Fardorougha, The Miser / The Works of William Carleton, Volume One

An avaricious patriarch hoards money and enforces harsh debts that ruin neighbors and strain his household. The narrative follows relatives and local young men who are dispossessed, seek employment, and struggle between resentment and familial loyalty, while a tender courtship between two young people is threatened by parental opposition and poverty. Episodes alternate domestic scenes, confrontations, and community observations that expose the human cost of stinginess. The work moves through successive parts that combine realism, satire, and pathos to show how greed reshapes relationships and prompts moral reckonings across a small community.