The Home Place: A Memoir

"An absolutely beautiful piece of work" - Joseph O'Connor "We did not see ourselves as a remarkable, far-flung or endangered people. Our way of life, our attitudes, our humour and engagement with our home place hardly deserved the attention of the National Geographic Society. But the National Geographic Magazine for November 1978 included an article, 'Where the River Shannon Flows', and a caption quoting my father: "Don't stay too long in this country or it will capture you." There isn't a single word out of place in this wonderful book. In a richly detailed evocation of family life and the place where he grew up, Leyden walks us through his world and that of his neighbours and his community, casting a warm eye on its customs and history, beliefs and traditions and how they all fit together. With its lyrical balancing of loss and humour the Home Place is a book that will stay with you long after reading it. An Irish classic.

Brian Leyden is the author of Sweet Old World: New & Selected Stories and the novel Summer of ’63. He co-wrote the screenplay for the Irish feature film Black Ice.