Non-Fiction Books

The biggest bestseller ever published in Ireland, this sparkling memoir of life in the Irish countryside is a book of charm and lasting appeal. ""A delightful evocation of Irishness and of the author's deep-rooted love of `the very fields of home', this picture of bucolic life in an earlier time, with its rituals of religion and the antics of local characters, has universal appeal.""-Publishers Weekly. ""One of the most richly evocative and moving portraits of childhood [ever] written ... A journey every reader will treasure and will want to read over and over again.""-Boston Herald.

Memoir from the bestselling author of 'To School Through the Fields' who has been described by 'The Observer' as 'Ireland's Laurie Lee...a chronicler of fading village life and rural rituals who sells and sells'. In this collection she takes her readers along the byways of Ireland and into the heart of the country. In stories by turn comic and poignant, she explores the character of family and friends, testing the bonds of concern and kindness which hold people together.

If ever a voice has captured the colors, the rhythms, the rich, bittersweet emotions of a time gone by, it is Alice Taylor's. Her tales of childhood in rural Ireland hark back to a timeless past, to a world now lost, but ever and fondly remembered. The colorful characters and joyous moments she offers have made her stories an Irish phenomenon, and have made Alice herself the most beloved author in all of the Emerald Isle.

The author recounts Christmas stories from her childhood in the snowy Irish countryside, capturing the sights and sounds of holiday festivities among her family, beginning with the lighting of the Christmas candle.

Alice Taylor returns to the world of "To School Through the Fields" in this story of oldstyle country Christmas. She attempts to convey the magic that lies in every detail of the festive season for a young child. Her story begins with the geese as they wobble around the farmyard and down to the river. She conveys the childrens' aching anticipation of the village schoolmaster's official announcement of the holidays. And then the scene moves to the farmhouse kitchen, where their neighbour Bill supervises the important business of writing to Santa.

A collection of stories set in the Irish countryside, accompanied by beautiful color photographs.

Containing: Country life through the seasons by Jim Canning, with paintings by Mildred Anne Butler.

In a series of vignettes of life in her village, Alice Taylor reasserts the priorities of public space and local community. The Parish evokes and explores the positive values of community, which could be renewed and reinvigorated for a present and future that achieves harmony between comfort and the pressing need to respect the environment.

Taylor''s third volume of Irish reminiscence evokes the history, landscape, and sometimes dotty citizenry of tiny 1960''s Innishannon, where the author raised five children, opened a guest house and manned the local post office and grocery store. Set on the wooded banks of the Brandon River, Innishannon once served the grand estates of wealthy British and Irish families, but 20th-century uprisings and industrialisation had rendered it a small, sleepy hamlet whose residents knew every detail of each others'' lives. An entertaining and thoroughly charming memoir.

Alice has known, loved, and lost many people throughout her life. Here she talks about her special people, her memory of what meant so much to her about them. She remembers her husband, father and mother, a beloved sister, her little brother Connie, and many others. She tells how she coped with the emptiness she felt when they died, of the seeming impossibility of moving on with life after such deeply felt loss, when time stood still. This book is a sharing – it lets the reader in on a story and celebration of life in its intimacy, its small, precious moments. When we experience grief, sharing in someone else’s story can help us more than anything, and in the hands of master storyteller Alice Taylor, we may find our own solace and the space to remember our own special people.

‘This is a book about the comfort and sustenance that can be got from gardening and from the earth, about the wonderful pleasures and fulfilment that I get from my garden.’ Alice Taylor Alice’s garden is her refuge, her solace. In this book, she invites you into this special place. Inherited from Uncle Jacky, it was for many years a kind of wilderness, until Alice finally managed to get around to transforming it. She introduces you to the great variety of plants and objects she has gathered – everything, of course, with its own unique and fascinating story, brought to life by a master storyteller. Alice’s creativity is seen everywhere in her garden. It is a wonderful, magical space, full of surprises, where her warm personality infuses every flower, bush, tree, and surface. Table of Contents Introduction The Awakening A Jug of Flowers Heavy Drinkers! The Silent People Under the Apple Tree Gardening with Dogs The Final Chorus Crash Landing The Holly Tree Snowdrops and Tulips Flushed with Pride Struggling! The Garden Shed Tea in the Garden Returning Getting Ready The Open Gate The Meitheal Wild-flower Garden Roots Planting Miracles

