Relax with Alice, sit and chat over a cup of tea, as she invites you into her life.

See an old press overflowing with the linen collection of two generations, the oil lamps and clocks inherited and collected over many years, and the books of people who once lived here. Alice tells you of the sad loss of her beautiful dogs Kate and Lolly, friends of the heart, and takes you around her village to meet her neighbours, join a meitheal to plant trees, and visit the fairy doors in the nearby wood.

But Alice's home and community are not a perfect place: hear about the split in the local GAA club, blocked off rights of way, the donations of the local canine population on the footpaths! Visit a restored famine graveyard and hear about the landlords who once owned this village and the landmarks they left on the landscape and the people. This is life in a small Irish village in 2016, one hundred years after the Rising.

This Bestselling book is coming in paperback edition.

About the Author
Alice Taylor lives in the village of Innishannon in County Cork, in a house attached to the local supermarket and post office. Her first book, To School Through the Fields, was published in 1988. It was an immediate success and quickly became the biggest selling book ever published in Ireland. Alice has written nearly twenty books since then, largely exploring her beloved village and the ways of life in rural Ireland. She has also written poetry and fiction: her first novel, The Woman of the House, was an immediate bestseller. Most recently, she wrote a children's picture book with her daughter Lena Angland, called Ellie and the Fairy Door. Emma Byrne is a graphic designer and artist. She is a graduate of Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design. She has won numerous awards for her design including The IDI (Irish Design Institute) Graduate Designer of the Year, the IDI Promotional Literature Award for her work on Brown Morning, and a Children's Books Ireland Bisto Merit Award for her work on Something Beginning With P: New Poems from Irish Poets. She has illustrated many books, including Best-Loved Oscar Wilde, Best Loved Yeats, The Most Beautiful Letter in the World by Karl O'Neill, a special edition of Ulysses by James Joyce, and A Terrible Beauty by Mairead Ashe Fitzgerald. She lives in a thatched house in Co. Wexford.

Reviews

one of this country's best-loved authors ... I got great satisfaction from reading your book because you make perfect sense and you write in such a beautiful way ... a fantastic read ... this book is all about village life and rural life and it also highlights the importance of neighbours and community and volunteerism and parish ... it's a great read and it's that time of year when we're thinking: imagine the Christmas stocking is all ready, and it's a must as far as I'm concerned ... the people of this wonderful country of ours could identify with her every word

-- The Joe Finnegan Show, Shannonside Northern Sound

a fascinating read

-- Southern Star

one to warm the heart this winter

-- Galway City Tribune

one of the country's most accomplished storytellers

-- Irish Mail on Sunday

one to warm the heart this winter

-- Connacht Tribune

a surefire hit with older members of the family

-- Belfast Telegraph

not alone is the writing beautiful ... most fantastic pictures

-- MidWest Radio's Tommy Marren Show

One of the lovely things is that you invite readers in the book into your garden and into your house ... such a positive message about what life can be like in rural Ireland ... beautiful ... gorgeous photographs

-- Clare FM's Morning Focus

a delight

-- The Sean O'Rourke Show, RTE Radio 1

like all her previous books, it's a truly beautiful read that left me feeling warm and fuzzy ... of all the villages, if I could pick a village to live in, it's Innishannon ... I loved it from cover to cover ... it made me smile

-- The Patricia Messenger Show, Cork's C103



Book Information
ISBN 9781847179623
Author Alice Taylor
Format Paperback
Page Count 224
Imprint Brandon
Publisher O'Brien Press Ltd
Weight(grams) 252g
Dimensions(mm) 196mm * 130mm * 18mm