Footprint Upon Water by Barbara Fitzgerald

Footprint Upon Water is written by Barbara Fitzgerald. "Who?" you are saying. Well that is exactly the point. Barbara Fitzgerald was born in 1911 in Cork and died in Dublin in 1982. She was the daughter of the Archbishop of Armagh and gained a first in Modern Languages in Trinity. Her husband Michael was a nephew of Edith Somerville of the Somerville and Ross writing partnership, authors of The Experiences of an Irish R. M. (1899). Her first novel We Are Besieged was written during the war and published in 1946. This second novel was not published until a year after after her death in 1983 and is reprinted this year as a 'forgotten novel'.
 
It is a beautifully produced book with the look of a classic, and would certainly catch your eye on the book shop book shelf. The choice of the Sir William Orpen painting 'The Mirror' sets the tone of shabby country grandeur.
Set in  the early twentieth century in  Fellowescourt, a Georgian house backed by mountains in the fictional village of Glenmacool in Co. Cork, Susan, orphaned at three when her parents drowned while sailing, lives there with her grandfather Captain Fellowes and her five spinster aunts. One of the aunts, the virtuous Katharine, nicknamed 'the Pope' forms an attachment with a young parish curate which infuriates the Captain. Waiting until he becomes Rector until he asks permission to marry Katharine, even then he is accused by the bully Captain of being after her money- he must meet a minimum income before they can be married, cutting his daughter off from her inheritance in the process. Papa's word is Law. Terrified of their bellowing father, and fearing it wrong to oppose him, his daughters' submission just exacerbates his tyranny.
Uneducated and unaware of the changes happening in the world with the likes of Mrs Pankhurst, we see instead the continuation of the landlord and his tenants world, with Aunt Harriet venturing out on Christmas eve with presents for the village children. The description of the village cottages is grim; dark, dank and dirty. There's encounters with village vets, not considered a gentleman by Harriet's sisters because "if that's so, how does he come to be a vet?", and a gradual emergence of the daughters standing up to their father.
This book has all the ingredients of the 'Big House' novel and is reminiscent of Molly Keane and Kate O'Brien, or even J.G.Farrell's 1970 classic Troubles. It has housemaids and a nanny with her country inflections "it's that that does be worryin' me". It has the elephant foot umbrella stand and a visiting dressmaker. But in New Ireland old attitudes are becoming irrelevant and this is what the daughters will have to face up to on the death of their father, the Colonel. Spanning forty years this novel is just a really good read. You get right into the characters and the writing feels in no way dated. It is an insight into the Ireland of the time and the way certain members of society had to come to terms with the changes taking place.
Officially launched yesterday (7/11/2012) by Mary Kenny, I hope that many people will discover the writing of Barbara Fitzgerald.
www.somervillepress.com

Tracing Your Ancestors - Flyleaf Press Series

'Tracing Your Ancestors' is a series of books published by the Dublin publisher Flyleaf Press. They have guides for Clare, Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Galway, Limerick, Mayo and Roscommon. The latest two additions to this series are Tracing Your Sligo Ancestors by James G. Ryan and Tracing Your Westmeath Ancestors by Greta Connell and are both attractively produced with old style charcoal sketches on the cover by Eoin Ryan. Both are basically laid out in the same way as you would expect, working their way through chapters on the census, church records, land and estate records and other useful reference points such as newspapers and gravestone inscriptions.
        
Tracing Your Sligo Ancestors has a forward by the Sligo Heritage and Genealogy Society, a sure stamp of approval. Sligo, in the Province of Connacht, was the the principal emigration port in the 19th century. Common surnames in the county include Scanlon, (O')Healy, Brennan, Gallagher, (O')Hart, McDermot and Gilmartin. Tracing Your Westmeath Ancestors, Gretta Connell's book brings us to the Province of Leinster, often referred to as the 'Lake County', is a predominantly flat county with a rich agricultural tradition. Emigration and death in the famine reduced its population and in 2006 it was still only just over half what it had been in 1841. Gaelic names in the county include MacGeoghegan, O'Coffy, O'Daly, O'Higgins, O'Malone, O'Mulbrennan and O'Mullady.
The layout of the books is extremely straightforward with easy to follow examples. With the text helping you through the most relevant material and archives, some unique to the county being studied, these guides will be useful to anyone interested in finding out more about their own family or indeed any history project requiring primary source research.
www.flyleaf.ie

Book Review: My Animals and Other Family by Clare Balding

How can you not love Clare? With her mellow plummy voice she's just so nice and wholesome and good and she loves dogs and...need I go on? Clare's first book, My Animals and Other Family published by Penguin has a delightful Country Life feel to it, with her young parents (strongly showing Clare's family likeness) and their two children, Clare and her younger brother Andrew, surrounded by dogs, Shetland pony and a foal. Clare, maybe five confidently holds the pony's rein whilst Andrew sits astride the pony's back. The reason for Clare's confidence is really the crux of the book.

