Two Islands: Growing Up in County Clare – Liscannor, Inis Oirr and Ennis is a memoir by Eilish McCarthy, published by Banner Books.
All are welcome to the launch in Joseph McHugh's Pub on Main Street, Liscannor, where Eilish will be talking about the book, with the brilliant Enda Byrt joining her as a special guest. There will be drinks and nibbles to enjoy while you listen.
More about 'Two Islands':
Eilish McCarthy made her vocal way into this world in October 1948. Some say she hasn’t stopped talking since!
Eilish’s whole world was Liscannor, where her father was the local headmaster, with occasional trips to as far away as Lahinch and Ennistymon. Entertainment was largely self-made, with cultural highlights of movies in a tent on Blake’s field and the circus in Lahinch – happy, happy days!
Her world opened up when she was one of the first pupils to go to Inis Oírr on a summer course to learn her mother language. Those blissful three weeks, shortly followed by a three-month Gael Linn scholarship to attend the local primary school, have resulted in a life-long love of Irish and of the small island out in the Atlantic and the people who live on it.
Her schooling continued at the Coláiste Muire boarding school in Ennis, run by the Sisters of Mercy, who were strict but provided an education that ensured Eilish could make her own way in the world, although their greatest feat was teaching her how to peel a cooked potato in polite company.
This warm and witty memoir of a childhood in County Clare will delight, remind and inform you of a way of life for many children brought up in rural Ireland – harder times in many ways, but also simpler, when neighbours helped each other and children made their own entertainment.
You can purchase the book here;
https://bannerbooks.ie/shop/ireland/county-clare-ireland/two-islands-growing-up-in-county-clare-liscannor-inis-oirr-and-ennis
Also check out other Workshops in Ennis, Entertainment events in Ennis.
