We Were Rich and We Didn't Know It
Books | Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs
3.6
Tom Phelan
“You don’t have to be Irish to cherish this literary gift—just being human and curious and from a family will suffice.” —Malachy McCourt, New York Times bestselling author of A Monk Swimming In the tradition of Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes and Alice Taylor’s To School Through the Fields, Tom Phelan’s We Were Rich and We Didn’t Know It is a heartfelt and masterfully written memoir of growing up in Ireland in the 1940s.Tom Phelan, who was born and raised in County Laois in the Irish midlands, spent his formative years working with his wise and demanding father as he sought to wrest a livelihood from a farm that was often wet, muddy, and back-breaking. It was a time before rural electrification, the telephone, and indoor plumbing; a time when the main modes of travel were bicycle and animal cart; a time when small farmers struggled to survive and turkey eggs were hatched in the kitchen cupboard; a time when the Church exerted enormous control over Ireland. We Were Rich and We Didn’t Know It recounts Tom’s upbringing in an isolated, rural community from the day he was delivered by the local midwife. With tears and laughter, it speaks to the strength of the human spirit in the face of life’s adversities.
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Author
Tom Phelan
Pages
224
Publisher
Simon and Schuster
Published Date
2020-03-03
ISBN
150119710X 9781501197109
Community ReviewsSee all
"While reading this book, I thought frequently of the trip I took to Ireland several years ago--of the cold and damp, the smell of the peat, the old man who drove us to our place for the night behind his horse while it was pouring rain...of the rugged beauty n mist of the flatlands. I imagined the language and accent spoken in the stories and recalled the phrases and the music....Phelan's descriptions are simple, but rich and I found myself laughing at some of his stories, and weepy at others. It kinda felt like an old friend had stopped chatting with me when I finished this book."