Logline:

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Through the eyes of Cathar, a resilient older Irish woman, THE WINDOWS is a multi-generational story about survival, dignity and the costs of compassion

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Synopsis:

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A young girl, Cathar, horrifically physically and sexual abused by her father and brothers finally wins her freedom after her mother is brutally murdered by her father. The canny mother had arranged for her daughter to leave the family home and join a nurturing family who would look after her. Despite her trauma she falls for one of the brothers over time and they marry and begin a life together, yet disaster is not far behind as the potato blight takes hold and the Irish Famine begins. She sees hard times with the are of her aunt and the freezing to death of her nephews and nieces which forces her and her husband to seriously contemplate leaving Ireland. This they do before things get too bad and yet still more anguish and pain is to come. She is pregnant as they walk to Drogheda to catch a boat for Liverpool and she in fact gives birth in a hedgerow as another woman dies before her eyes after giving birth to her own dead child. 

They had been promised that Liverpool would be bountiful but that of course was a lie, they were upbraided and abused by the English working classes and all the local businessmen simply saw them as cheap labour to further advance their profits. They did find a friendly face or two in Liverpool and before long they were able to find mill work in Oldham whilst still facing abuse from the English of every class. Cathar though is shrewd and determined and finds farm work in Bradford which is more suited ton their work experience. They set off and on their way they meet a man recruiting for farm work in Lincolnshire. They take this offer and end up in a place which reminds them of their home in Ireland where they stay for over forty years, which is where the story reaches its climax as her husband suffering with dementia leads Cathar a merry dance before his death and it is not long before Cathar after telling her youngest son her harrowing story of when they arrived in Liverpool that she herself hallucinates about the syrupy water in Liverpool docks and falls dead herself. She is a testament to all that is resilient about the Irish and particularly , Irish women.