A Place Called Home

In fact, two places called home ... For over sixty years, Alice Taylor has lived in the village of Innishannon, the gateway to West Cork. But her childhood was spent on a farm in North Cork, near the Kerry border, and her memories of that homeplace are vivid. Here, she recalls the sounds and smells of the farmyard, now silent; she visits her old national school, today in ruins, and her secondary, which has a new life as a cultural centre. She also writes of day-to-day life in her beloved Innishannon. With her trademark wit and wisdom, Alice takes us on a ramble around both of her homes, celebrating the places, the people and the special moments that have stayed in her heart over the years.

Alice Taylor lives in the village of Innishannon in County Cork, in a house attached to the local supermarket and post office. Her first book, To School Through the Fields, was published in 1988. It was an immediate success and quickly became the biggest selling book ever published in Ireland. Alice has written nearly twenty books since then, largely exploring her beloved village and the ways of life in rural Ireland. She has also written poetry and fiction: her first novel, The Woman of the House, was an immediate bestseller. Most recently, she wrote a children's picture book with her daughter Lena Angland, called Ellie and the Fairy Door.