"My Connemara Journeys - Joyce Country" by Amelia Joyce is a compelling read. Amelia, a native of Connemara, presents seven carefully selected journeys through the landscape of Connemara that are dear to her heart and shares them with us in this beautiful book. The seven journeys represent one journey for each day of the week. "The idea for my guidebook is that the readers get insights into the fascinating people who lived in Connemara, enjoy visiting my favourite off-the-beaten-track gems that the average tourist never sees, and to suggest places where you can enjoy afternoon tea, a creamy pint or a picnic on one of the many sandy beaches dotted along the coast."What was once an isolated landscape ravaged by poverty has now become the destination for nature-lovers, mountain-climbers and other sports enthusiasts alike. Excellent restaurants are in abundance, and the choice of accommodation ranges from simple bed-and-breakfasts to world-renowned luxury castles.

A historian's personal journey into the complex questions of immigration, home and nation From Ireland to London in the 1950s, Derry in the Troubles to contemporary, de-industrialised Manchester, Joyce finds the ties of place, family and the past are difficult to break. Why do certain places continue to haunt us? What does it mean to be British after the suffering of Empire and of war? How do we make our home in a hypermobile world without remembering our pasts? Patrick Joyce's parents moved from Ireland in the 1930s and made their home in west London. But they never really left the homeland. And so as he grew up among the streets of Paddington and Notting Hill and when he visited his family in Ireland he felt a tension between the notions of home, nation and belonging. Going to My Father's House charts the historian's attempt to make sense of these ties and to see how they manifest in a globalised world. He explores the places - the house, the street, the walls and the graves - that formed his own identity. He ask what place the ideas of history, heritage and nostalgia have in creating a sense of our selves. He concludes with a plea for a history that holds the past to account but also allows for dynamic, inclusive change.

These are the opening eleven chapters of Henry Coulter book 'The West of Ireland: Its Existing Condition and Prospects', first published in 1862. It offers local historians and genealogists access to a print version of the specific sections of this important book as it relates to Counties Athlone, Clare and Galway and the Connemara area. Coulter reports on poor harvests and the prospect of impending famine and state of agriculture and trade. The book gives a contemporary account of workhouses, gombeen men, high rents and evictions. It is a treasure trove for those interested in the history of the area and for for those with ancestral roots in the areas reported on. This edition has been enhanced by the inclusion of an index and extensive footnotes not found in the original or in other scanned editions of the book.

Award-winning producer and journalist Daire Whelan had reached the end of another busy week and couldn't shake the feeling that life was passing him by too quickly. Vowing to make a change, he decided to commit to a year of fly fishing and set about planning his route through the wild and rugged landscape of Ireland. Here, in Haunted by Waters: A Journey into the Irish Countryside we travel with Daire throughout a season of fly fishing. But as he searches for a sense of meaning, meeting kindred spirits as he explores the rivers and lakes, Daire finds himself rediscovering the majestic beauty of his native country. From fishing on our most secluded bays and wildest loughs in Connemara and Kerry, to casting a line on the rippling waters of the Suir in Tipperary, catching salmon on the Blackwater in Waterford, and the serenity of the Dodder in Dublin on a workday afternoon, Haunted by Waters is an evocative and stunning love letter to Ireland through a sport rich in tradition and storytelling.