Alice Taylor remembers her childhood home – the farm with all its tools and animals, the home with its equipment for living, its daily challenges, constant hard work, and its comforts too.

She describes the huge open fireplace where all the cooking was done, where the big black kettle hung permanently from the crane over the flames; here the family sat in the evenings, talking, knitting, going over the events of the day, saying the rosary. She experienced the sow being brought indoors to have her precious brood of bonhams. She recalls the faithful, beloved horses and their wonderfully varied outfits – one set of tackle for each job they did on the farm; the ritual of lighting the oil lamps – from the fancy one in the parlour to the tiny one under the Sacred Heart picture; the excitement of threshing day and the satisfaction of a good harvest – the stations, the neighbours, and later the local dancehall and cinema.

All the jobs and tools of a way of life long gone live on in the hearts of those who were formed by it. Here Alice Taylor celebrates them all with love.

'magical … reading the book, I felt a faint ache in my heart … I find myself longing for those days … it is essential reading.' Irish Independent

Taylor's gentle and affectionate view of her homeland is richly refreshing

This picture of bucolic life in an earlier time, with its rutuals of religion and the antics of local characters, has universal appeal.

One of the most richly evocative and moving portraits of childehood [ever] written... A journey every reader will treasure and will want to read over and over again.

Taylor reminisces on her past and family life in the country … Recollecting the memories and difficulties of the time in Ireland before electricity, public transport and convenient shopping is insightful and refreshing … thought-provoking … it is a reminder to our young women our voices truly matters in bringing these changes

magical … reading the book, I felt a faint ache in my heart … I find myself longing for those days … this book is important social history … remembering our past is important. Alice Taylor has given us a handbook for survival. In fact, it is essential reading

unashamedly nostalgic … charming

a thoroughly enjoyable read

Alice Taylor lives in the village of Innishannon in County Cork, in a house attached to the local supermarket and post office. Her first book, To School Through the Fields, was published in 1988. It was an immediate success and quickly became the biggest selling book ever published in Ireland. Alice has written nearly twenty books since then, largely exploring her beloved village and the ways of life in rural Ireland. She has also written poetry and fiction: her first novel, The Woman of the House, was an immediate bestseller. Most recently, she wrote a children's picture book with her daughter Lena Angland, called Ellie and the Fairy Door.