An Irish Country Childhood: Memories of a Bygone Age - Hardcover

Walsh, Marrie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1856850889 ISBN 13: 9781856850889

Publisher: Smith Gryphon, 1995

Synopsis

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From Kirkus Reviews:

A slight, affectionate meander through scenes from a County Mayo childhood of the 1930s and early '40s. Luxury was a full stomach in the peaceable parish of Attymass, where the word Protestant was never uttered and ``people made the most of . . . landmarks in our calendar,'' like threshing time. Entertainment was watching nature at work, and Walsh was an appreciative audience--seeing in a mass of spongy fungi the perfect trampoline, or covering her mouth while stealing a peek at eggs in a nest lest her breath betray her presence to the mother bird. She also recollects the impromptu fiddling (``God's concert'') of neighbor Kitty D'Arcy, who quite lost her bearings after being left at the altar, and of course the Mission, a bazaar-like affair with stalls displaying all manner of holy goods, which was simply ``the greatest event in our young lives.'' Weaned on stories of ghosts and fairies, Walsh had her fair share of childhood terrors. There were also corporeal sources of disquiet, including Tom Lynch's mule and the Connor's bull, and the Tinkers (gypsy tinsmiths) who regularly made camp in the district and helped themselves to what they couldn't get by begging. Walsh, the ninth of fourteen in the largest family in Treanoughter, lingers over memories of each of the nine households in the village. Cousin John, visiting from the States, was aghast at the paucity of reading matter in the homes and sent over Colliers, National Geographic, and the Saturday Evening Post--which may account for Walsh's transformation from the enchanted provincial she portrays into an ‚migr‚ (to Britain, in 1946), and now into an author. A parochial paean to a circumscribed world of folkways that survived long past their time. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Library Journal:

These two memoirs celebrate the magic of growing up in small villages in the British Isles during the 1930s and 1940s. For Walsh, it was a time of contentment in a closely knit Irish farming community where "luxury was a full stomach and being clothed." Her reminiscences of odd neighbors, local customs, holy days, and school are interspersed with folklore and ghost stories. She looks back at her childhood with fondness and delight. Novelist Ellis's (Serpent on the Rock, LJ 10/1/95) nostalgia, on the other hand, is filled with melancholy, not only a yearning for what is gone but also a sorrow for what has changed. Her portrayal of the unspoiled beauty of the North Wales coast contrasts sharply with her depiction of its present-day ugliness, a condition brought about by tourism and suburbia. Along with details from her childhood, Ellis presents legends, myths, historical facts, and memories of raising her own children in an isolated wilderness area. Her scenic descriptions are enhanced by an abundance of evocative black-and-white photographs of the Welsh landscape. Though their moods are quite different, both books are well written and suitable for regional collections.?Ilse Heidmann, San Marcos, Tex.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Smith Gryphon
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 1856850889
• ISBN 13: 9781856850889
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224