In fact the book is, story aside, a treasure of photographs - from the rather eccentric looking wedding photograph of her parents where Clare's grandma fitted out in her wedding finery holds her dog under her arm to a photo of the Queen Mother at lunch in the family dining room (hat still on) and then to the elegant young Clare in her gown at Cambridge. The inside leaf of the book is made up of beautiful pen and ink sketches by Gill Heeley of the family dogs and horses looking very like a posh wallpaper sample. Taking a quote from Anatole France the book opens "Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened" and with each of her nineteen chapters named for one of the family pets or racehorses we know that we are set for an animal-tastic adventure.

The opening chapter of the book is touching, "The first face I can remember seeing was Candy's. She was my protector and my companion, my nanny and my friend", Candy being Clare's mother's boxer dog. Reared on the back of a horse, surrounded by dogs, mad on sport, on the lacrosse team and riding in races at Goodwood, Chepstow and Ascot amongst others, Clare is the epitome of the country life. A major television and radio personality and award winning broadcaster, she has achieved so much and is still only in her early forties. But Clare's outward confidence is not something she always felt. You see the problem was Clare was a girl. Plonked on the floor in her basket on her arrival home from hospital, her formidable grandmother reportedly said, "It's a girl. Never mind, you'll just have to keep trying."
Using each of the family animals as a way of leading into another chapter of her life we learn that Clare's father Ian was employed by her maternal grandparents as an assistant trainer when Clare's mother was fifteen. Made head trainer on her grandfather's death six months later he charmed the widow and won his way into the family's hearts. The rest, as they say, is history. Five years later Ian Balding and Clare's mother were married.

Clare admits she marks her years by Grand National or Derby winners and measures distances in furlongs, using this method to work out that she was just eighteen months when she sat on the back of the race winner Mill Reef without saddle or anyone holding her as this detail seems to just now dawn on her. Her father's high profile race horse owners included her Majesty the Queen, who came twice a year to check her horses and had gifted Clare's parents with Valkyrie, the Shetland pony seen on the cover, who had taught both Princes Andrew and Edward to ride and on whom Clare learnt to ride at the same time she learnt to walk.
All of this goes a long way to explain all we as TV viewers know about Clare. Her obvious love and great knowledge of dogs as seen in her Crufts coverage. Her love of the racetrack as seen in her commentary and camaraderie with the jockeys coming from growing up surrounded by horses and riding competitively herself. There is more to Clare however, and this we learn from this revealing and touching autobiography. From her need to prove herself from being 'just a girl' she has pushed herself and succeeded in being not just good at what she does but possibly the best.
www.penguin.com
www.clarebalding.co.uk

Jack Lukeman on RTE

Well, I heard Jack Lukeman performing this morning on RTE as I tapped away on the keyboard and I found myself scrabbling for a pen to write his name down and where he would be performing.
In case you don't know Jack Lukeman, who performs as the rather enigmatic sounding 'Jack L', has just released a CD called The 27 Club. Rather mysteriously, or morbidly you might think, these are all recordings of songs made famous by artists who died when they were 27. There's Amy Winehouse, Brian Jones, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison. There's Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain as well as five other less well-known but no less talented artists.

On his morning show Marty Whelan played Jack's version of  'Paint It Black' by The Rolling Stones. maybe you're thinking like I did-how can he rework such a classic? But he did. It was mellow yet throaty with a big cinematic sound to it. I can't wait to hear the rest of the album and would love to see him perform live. He's at The Olympia, Dublin at the end of the month. 
 www.jacklukeman.com

Track List:
1. Paint It Black
2. Touch Me
3. The Killing Moon
4. Purple Haze
5. Voodoo Child
6. Goin' Up The Country
7. Mercedes Benz
8. Motorcycle Emptiness
9. Smells Like Teen Spirit
10.Ruby Tuesday
11.Up On The Roof
12.The Crystal Ship
13.Lithium
14.Love Is A Losing Game
15.Keep Dancing
16.Thirteen
17.Jumpin' Jack Flash
18.Love In Vain
19.Alabama Song

 

Book Review: Constable and Toop by Gareth P. Jones

I don't usually have an interest in reviewing children's books, but the two books I received from Hotkey publishing who were in Dublin a couple of weeks ago for signings are in that funny cross-over category, much like Harry Potter, where when you are looking at books for your children/nieces/nephews as a present you find yourself just as interested in reading them yourself.
The first book I am going to review from Hotkey is by Gareth P. Jones, winner of the Blue Peter Award for The Considine Curse. His newest book Constable and Toop is categorised as 'funny, historical, gruesome and scary' i.e. just what kids want and has very Gothic looking artwork on the cover of a Victorian undertakers frontage by artist Aron Wiesenfeld.
  
