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Book Review of O Come Ye Back to Ireland: Our First Year in County Clare

O Come Ye Back to Ireland: Our First Year in County Clare
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What a joy it was to read this again!

Last year I was privileged to devour an advance review copy of "In Kiltumper; A Year in an Irish Garden" by Niall Williams and Christine Breen. I remembered reading their original account of their move to Ireland way back in 1987. I quickly reordered my lost copy of "O Come Ye Back to Ireland: Our First Year in County Clare" (from PaperBackSwap!)and reclaimed lost friends and memories.

A young couple gives up the rat race in New York and fall in love with the romantic notion of moving to the remote town of Kiltumper in western Ireland, in a farming cottage Christine's family once lived in. Niall will concentrate on writing, Christine will sell paintings, and they will both work on gardening and farming. The couple find that beautiful Ireland is a harsh place to live in, however. The whole culture shock is made vividly clear in this touching and endearing book. The land so slow to change provides a reflection of what life was like for our ancestors.

This book is returning to the bookshelf with the promise that it will not be another 35 years before I return.