O Come Ye Back to Ireland

This New York City couple who met as graduate students in Dublin, gave up the urban lifestyle to return to the land of their ancestors. Pursuit of their dream took them to the tiny village of Kilmihil on Ireland's bleakly beautiful west coast, where they settled into a farm cottage. Their journal records their culture shock at the turf they must learn to cut and burn for heat, for example as well as discovery of the wealth of traditional music and their storytelling rural neighbors. In alternating voices, they express dismay and frustration in coping with a lifestyle where time is of little significance. But, by the second year, Breen has a budding artistic career as well as a blooming garden, and Williams certifies as a farmer, as well as a dabbler in local theatrics. Entertaining and instructive, the journal, with Breen's illustrations, captures a way of life foreign to most readers .