in Europe during the nineteenth century. Over 1.5 million individuals departed from Ireland, with many finding their way to Canada. Among the most at risk were nearly 1,700 orphaned children who suddenly faced destitution in a foreign land. The narrative that Canada often shares is that these orphans were welcomed into kind families and quickly adjusted to their new circumstances, but this cheerful conclusion is largely a fabrication.In Finding Molly Johnson, Mark McGowan explores the fate of these children. Lacking state assistance, the Catholic and Protestant churches united to become the main caregivers for the orphans. The children were collected, nourished, educated, and placed in family homes across Saint John, Quebec, Montreal, Bytown, Kingston, and Toronto. However, most were not regarded as true family members but rather as inexpensive labor. Many escaped their placements, joining countless other Irish refugees on the Canadian frontier in search of employment, extended family, and the chance to start anew.