Example: Chapter One - A place in the sun

What happens in the chapter

The story intorduces the five-year-old Colm McCabe, the main character in the book, who is chased by Sister Clothilde, a scary nun, and finally caught in front of a window where he can watch his mother going away and leaving him behind in the orphanage. To finally stop his crying, the nun stuffed a potatoe in his mouth. That is why he always has a bad feeling when eating potatos. 

Then the scene changes and the inmates of the orphanage are informed by a 'big redfaced man' that some of them will be chosen to go to Australia and start a new life with a few family there. Most of the children volunteer instantly but Colm doesn't because he still waits for his mother's return. So he is not as happy as his friend Dibs McGinty when Sister Clothilde informs him that he was chosen to go.   

Personal comments

While reading I asked myself if it was true that the children would live in a land of milk and honey as the man promised. I really couldn't imagine that there was no snag in it.

So I did a little research and came across an interesting article in the Telegraph about the 'shameful British child migration policy' in the 1950s. What I read there was really shocking, and now I am eager to continue reading about Colm's not-so-fictious history.
I hope he won't end like the children in this picture.

Source: New York Times 02/03/2012

there was no snag in it: da gab es keinen Haken