Around The Farm Gate is a collection of 50 stories about Ireland’s farming past, told mostly by people with childhood or young adult memories of living on a farm in various parts of the country. 500 stories were submitted and 50 were chosen.
What struck me about the writers were how many are working in (or have retired from) care
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On finishing my second book, quite a few people have asked me if writing a book is similar to having a baby and yes, I have heard people make that comparison before. I’d agree in the sense that writing and self-publishing a book brings a host of emotions, often many of them on a daily basis.
Dirty Chick is a fun memoir by Antonia Murphy recounting her family’s move from America to New Zealand, partly because of her son’s developmental delay and partly to be able to afford health insurance and a decent standard of living. Havng found a good school for their children, Peter finds a job in IT and Antonia spends her time getting to know the neighbours (slowly getting used to the [...]
The Dark and Amongst Women have been on my list to reread for a while as it’s probably close to twenty years since I read them. I picked up a copy of The Barracks recently, John McGahern’s first novel and got around to reading it this week.
Mid century rural Ireland. Reegan is a sergeant, living in a small town barracks, fed up of his superiors, hoping to resign and [...]
Call The Vet starts with Anna Birch on a call to a tricky medical situation with a cow – it calls for a wine bottle (as a tool!), she is splattered with all kinds of gung and because her new abode doesn’t have have hot water, she is forced to rinse off the gunk with sugary warm coffee from her flask before she falls asleep. If anyone is [...]
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