Gardiner M. Weir

These short stories are set primarily in the farmland of County Antrim in Northern Ireland during the author’s youth in the nineteen forties and fifties, though there are related stories set in the U.S. and Canada. County Antrim has strong residual connections to Scotland that are reflected in the manner of speech and in the social values that the author experienced during his youth - hard work, religious belief and valuing family connections. Long before television entered the home, family and neighborhood get-togethers were common, often around a hearth-fire, especially in winter. An exchange of comment kept everyone abreast of happenings in the area though that often tripped into friendly gossip, especially of those whose life’s escapades set them apart from the accepted norm. The very human lives of these wholesome people, their sorrow, happiness, humor and futility are picturesquely captured in the author’s sensitive, homespun stories.