Irish Family History Forum

  • Facebook
Zoom in Regular Zoom out
  • Home
  • Member Resources
    • Surname Database
    • Newsletter Archives
    • Discussion Forum
    • Handouts
    • Webinars
    • Irish Genealogy Research Guide
    • IFHF Welcome Guide
    • Relationship Chart
    • Forms/Additional Member Resources
    • Current By-Laws 2005
    • New By-Laws 2020
  • General Resources
    • Links
    • Library
    • Newsletter
  • Calendar
  • Join
  • Renew/Update
  • Donate
  • Blog
  • Contact Us
  • Log In

Tom Phelan Book Review

April 29, 2019 by peterk

wwr cover 2019.jpg

“A nimble exercise in storytelling in which Tom shapes his recollections into a series of richly detailed vignettes….Plain, honest, funny, occasionally sad and rich in material detail, this [is a] wonderful memoir….This is the real thing.”—Newsday “Phelan’s memoir of his boyhood is exceptional…Phelan’s prose has an unpretentious beauty…With rich detail and sensitivity, We Were Rich translates for us a rural world that has disappeared.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune
   “A tender recollection of growing up on a farm in Ireland in the 1940s. In precise, vibrant prose, novelist Phelan creates…a captivating portrait of a bygone time.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review   “At a time when we have so much and are satisfied with none of it, the story of We Were Rich and We Didn’t Know It is one of grace and beauty.”—For the Love of Books     Tom Phelan’s We Were Rich and We Didn’t Know It: A Memoir of My Irish Boyhood is a heartfelt and masterfully written account of growing up in Ireland in the 1940s.      Tom, who was born and reared in Mountmellick, County Laois, spent his formative years working with his wise and demanding father as he sought to wrest a livelihood from a farm that was often wet, muddy, and back-breaking.        It wasa time before rural electrification, the telephone, and indoor plumbing; a time when the main modes of travel were bicycle and animal cart; a time when small farmers struggled to survive and turkey eggs were hatched in the kitchen cupboard; a time when the Church exerted enormous control over Ireland.      We Were Rich and We Didn’t Know It recounts Tom’s upbringing in an isolated, rural community from the day he was delivered by the local midwife. With tears and laughter, it speaks to the strength of the human spirit in the face of life’s adversities.  
Published by Gallery Books / Simon and Schuster
Available at Amazon and bookstoresin hardcover, ebook, and audiobook formats





Filed Under: Uncategorized

January 16, 2021

Susan Miller, Researching New York Land Records

For those researching families in New York City and New York State, land records can produce a crop of information. Access to land records varies, and Miller will provide an overview to some collections that may yield results for your research.

 

This will be a ZOOM presentation.
This presentation (for Members Only) will begin at 11 a.m.
Members with email addresses on file will be invited about one week in advance.
If you don’t receive an invitation, please contact memberstream@ifhf.org
Stay Healthy!

Hope to see you soon.



The Plainview Family History Center
will be closed until further notice.

Also be aware that:
NARA-NYC is closed until further notice.
The NYPL has canceled all public programs
We suggest you check before going to any archive or record repository.


See calendar/directions

Meeting will be held at
Bethpage Public Library

47 Powell Ave., Bethpage, N.Y.

webmail

Copyright © 2021 IFHF