In the early 1900s New York’s subway was in the process of being excavated. Working as sandhog was decent enough money, but it was dangerous work. As this book begins four men are about to be blown out through the under-river tunnel and out into the Hudson. Three survive, the other’s body is never recovered. (Read More)
Chicky left her home on the west coast of Ireland and headed off to America after a whirl-wind romance. Full of ideas of everlasting love and romance she abandoned all for the dashing American. Unfortunately, things did not work out and Chicky was forced to re-evaluate her life. Eventually she returned to her hometown, bought (Read More)
I read this for the Coursera online course, I’ll post the short essay I wrote for the course in a few days. Dracula is one of those books that everyone has heard of. Everyone is familiar with the character of the Count, and most people have probably heard of Van Helsing and Mina at the (Read More)
With the demise of the Celtic Tiger and the onset of the “economic doom and gloom” so popular in the media at the moment the young people of Ireland looked at their country with hopelessness. Some decided to emigrate, but those in this book decided to try something else. They would return to the land. (Read More)
Translated from the Irish (An tOileánach) by Robin Flower Tomás Ó Criomhthain, or, if you’d prefer an anglicised version, Thomas O’Crohan, was born on the Great Blasket Island in 1856. He lived all his life there as a farmer and fisherman, married and had ten children, although many of them died before reaching adulthood. In (Read More)