Seventy Years Young: Memories of Elizabeth, Countess of Fingall

by Pamela Hinkson, Elizabeth Mary Margaret Burke Plunkett Fingall

First published in 1937, it's Daisy Fingall's own story, welcoming you to a world long gone. With all the power of first-class fiction, in Kileen Castle, County Meath, we meet the leading figures of Daisy's time -- Parnell, Edward VII, AE, Shaw, Moore, Yeats, and so many more.

Genres: Ireland

454 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

An Anglo-Irish writer of fiction for both children and adults, Pamela Tynan Hinkson was born in 1900, and was the daughter of barrister (and later Resident Magistrate of County Mayo) Henry Albert Hinkson, and novelist and poet Katharine Tynan. Educated privately in Ireland, Hinkson worked for a time as a journalist, and was well known for her novels. The Ladies' Road, published in 1932, sold over 100,000 copies in the Penguin edition. In addition to her adult fiction and her girls' school stories, Hinkson also published a few novels under the pseudonym 'Peter Deane.'

Reviews

[Mae · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is not a literary masterpiece, but it certainly a jewel! Its the memories of a woman that lived a live so distant to my reality, in time and essence, but yet provided me with a flavor of Ireland and its history that isn't available anymore or in any other way. Elizabeth, Countess of Fingal, wil provide the reader the inside of a lifestyle and a time long gone, but real. I wanted to hate her, but ended up falling in love with her. Her class, may have been despised at a certain moment in time, but she was as Irish as any. And although despicable at times, some of the members of her class truly loved Ireland. To understand a country, one must learn about all the aspects of its history, and without a doubt this book provides a different and yet truly enjoyable version of it.
I loved this book.

[ben c]

I just had to read this - Fingal castle was near where i grew up in County Meath., Ireland. In lies a fascinating life story from 1937 of the 'landed gentry/ socialite/Anglo-Irish aristocrat', spanning a time of major change in Ireland, and the world. She lived in Fingal castle, still a fairy tale castle and location. https://goo.gl/maps/RJRY2e9naDkWS58H6 There are personal references, from Lady Laverty to Collins. She was deeply involved with all sections of the cultural life here, although it can be difficult (in the 21C) to relate to the husband's sole occupation-organising foxhunting.... The references to the social life of the gentry, really throw a different light on the life in the Georgian , and Victorian, squares of Dublin in what is now an office area, a rather lifeless part of the city, especially at night.https://goo.gl/maps/8ZKLRrdy1zJr1toV7

[Nicola Pierce · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished this just now. What a fascinating insight both into the grand life of the big house and into the Ireland of the late 1800s, early 1900s. I raced through this as I found myself agog at the world that unfolded between the covers. To be honest, for some of it, I was questioning the worth of her life which seemed to be one party, dinner, lunch, hunt, ball after another. I wondered what books she enjoyed or music or pictures. And I'm happy to have remained utterly bewildered at the passion for hunting, how it seemed to inspire sheer devotion in Lady Fingall's husband and friends. Brief references to hunting details - like cubbing - inspired horror in me and I had to force myself not to dwell on the suffering inflicted. A world apart, I did enjoy her company and being privy to wealth and high society. In particular, I loved all the ghost stories and the mentions of Parnell, Lavery, Collins and so on. Certainly, her devotion to Horace Plunkett cannot be denied. I would have liked a few more photographs too - especially of her wedding day and Killen's interior.

[Rosemary Peterswald · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was enthralled with this book as it is such a wonderful insight to the times in Ireland.