Irish Biography

Infused with wit and lyricism, this memoir centres on the 1950's when the author and her friends were teenagers. She describes the past vividly and without complaint as the years of hard labour for herself, parents and siblings, were also filled with fun in the close knit community.

Alice Taylor takes a journey back to the 1940s and 1950s in rural Ireland through the well-used schoolbooks that she has kept from that time. Poetry, legends, stories and history evoke a way of life, and pace of life, that's long changed.

Alice began the year wondering how she would feel about reaching eighty. She was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was just another milestone on a journey that is still varied and interesting. Here she writes about these feelings, and the many pleasant and challenging events of her eightieth year.

Alice Taylor guides us through the steps and ways to live a conscious life and focus on the goodness of the world around us. Alice also inspires the reader to be attentive to the here and now and embrace moments as they arise.

Tea and talk: the perfect way to resolve any challenge you face in life: and in the hands of a consummate storyteller, you might need a second cup! Relax with Alice, sit and chat over a cup of tea, as she invites you into her life, and the life of the village that surrounds her.

Alice Taylor's classic account of growing up in the Irish countryside, the biggest selling book ever published in Ireland. Beautifully illustrated throughout with a new introduction by the author.

An extended memoir with reminiscences about the Author's friends, family members and even beloved animals that have passed away. A therapeutic book demonstrating a compassionate way of dealing with bereavement.

Alice Taylor takes us through her home, reflecting back on the routine of her family life growing up in rural Ireland in the 1950s - a time when food was home-baked and everything was reused. An uplifting account, full of nostalgia and wise words to treasure from Ireland's best-loved author.

Alice Taylor takes her readers along the byways of Ireland and into the heart of the country. In stories by turn comic and poignant, she explores the character of family and friends, testing the bonds of concern and kindness which hold people together.

Alice's garden is her refuge. Inherited from Uncle Jacky, she introduces the great variety of plants and objects she has gathered - everything, of course, with its own unique and fascinating story, brought to life by a master storyteller.

The Irish nana is a repository of family history, memory and lore. Alice celebrates her own nanas, part of the generation born after the Great Famine. She herself is now a nana too, and explores the old and the new, the 'then' and 'now', the nana of yesteryear and of today, with her characteristic empathy and love.

We all need to sit and rest from time to time. To think, ponder, hope, pray. In this lovely and thoughtful book, Alice invites the reader to share these moments of contemplation in their own time and in their own way.