In his highly addictive style, Gene Kerrigan effortlessly reconstructs the Ireland of the 1950s and early 1960s in which he grew up. An adult world of absolute moral certainties, casual cruelties and mass emigration; for children an age of innocence, but innocence hemmed in by fear and guilt. In this brilliant and humorous memoir, Kerrigan tells of a world that now seems as distant as another country. Into the details of school, street and family life, of Christmas, First Communion, school violence, CIE Mystery Tours and the arrival of television, are woven the political background of the day, and recollection of the impact of major figures: Michael O' Hehir, Lemass, Dev, JFK, not to mention Hector Grey, Shane, Davy Crockett and Audie Murphy. It's an account of a happy childhood in a country that was itself far from happy. Other books by Gene Kerrigan Hard Cases Never Make a Promise You Can't Break This Great Little Nation.
