An Irish Childhood

Peter Somerville-Large grew up in a 1930s nursery world at the top of a smart Georgian house in Dublin. The family had houses in the country too, and a bevy of eccentric relations, among them Edith Somerville (of Somerville and Ross fame). When Peter was five, his father bought an island - twenty rocky acres on the north shore of the Kenmare River in County Kerry - his idea of paradise. There were parties, sailing trips, fishing expeditions. Gradually, as the century progressed, the parties grew fewer and the grand houses fell into disrepair. This beautifully written memoir takes the reader back to the sensations and excitements of childhood and paints a vivid picture of a vanished world.