This book is funny before you have even started because the author 'praise for' section usually from worthy book critics and national newspapers is full of comments from 'the ghost of' classic Victorian authors- very clever, and suggests early on Jones own reading and influences on the style of writing used. The prologue starts us straight into a murder of which we will learn the relevance of later on and then we are into the parallel 1884 stories.
There is Lapsewood, whom we soon realise is a ghost, working in The Bureau to the afterlife where he processes dispatch documents. It's gruesome alright, with all the different deaths of the characters described; bayonet wounds from The Crimea and hangings in Newgate. There's Colonel Penhaligan, the boss of the ghost world and his beautiful secretary Alice Biggins (great Victorian sounding names.) There are 'Prowlers' who go on haunting missions to the physical world and 'Enforcers' who bring 'Rogue' ghosts into line. It's the Mission Impossible office of the ghost world- should you wish to accept the task or Rent-A-Ghost. There's the comedy of the polter-licenses and Opacity permission forms and this runs parallel to the more serious Victorian drama story of Sam Toop.
Young Sam Toop, undertaker's son whose mother is dead lives over the funeral parlour with his father - a real Dickensian set-up, and has the ability to see and communicate with ghosts. Temporarily harbouring his criminal uncle from the police, he finds his uncle also has the ability to communicate. The uncle's role in the story becomes more troublesome as stories of 'The Kitchen Killer' start to get around.

Set at the time of Jack The Ripper it is a book packed full of characters. Based on the name of a real undertakers in south London, the importance of mourning in the Victorian culture, the number of ghost stories and the vivid details of murders in the newspapers at the time were all things that the author drew on for inspiration. Researching the book, the streets of London became more useful than he had initially realised, seeing plaques and signs, visiting Victorian theatres, pubs and churches as well as museums which all contribute to creating a suitably Gothic atmosphere for this very enjoyable and entertaining book.
www.hotkey.com

Book Review: From The Ground Up by Fionnuala Fallon

From the Ground Up is just, well, a beautiful book. I never thought I'd say that as a non-gardener about a gardening book, but this is much more than just a gardening book- it is about a way of life. From its market garden cover in vivid fresh colours and a healthy strong looking plough horse on the back, to the fabulous photography throughout by Richard Johnston the author's husband - snuffling pig's snouts, bulging pumpkins and packed seed heads, this book is just choc full of wholesomeness. And that is before you even start reading.

Based on the success of her weekly grow-your-own gardening column 'Urban Farmer' in The Irish Times Fionnuala Fallon has gathered together sixteen grow-your-own (or GYO in gardening parlance) gardeners' stories from throughout Ireland. There are garden bloggers, school gardens, journalists and allotment gardeners. There is a community garden, a politician's garden, an organic seed business and a Michelin-starred chef. Yes, they're all here passing on their experiences of the successes and failures, joys and heartaches of grow-you- own gardening.
The interest in grow-your-own has grown extraordinarily in Ireland as elsewhere and is increasing day by day. Our concern with pesticides and GM crops, demand for organic produce and more specifically locally produced food to avoid air miles is not going away and food producers have had to move with consumer demands. Complete self-sufficiency is still pretty extreme and rare, but certainly not viewed as comically as Barbara and Tom's 'Good Life' was in the 70s.
Even though this is a practical book in that the interviews reveal the gardeners' successes and failures, the tools they prefer, their top gardening tips and other information that they've found useful, it is also a good read. It is a book gardeners will keep on their bedside table with a notebook and pen, scribbling down tips as they read and telling their friends "Did you know that...?". Every personal story is usefully summarised in question and answer format, where we find out amongst other information, their favourite websites, gardening books and seed suppliers.

Klaus Laitenberger of Co. Leitrim tells us how he coaxed "a harvest out of a rush-infested bog" and Peggy Murray in Co. Cork proudly talks of "remembering how real food tastes." Green politician Trevor Sargent calls gardening "a healthy pursuit for mind, body and spirit." The lack of connection with nature of his pupils and some of his teachers led Jerry Grogan of Holy Trinity Senior National School in north Dublin to develop a school garden calling it "a legacy for the future." A page on resources for schools makes this book useful for any principal looking to venture into the school garden idea.

Joy Larkcom, horticulturalist, has her own publishing history in vegetable gardening. Moving to West Cork she has had seed research trips from France to China and has what she calls "a crazy abundance of plants." Adam Bermingham who has just eight square metres on a windy Dublin city apartment balcony has flowers to attract pollinators and recorded on his blog that the most significant benefit of trying to grow broccoli was gaining the ability to spell it! Michael Kelly, journalist and founder of GIY (Grow It Yourself) Ireland cites hisown epiphany as buying a garlic bulb in Waterford costing 42cent and imported from China. With ducks, pigs and hens plus a hen house looking architect designed, his message is of wanting "people to try growing some of their own food" and to "bring some common sense back into the food chain." The Glor na Mara community garden in Co. Donegal overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and is said by its gardeners to restore people's connection to nature both mentally and spiritually.
 
