Bryan Gallagher's reminiscences of the Ireland of his youth, first heard on Radio 4's 'Home Truths', transport you to a world of boyhood pranks, playground politics and the confusion of growing up in a land that is every bit as magical and captivating as the stories he has to tell.Barefoot in Mullyneeny is Bryan Gallagher's evocative tale of a childhood remembered through the people and landscape of Fermanagh, near the beautiful shores of Lough Erne in Ireland. Bryan chronicles a time when all the big boys went to school in bare feet and secretly watched the Saturday night bands and dances in halls lit by Tilley lamps; where it was known to be nothing less than the biblical truth that if you put a horse-hair across the palm of your hand when you were about to be punished at school, the cane would split in two.Gallagher's writing will touch the hearts of those who long for the innocence of childhood and the simplicity of an era long past. Whether relating tales of murderous bicycle chases through the darkened streets of Cavan, of ghosts and fairy forts or the anguish of emigration, this remarkable memoir vividly recreates life in rural Ireland in the 1940s and 50s.For those who thought that life in Ireland was one of the poverty and misery of James Joyce or Frank McCourt, Barefoot in Mullyneeny offers a view of the Ireland of yesteryear that combines the touching, homely nostalgia of Nigel Slater's Toast and Laurie Lee's Cider with Rosie with a humorous optimism that is unmistakably Ireland at its best.
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Bryan Gallagher. Barefoot in Mullyneeny: A Boy’s Journey Towards Belonging
Barefoot in. Mullyneeny. A Boy’s Journey Towards Belonging. Bryan Gallagher
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
The Map of Ireland
The Cobbler
Jolly Nice
I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls
Clerical Error
Last of the Islandmen
Goodbye Dolly Gray
Mrs Malaprop and Daughter
Altar Altercation
Sand Pit
Requiem for a Huntsman
Oremus
Rite of Passage
The Huntsman
Three Cheers for theSouls in Purgatory
The Stations of the Cross
Hounds and Hares
The Fourth Fall
Killing the Pig
The Rabbit Island
An Inspector Calls
The White Horse
Lords of the Dance
Gorman’s Reel
The Fiddle Maker
Donkeys
A Policeman’s Lot
A-Hunting We Will Go
Belonging
How Much is thatDoggie in the Window?
Coping the Lea
The Wet Winding Roads
Hob-nailed Boots
Bonny Mary of Argyll
The Boat
The Stonemason
Disgrace
Some Enchanted Evening
Lost in Collooney
Noreen Bawn
The Streets of Laredo
‘Life slipped between the bars…’
Foresight
Big Tom
Sheep Can’t Swim
Punting
The Poetry Lover
Talking to a Ghost
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Copyright
About the Publisher
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As I write this, the memory of the tragic death of John Peel is still vivid in my mind. He changed the lives of many people with his encouragement, and he did that for me in his sincere appreciation of these stories. He broadcast some of them in his BBC programmes, and it was he who first broached the prospect of publication.
This book is respectfully dedicated to his memory.
