IRISH DAYS


My first book, Irish Days, published by Kyle Cathie, was launched in Iveagh House, Dublin, in 2001. It is a collection of oral histories, gathered from a number of men and women, most of whom were over eighty years of age when they related their stories, and photographer Tom Kelly took specially commissioned portraits of the main storytellers. 
             
  This most....engaging book.' 
Mary Harney, Tánaiste.

'A delightful wander down memory lane to discover a people, a society, a vocabulary, and a way of life now disappeared forever from Ireland; these people are the last of their kind, and these are their stories. Together with the - as always - outstanding pictures by Tom Kelly.'
Gay Byrne

'Irish Days is one of those eye-opening books which takes the reader to the source of Ireland's poetry and politics.'
Ronald Blythe, Author of Akenfield.

'Irish Days traces a period in the life of each interviewee - either personal or political - amidst one of the most fascinating and memorable times in Irish history.'
Irish Post

 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
             
  'Irish Days takes us back to a country of memory, Ireland in the early decades of the last century, and a landscape that has largely disappeared from view. In conversation with fifteen people, Irish born and bred and from all different walks of life, Margaret Hickey retraces these lives, lived against the dramatically shape-shifting backdrop of twentieth-century politics, at home and abroad. Their narratives recall successful careers at the High Court and the Abbey Theatre, relate comic stories with sly humour and generous wit and reflect on life's strange turning points hand in hand with commentary and speculation on current events that measured out days in evictions, wars and political rhetoric.

'Together with character-filled portraits by renowned Irish photographer Tom Kelly, this invaluable patchwork of social history not only sheds light on individual lives but also illuminates the most important strands of Irish life - religion, politics, sport, music, farming, the pub, the legal profession, Dublin city life, horsemanship, fine art and theatre - as well as the story of the Irish emigrant in all corners of the globe. Sewn together with the indelible Irishness of its words and phrases, Margaret Hickey's book is a tribute to the Irish storytelling tradition, resonating with the satisfaction of lives fully lived and examined in the buoyant spirit of old age.'

 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
 
 
  ISBN: 1-85626-521-8
13 Digit ISBN: 9781856265218
Format: Paperback
Size: 234 x 155mm
Pages: 288
RRP: £9.99
Web Price: £7.99
Availability: In print
 
   
   
   
   
   
 
 
             

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  Text and images Copyright © Margaret Hickey 2006.  Web site design by Merrily Harpur ~ www.harpur.org