Madeleine McKeever, founder of Brown Envelope Seeds in West Cork cites her 'eureka' moment as a visit to Johnny's Selected Seeds in Maine, USA, where she saw the importance of crop diversity and the role commercial seed companies were playing in limiting it. The photos of the process of preparing the seeds are mind boggling, carried out by hand in seed box sieves - patience and dedication indeed. Former Sunday Times journalist Mark Keenan has a garden plot and an allotment in south Dublin. "Growing stuff" since a boy he has found successes and failures all to be worthwhile whilst pointing out that demand for allotments far exceeds supply with most waiting lists closed to further applicants. Ashtowne Demesne in the Phoenix Park, Dublin has an 150 year old walled kitchen garden that lay derelict for years. Restoration commenced in 2003 and with a year spent just clearing weeds it was opened to the public in 2008.

Michael and Oisin Byrne, teenage twins grow comically huge pumpkins in Co. Louth, which are lifted by JCB to be entered in the Virginia Pumpkin Festival in Co. Cavan. French gardeners Tanguy and Isabelle de Toulgoet in Co. Laois have a fruit and vegetable potager, restoring land that has been over cultivated. At their Dunmore Country School (seen on the beautiful cover photograph) they give gardening and cookery classes. Martin Kajuiter, chef at The Cliff House Hotel in Waterford came to Ireland in 2007; by 2009 he had written a cookbook and got a Michelin star.To get the best ingredients he wanted to grow and harvest the vegetables himself, but he also tells of how he gets peace as well out of his busy world from visiting the garden. Jim Cronin of Co. Clare works the land with horses and an Amish-made iron harrow as well as keeping livestock; there are healthy looking photographs of young pigs lying in straw and a rather idyllic-looking Dutch-designed farmhouse. The final story comes from Michael Vigney in Co.Mayo who has reported in his weekly columns in The Irish Times for 34 years ofhis family's journey from Dublin to a new self-sufficient life in Co. Mayo. His column 'Another Life influenced many to try their hand at a more nature-led gardening approach.

This is a book of inspiration, many stories about gardening against all odds, about individual battles - in fact it's an uplifting collection of stories of what people can do when they put their minds to it. Every different scenario is addressed here, from the tiniest balcony to a Victorian demesne and anyone interested in gardening in any way will find great ideas, information and uplifting tales of how gardeners have got not just vegetables and flowers from their gardens, but also a valuable addition to their lives.

Fionnuala Fallon is speaking at in the Dublin Book Festival in Smock Alley Theatre on Saturday 17th November at 12 noon with Michael Kelly and Trevor Sargent. www.dublinbookfestival.ie
Published by The Collins Press www.collinspress.ie

Book review: Fireproof by Celeste Auge

It could be said that Fireproof is about the misfits in life, except as we read further we realise that we are identifying with some of the characters, so what does that say about us? Fireproof and other Stories by the Irish-Canadian writer Celeste Auge, is a collection of sixteen short stories published by the small publishing house Doire Press - and I think they have landed a gem.

Auge is a creative writing teacher surely on the cusp of wider recognition, having won a number of minor writing prizes and a commendation from the Sean O'Faolain Short Story Competition. And some of them are short, with 'It's Happening Again' at just less than two pages- but then my favourite Raymond Carver short story, the powerful and enigmatic 'Little Things' is the same length-so never underestimate the power of the 'short' short story.
The stories have a sense of oddness balancing out the ordinary in life. In 'Fireproof' we follow the development of an odd precocious child, trying to cope with identity and language as she moves between countries and also between the nationalities of her parents and how that affects her choice of words. In 'Touching Fences' we see a woman who tries to balance fear of sinking into the ordinary by 'shocking' herself into life and 'Molly Fawn' also has a fear of getting stuck in a rut. Each story presents the ordinary life (i.e.working in a supermarket) with the not-so-ordinary characters feelings about this life. Or are these strange characters more ordinary than we like to admit? That seemed to be the question running through my head as I moved further through this book.
Auge's feelings are not unique, but the way she manages to elucidate them through her prose so that the reader can feel compassion for the character or identify with them is certainly a talent. She somehow plumbs the depths of our hidden fears and just puts them out there on the page for all to see.

Celeste Auge will be at the Dublin Book Festival on Thursday 15th November at 12.20pm-1.00pm in the launch area of Smock Alley Theatre where she will read extracts from Fireproof.
www.celesteauge.com
www.doirepress.com
www.dublinbookfestival.com