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Best of
Ireland

1985

A Long Way From Heaven

historical-fiction

fiction

historical

ireland

Sheelagh Kelly - 1985

The first in the unputdownable and heartbreaking Feeney Family sagas One fateful morning in August 1846, Patrick Feeney surveys his ruined potato crop and despairs.

With a delicate wife and their unborn child, he has no choice but to leave Ireland and set out for England in search of work. But from the moment Patrick and Mary set foot in Liverpool, they are beset by new trials.After moving to York, they are forced to settle in the nightmarish slums of Walmgate. Yet the very poverty and hopelessness of their surroundings binds the small community together. Only stubborn determination survive tragedy can win them hopes of a better life….

The Hounds of the Mórrígan

Pat O'Shea - 1985

A wonderfully written fantasy set in the west of Ireland, which tells of the coming of the Great Queen who is bent on bringing destruction to the world.

Only Pidge and Brigit can stop her, and their task seems impossible as they're constantly trailed by the queen's hounds. But they're aided in their quest by a host of willing helpers - a glorious array of unforgettable characters.

An Excess of Love

Cathy Cash Spellman - 1985

From the best-selling author of So Many Partings comes a powerfully moving story of two sisters who are thrust by circumstance into defying an empire.

Elizabeth and Constance FitzGibbon, daughters of an Irish Protestant lord, are sheltered by great wealth and a loving family. But when headstrong Con turns her back on her past to marry an aspiring poet named Tierney O'Connor, who is fiercely devoted to the Irish cause, his fiery dream of revolution propels her into the firestorm of revolution. And when Beth FitzGibbon's own marriage to aristocratic Edmond Manningham proves cruelly disappointing, she, too, joins the heart of Ireland's bitter...

The Coast Of West Cork

Peter Somerville-Large - 1985

Irish Folk Tales

Henry Glassie - 1985

Robust and funny, sorrowful and heroic, this collection of 125 lively tales tells the story of Ireland.

Spanning the centuries from the first wars of the ancient Irish kings through the Celtic Renaissance of Yeats to our own time, they are set in cities, villages, fields and forestsfrom the wild Gaelic western coast to the modern streets of Dublin and Belfast.Part of the Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library

Old Days Old Ways: An Illustrated Folk History of Ireland

Olive Sharkey - 1985

Over the Bar: Personal Relationship with the Gaelic Athletic Association

Breandán Ó hEithir - 1985

(Though he played football growing up, it was O hEithir's career in journalism and broadcasting that brought him into close contact with the GAA.

He developed a passion for sports and a deep interest in the social life and folklore involving the GAA. Here he records his memories of the GAA and pays a personal tribute to the enduring influence of this organization on Irish society)

High Ground: Stories

John McGahern - 1985

Those who have called John McGahern a modern Chekhov are struck by his ability to transform commonplace experiences into moments of epiphany.

In “Parachutes,” the narrator reels in the aftermath of a breakup with the woman he loves; “Oldfashioned” isthe story of Johnny, a country boy oddly drawn to the elderly English couple for whom he represents the son they lost in the War; and in “Eddie Mac” and “The Conversion of William Kirkwood,” a wealthy family and its hired help learn that the relationship of master and servant is the most enduring relationship of all.In High Ground, John McGahern displays all of his acclaimed mastery, and both deepens and extends the world of his generous imagination.