I.R.A.

Coogan, Tim Pat

History

Irish Book Center

The English Country Cottage

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Brown, R.J.

Antiques & Collectibles

A quantity surveyor in private practice, R.J. Brown is an acclaimed writer on English vernacular and a member of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. His books include Windmills of England, The English Country Cottage and Timber-Framed Buildings of England. Although receiving no formal training in fine art, he has been an acknowledged graphic artist for some years, specializing in fine pen-and-ink drawings of period buildings. He is a member of the Society of Graphic Fine Arts and also the Society of Architectural Illustrators. He has exhibited both in London and locally in East Anglia and has received commissions from individuals and companies for his 'house-portraits'. He lives near Colchester. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition. The farmhouse is an essential and attractive part of the English landscape and thousands of examples still grace the countryside. In this superbly illustrated book, R. J. Brown examines the changing role of these traditional buildings. He shows the farmhouse at the centre of the economic, social and farming life of the community, and the many buildings which have lost their lands and have since been modified for other uses. This leads him to describe in words and detailed drawings the diversity of house types including the mediaeval open-hall and the so-called 'double-piled' house, the first house type designed not for the needs of the farm but for the comfort of the family. The significance of geological variations for the pattern of agriculture and the consequences for the type of farmhouse is also explained. In addition, the book discusses the various materials employed and the resulting distinctive regional variations. Profusely illustrated with the author's fine pen-and-ink drawings, this volume is an authoritative guide to one of the most characteristic and well-loved aspects of the English countryside.

English Farmhouses

Arts & Photography

Architecture

A child's jealousy of his place in his mother's life erupts when his father comes home from the war, not to subside until a new baby arrives placing his father and him in the same position.

My Oedipus Complex

O'Connor, Frank

Literature & Fiction

Set against the backdrop of growing tensions in Ireland in 1919, Troubles, written in 1970, is the first novel in J.G. Farrell's "Empire Trilogy". "Troubles" is set on the east coast of Ireland, largely in the Hotel Majestic, a formerly grand building that has seen better days and now generally houses more cats than guests. The listener is taken back to July 1919, when the 'Major' is visiting the Majestic to reunite with his fiancee Angela, the Protestant proprietor Edward Spencer's daughter. The lovers met in Brighton during the War and have since only corresponded long-distance. The welcome he receives is not quite what he expected. He quickly becomes sucked into the political and sociological ethos of the hotel and its inhabitants, and the story builds tantalisingly until its inevitable dramatic conclusion. A touching, often very funny and yet ultimately rather sad story, which will capture the listener's heart and excite their interest with its themes of Irish politics and love, played out in an unlikely and fragile sanctuary. The reader Sean Barrett is an Irish-born actor who has enjoyed success in the theatre, on television and in film.

Troubles

FARRELL, J.G.

Genre Fiction

<p>O'Brien, Edna. Some Irish Loving. A Selection. First Penguin edition. Harmondsworth, Penguin Books, 1981. 11 cm x 18 cm. 252, (4) pages. Original Softcover. Very good condition with some minor signs of external wear. From the library of swiss - american - irish poet Chuck Kruger. Contains among others the following chapters: The Preamble; The Fantastic; The Profane; The Desperate; The Male; The Female; The Intemperate etc.</p>

Some Irish Loving

O'BRIEN, EDNA.

Contemporary

The Love Department by William Trevor - a darkly comic novel about a thief of the heart, by one of the world's best writers From the offices of her Love Department, Lady Dolores cures the heartaches of the lonely wives of Wimbledon with inimitable flourish and finesse. When her newest protege, the somewhat naive Edward Blakeston-Smith, is sent on a mission - to learn the secrets of seductive, scheming Septimus Tuam and stop him in his tracks - he learns all about love, its friends and enemies. The Love Department was William Trevor's third novel, published in 1966. It will be enjoyed by readers of Colm Toibin, Evelyn Waugh and Muriel Spark. 'A fantasy which proliferates entertainingly from a germ of reality - the reality of boredom felt by comfortably-off suburban wives' Listener 'William Trevor can pack into ten or twenty pages an astounding richness of pathos, humour and tragedy' Francis King William Trevor was born in Mitchelstown, County Cork, in 1928, and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He has lived in England for many years. The author of numerous acclaimed collections of short stories and novels, he has won many awards including the Whitbread Book of the Year, The James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence. He has been shortlisted three times for the Booker Prize: in 1976 with his novel The Children of Dynmouth, in 1991 with Reading Turgenev and in 2002 with The Story of Lucy Gault. He recently received the prestigious David Cohen Literature Prize in recognition of a lifetime's literary achievement.

Love Department

TREVOR,William

Julia O'Faolain's subtle, seductively plotted novel weaves together Ireland and Italy, romantic love and mystery... The invitation to visit the Cavalcantis at their family villa in Tuscany arrived quite unexpectedly. But in the wake of History finals, and still shaken by her mother's death, Anne decides to go. More then sun or a holiday, she needs to satisfy a lingering curiosity. For no lover of her own has yet been able to rival her mother's glowing descriptions of Cosimo - her ex-lover and a friend of the charming and formidable Cavalcantis. 'A stylish and entertaining love story.' Sunday Times 'A beautiful tale of family intimacy and division, secrets and confession... O'Faolain chooses her words as carefully and sensuously as ripe figs, hand-picked for the table.' Company

The Irish Signorina

O'Faolain, Julia

Da, a Life, Time Was

Leonard, Hugh

World Literature

The first book in a trilogy examining the adventures of several generations of one Irish family. Set amidst the Cromwellian Invasions, Seek the Fair Wind begins in 1641. Dominick McMahon, a merchant by trade, has little appetite for fighting, yet is forced to defend his town against Cromwell's army. From dark city streets to wild mountains, from vicious slaughter to triumphant faith, from selfish obedience to heroic opposition this novel paints a vivid portrait of the struggles of the Irish people against the English. Along with The Silent People and The Scorching Wind, Seek the Fair Land is a fascinating examination of the history and events that fueled the fight for freedom in Ireland.

Seek the Fair Land

MacKen, Walter

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