Rewind: A Collection

This engaging treasure box of Irish jewels holds something for everyone. Authors in Ireland were asked to submit a piece relating to memories. The result was a myriad of interpretations leading to a rich eclectic collection!

For example, Betty O'Mahony's account of her first car and its part in a desperate police sergeant's bid to clear a pub of after hours drinkers, and the community that rallied round to assist a stranded new driver. How could you not fall in love with these people? You could almost taste the benevolence in the atmosphere.

Or the vivid imagery in David Bowmore's tale of Lucky Lucas. Sunlight glinted off broken glass in many of the windows and grass struggled to grow on sand that had gathered in high drifts, obliterating board-walks.

The poignancy of the last two lines in Anne McDonald's poem "Spare Parts," remembering a parent from before a stroke, I keep my mother's handwriting beside me as I write, so I remember who she was before it all got broken.

Or there is Mary Minnock's deeply moving tale of impending motherhood "Eileen" cradling the reader with its elegant prose - Phillip lay sleeping beside her and she soaked in the detail of his already well-studied face. Sleep had loosened it, clearing his features like a blackboard wiped free of the scribblings of the day.

The travails of motherhood theme is also touched on by Joann Curran Ryan in "The Light Between Us," with lines like this: No one had told me it would be like this. That you could love someone so much it hurts, and at the same time you forget who you are.

There are stories of the uncanny too, in Alec Secam's journey into the sci-fi soul of Ireland in "Bog Trippin'" and Claire O'Connor's vision of a future in "Erase & Rewind" where memories can be stolen and maybe we don't want them back.

These are just some examples of the captivating stories you will find inside. This rare collection of Irish stories is one every reader will treasure.