This fourth book in the series, portrays a closely-knit group of people living in the north Tipperary hills during the early 20th century – a community largely made up of small farmers, whose lives were far different from today. The book’s inspiration comes from writers such as Thomas Hardy and attempts to pass on to readers the lyrical and rich phrasings of Tipperary’s old hill folk and capture the spiritual wealth of an age that remained unchanged for several centuries.    

    Tales of . . .   

* brotherly love and hate.  

* a rogue’s return from across the sea and his efforts to reform. 

* an unexpected first-love at the harvest-time dance-in-the-fields. 

* persecution of two old saints at the hands of misguided youth.  

* sports-day activities for adults and children alike, following the arduous channelling of a new stream.  

* two adventurous toddlers, getting lost in the wilderness but saved by a witch.  

    ‘. . . lovers of literature will find themselves engrossed in the lives of a past hillside community.’ 

                                                                    Addison & Cole 

My Review

Old Faces isn’t the type of book I would normally read, but I really enjoyed it. As I read the story, I could “hear” the narration in an Irish brogue. Some of the names are ordinary, but many of the names are hilarious. In the first sentence is Molly-rattle-the-tea-and-sugar-bag. What a great introduction to some unique names and stories.

I liked all of the stories, but of course I had my favorites. It was interesting that some of the stories were tragic, others had happy endings, but there was humor in all of them, some more than others. I went through the Table of Contents so that I could pick out the story or stories I liked the least, but I honestly liked them all.

There was a lot of humour in the stories, but I laughed most when I read this:

“Goldshit sitting on a black stick under the hob above the blazing fire and then falling asleep and tumbling off his perch and landing in the hot ashes and then struggling with the blazing sods of turf in the fire and the Wild Witch of the West chasing him round the floor — this was something that would stay with them forever.”

I didn’t know that Tipperary is a real place! It’s about the size of the town I live in. I wish the people here were as interesting!

I have enjoyed all of the books about Tipperary and I hope there are more to come!

About the Author:

Edward Forde Hickey lives in Kent with his wife. They have three sons. During the years 1962 until 1998, he taught in inner city primary schools (laterally as a headteacher for 18 years). In early life, he was a pop star with Decca records (see ‘Eddie Hickey/Lady May’) and later sang with the Glenside Ceilidhe Band in The Galtymore Dancehall, Cricklewood (1965/1975).

Born of Irish parents during the Blitz of London, he spent his first five years of life nurtured and moulded by his grandmother in the foothills above Dolla, near Nenagh in County Tipperary. His grandmother is and always was his inspiration; she had a natural gift with words.

Edward has always been interested in folklore and the Irish past (its music, dance and literature). He was a champion Irish step-dancer. He taught and adjudicated it, even as far afield as in Australia, before dedicating himself to research into hillside communities in north Tipperary, from where he brought back tapes of original songs for The English Folk Dance and Song Society.

He keeps a small farm in the foothills of north Tipperary and visits it often.

The first three books in the series are entitled “Tales from Tipperarary”, “Reflections” and “From Time to Time”.

 

“Old Faces” by Edward Forde Hickey is currently available in paperback from Amazon at:

This book is also available to download in e-book format from Amazon at:

Press/Media Contact Details:

Grosvenor House Publishing
Tel. 0208 339 6060
E-mail: [email protected]