A Distant Prospect – ISBN 9780987435101

Irish

Horse market in Ballinasloe, Co. Galway — It’s Melbourne Cup Day 2014, so here’s a moment from Chapter 15, when Lucy visits Pim’s Aunt Rose in Moss Vale. Pim wanted to know all about Ireland. So I began to tell her bits and pieces about the little four-roomed cottage where we lived, about the Claddagh and the […]

Melbourne Cup Day and memories of Irish racehorses

November 4, 2014 in Irish / Lucy Straughan by francis

Sydney Conservatorium early 1920s — Paul from Dublin says “it was a joy” to read authentic Irish phrases in A Distant Prospect. Congratulations on a most uplifting epic, Annette! So seldom is it possible to find authors of fiction who set out to inspire, who are conscious that each one of us is called to […]

An Irish Review – each of us is called to ...

August 30, 2014 in Irish / Mrs Epstein / Reviews by francis

Harvest Time c. 1897, Irish Life Series, National Library of Ireland — Author Annette Young hears robins and cuckoos calling in Haydn’s “Fifths” String Quartet. She has cellist Lucy recalling her Irish childhood and the passing seasons while playing A Distant Prospect‘s climactic Chapter 50 concert: Autumn is celebrated with the races and the harvest; and the harvest months at home were […]

Autumn Harvest Time in Haydn’s Fifths String Quartet

April 2, 2014 in Haydn / Irish / Music by francis

Lucy here describes her home in County Galway, which she fled aged 8 in 1921, and how it compares to the house which her da found for them in Sydney’s Newtown. ‘It was a little four room cottage with a thatched roof and a hearth. A kitchen there was in […]

An Irish girl in a strange land

March 16, 2014 in Irish / Lucy Straughan / Newtown / Sydney by francis

Lucy would approve! In honour of St Patrick’s Day, snap up A Distant Prospect Kindle edition for just US$7.00, saving 30% off the usual price of $9.99. It makes a grand instant gift for someone back home, too. Just click the “Give as a Gift” button on the Kindle page, […]

St Patrick’s Day 30% Kindle Special

March 14, 2014 in Irish / Promotion by francis

St Patrick’s Day vs Empire Week – Erin go braugh!

March 13, 2014 in Della Sotheby / Irish / Lucy Straughan / Newtown by francis

Here is a brief guide to the Irish expressions used by Lucy and her father, Morgan, in A Distant Prospect. A printable version is at Gluais úsáide Gaelach – Glossary of Irish usage. Dia duit: Hello (literal translation: God to you) Dia is Muire duit: Hello (literally, God and Mary to […]

Gluais úsáide Gaelach – Glossary of Irish usage

November 13, 2013 in Irish / Lucy Straughan / Morgan Straughan by francis

Lucy and her father speak Irish quite a bit in A Distant Prospect, requiring Annette to study the language in order to write it. Some of the funniest moments in the book see Lucy blurt out something in Irish in mixed company. Here’s an Irish grace before meals: Beannaigh sinne, […]

Beannaigh sinne, a Dhia

November 25, 2012 in Irish / Prayers by francis