Ann Bagchi

Dr. Ann D. Bagchi grew up in Iowa surrounded by a large extended Irish Catholic family; her mother, Sheila Hurley Dalton, being the second eldest of 8 children. Dr. Bagchi made her first trip to Ireland in August of 2017. She and her two children had only 3 days in Ireland on that trip. After a day spent in Dublin, they spent their second day on a seaside visit. While traveling back to Dublin by train they were discussing what they should do on their last day. A young man, overhearing their conversation, asked if they had been to Newgrange. Having never heard of Newgrange before, they took the young man's advice and hired a guide to take them there and to the surrounding sites. The beauty and wonder of such an ancient site existing in the land of her ancestors sent her on a journey of discovery of Ireland's history and culture that culminated in this book. Her one regret from that trip is not asking the young man's name so that she might be able to acknowledge him and thank him for his life-changing advice.