Last century, the population of Ireland was halved through starvation, emigration and transportation. The extraordinary story of how this happened and its impact on Irish life at home and in the New World is the subject of Thomas Keneally 's latest non-fiction book, The Great Shame. Keneally talks to Laura Cumming about his quest to uncover the course of individual lives - political prisoners, transportation widows, activists and his own convict ancestors.
Producer Anthony Denselow