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O Come Ye Back to Ireland: Our First Year in County Clare
Niall and Christine left their careers in New York City for a simpler, more authentic life in a cottage outside the tiny village of Kilmihil in County Clare.
"Their tale is a delightful romance."—The New York Times Book Review
"Their tale is a delightful romance."—The New York Times Book Review
Paperback, 244 pages
Published
July 1st 2003
by Soho Press
(first published 1987)
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O Come Ye Back to Ireland by Niall Williams and Christine Breen is an engaging memoir about the couple's first year in County Clare, Ireland. They moved to the quiet, rural setting from their busy, urban lives in New York City. The book recounts their losses and their revelations during the year and everything the learned along the way. It almost made me pick up and move to my own little oasis in Ireland . . . almost.
Christine Breen is the American born daughter of Irish parents attending Univer...more
Christine Breen is the American born daughter of Irish parents attending Univer...more
I have had this oddly shaped paperback since Lil was at Philly Mag in the late ’80s. It has some odd light brown stain across some of the pages, like tea or potpourri juice. An Irishman and his Irish-American wife chuck New York and move to the western coast of Ireland in the mid-’80s, old house blah, small farm blah, writing painting blah. Not bad for the genre, and in fact entertaining enough (and honest enough about the struggles, so unlike the “rich guy moves to country and surrenders to the...more
This book was almost escapist for me. =) Though it sounds very cliche to say that this is a book about a couple from Manhattan who return to their families' native rural region in Ireland, it's so much quieter and nicer than that. The picture the authors paint is certainly not all rosy--trying to cut the sod, keep the farm going, raise animals, and in general keep life going turns out to be much more in depth than the couple ever thought. It was interesting to see how the authors' viewpoint had...more
A gentle, tender kind of narrative. Memoir of the authors (husband and wife each write parts) who left NYC in 1985ish to take up the rural life of County Clare, Ireland. Painters/writers, novice farmers, they chronicle their struggles and adjustments honestly and sweetly. Oh the endless rain, the ruined garden, the amusing tale of Niall (husband) attending "farmer school." I really liked it.
A must read for those interested in Ireland. A very personal, well written part one of a trilogy of Niall and Christine's return to her family's home and landscape. Having travelled to Ireland many times over the past 30 years, I am still learning from this book.
Love, love, love, love this nonfiction book about an Irish-American couple who move back to the old country. Highly recommended and possibly out of print...Abebooks here I come! I gave my copy to the library and now I want it back! Great fun to read.
A lovely, touching book that is written so you can almost feel the rain falling. A collaboration between the two of them, the chapters are interspersed with snippets from their journals. I love Ireland and have been to a number of the places they describe here... it brings the beauty of Ireland back.
I loved every book they wrote in this charming series of a couple that moved from New York to Ireland and the accompanying social/culture shocks. Funny and very entertaining.
Mar 12, 2010
Joyce
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Anne, Sheila, John, Nick
Recommended to Joyce by:
Mom
Intersting. A couple who move to a farm in Clare in 1985, one of the worse farming years of the century and the first summer that we visited with Anne and Sheila.
Thus was very enjoyable and a must-read for anyone wanting to know more about the REAL Ireland. A bit dated but still a lovely adventure.
Wonderful book. Niall & Christine meet at University in Dublin, he a Dubliner & she an American. They move to America and begin the typical non-life of working in New York. They wake early to catch the train, work all day, then have another long ride home. They are lucky to finish dinner before falling asleep & starting all over again. When a relative in Ireland leaves Christine's family a cottage in county Clare - they take it. And so the adventure begins. While they may not be much...more
Phenomenal writing. As someone who yearns to live in Ireland, this story of an American/Irish couple moving to County Clare and learning to farm was moving.
This was a pretty good book. It was about an American couple who moved to rural Ireland to live a different life. The wife's family is from there, so they had a crib to live in. They adjusted and learned to live a simpler life. Good book!
Jan 12, 2009
Trisha
is currently reading it
This is a wonderful journal about a couple who leave the rat race of living in New York to relocate in Ireland.
This is an amazing book. A couple leaves their jobs in NYC and moves to Ireland in the 80's. We're talking rural Ireland. Farms, burning peat to heat the house, some people with no electricity or phones... It's a memoir, not a novel. I love books about Ireland. I love that people there tell stories as a national pastime. There's a lyricism and beauty and can you tell I want to move there? Anyway, it's great to read a first hand account of outsiders who find a place where things move more slowly,...more
Vicarious pleasure for all those who have ever wanted to chuck it all and start over in a new life, new setting.
Had me looking up lots of topics on the internet, including checking the author's web site.
First in the series, borrowed from Nana Waters. Has me excited to go to Ireland.
A book about my dream...leaving it all behind to start a farm in Ireland!
Fun story about going back to living like old Ireland..
Touching but quite depressing.
A book I re-read over and over.
nothing wrong with this book, it just never fully grabbed me.
Interesting view of rural Ireland.
I didn't find this book terribly interesting. I don't know a lot about farming and reading about two regular people who decided to change their lives didn't really interest me.
It was well written and funny. Definitely worth a read. I was, however, ready for some sunshine after reading about a year of rain!
A sweet story about a NY couple moving to Ireland. Slow moving but well told.
This book reminds me of another similar memoir I read while I was living in France about an English couple who move to the Languedoc region of France and build a home. It has all that you might expect: culture shock, bizarre natives, misadventures galore. There's also an element of the Nearings in their desire to live "simply." It was enjoyable, but not groundbreaking.
I stayed in County Clare for a couple of weeks in the summer of 2011, so this memoir had extra meaning for me. A couple moves from New York to a rural area in Western Ireland. Sounds lovely, but the authors are honest about the challenges they faced. This book made me miss Ireland very much.
Jul 07, 2008
Deirdre Keating
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommended to Deirdre by:
Mr Scott
Shelves:
memoir
Love when I come across a title here I had otherwise forgotten. Mr. Scott recommended this book to me,(2000?) and I remember enjoying it, not especially due to the writing but because I got to live vicariously through the young couple.
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Moved back to Ireland and wrote about his experiences.
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Apr 02, 2011 08:28am