Alice Taylor remembers her childhood home – the farm with all its tools and animals, the home with its equipment for living, its daily challenges, constant hard work, and its comforts too. She describes the huge open fireplace where all the cooking was done, where the big black kettle hung permanently from the crane over the flames; here the family sat in the evenings, talking, knitting, going over the events of the day, saying the rosary. She experienced the sow being brought indoors to have her precious brood of bonhams. She recalls the faithful, beloved horses and their wonderfully varied outfits – one set of tackle for each job they did on the farm; the ritual of lighting the oil lamps – from the fancy one in the parlour to the tiny one under the Sacred Heart picture; the excitement of threshing day and the satisfaction of a good harvest – the stations, the neighbours, and later the local dancehall and cinema. All the jobs and tools of a way of life long gone live on in the hearts of those who were formed by it. Here Alice Taylor celebrates them all with love. 'magical … reading the book, I felt a faint ache in my heart … I find myself longing for those days … it is essential reading.' Irish Independent

‘We walk in the footprints of great women, women who lived through hard times on farms, in villages, towns and cities. The lives of these women are an untold story. This book is a celebration of the often forgotten “ordinary” women who gave so much to our society.’ Alice Taylor Alice salutes the women whose energy and generosity made such a valuable contribution to all our lives. '[It] warmed my heart and reminded me of the value of family, friendship and community... I was enthralled... wonderful.' Irish Independent on And Time Stood Still

Relax with Alice, sit and chat over a cup of tea, as she invites you into her life. See an old press overflowing with the linen collection of two generations, the oil lamps and clocks inherited and collected over many years, and the books of people who once lived here. Alice tells you of the sad loss of her beautiful dogs Kate and Lolly, friends of the heart, and takes you around her village to meet her neighbours, join a meitheal to plant trees, and visit the fairy doors in the nearby wood. But Alice’s home and community are not a perfect place: hear about the split in the local GAA club, blocked off rights of way, the donations of the local canine population on the footpaths! Visit a restored famine graveyard and hear about the landlords who once owned this village and the landmarks they left on the landscape and the people. This is life in a small Irish village in 2016, one hundred years after the Rising. This Bestselling book is coming in paperback edition.

Join Alice Taylor this Christmas as she welcomes us into her home and shows us the traditions of her family's Christmas. Alice looks back over her past Christmases and prepares for this Christmas. With all the warmth of a winter fire, Alice takes us through the exciting preparation for Christmas from getting the perfect tree to baking those very crucial puddings and pies. Alice also give us a intimate insight into her Christmas Eve and Christmas day rituals and talks us through her favourite Christmas recipes. She tells how the Christmas foods were made when she was a child, using the bastable and the range, and how she prepares them now. Alice loves Christmas and her huge enjoyment of the season fills this book with pleasure and delight.

Let Alice Taylor encourage you to live in the now, to really live your experiences and to treasure the special moments in your life. With Alice as a guide, explore the steps and ways to live a conscious life and focus on the goodness of the world around us. Alice's beautiful and captivating writing is an act of mindfulness in itself, and she shares her favourite moments in life, encouraging us to ponder our own. Alice also inspires the reader to be attentive to the here and now and embrace moments as they arise. A beautiful and enchanting book by a bestselling and celebrated author. Table of Contents Introduction – Golden Moments 9 Part 1 AWARENESS Out of Our Minds page 15 Meeting the Morning 21 Repairs and Maintenance 29 Afternoon Tea 35 An Ordinary Day 39 Finding My Feet 45 The Wonder of Wood 51 Take Good Care of Me 56 Part 2 ROOTS Beauty from Boredom 67 The Gap 73 The Well 77 The Fort Field 82 The Sacred Earth 90 Part 3 SPECIAL MOMENTS IN THE GARDEN Dancing with the Day 101 Red and Yellow 104 Black Gold 107 Blue Brilliance 112 Fresh Flowers 115 Waiting … 124 The Plantsman 129 An Old Tree 133 Part 4 SMALL KINDNESSES The Black Bubble 143 Beautiful Mind 147 Battered Chalice 152 Never Suppress a Good Impulse 156 Let It Be 161 A Passing Kindness 165 Part 5 THEN AND NOW The Agony and the Ecstasy 172 A Time to Write 178 From There to Here 182 Refeathering the Nest 189 It Takes So Long to Say Goodbye 193 Both Sides Now 197

Alice Taylor brings the reader with her on her 80th birthday year. Alice had a big birthday on the horizon, the village was about to celebrate many milestones, and she had just received the gift of a book focusing her on the art of living well. So she decided to write about her year as it unfolded, to keep a journal of the big events, and record the twists and turns normal life brings to all of us in just one year. But 2018 turned out to be far from normal, with storms, snow blizzards, blistering sun, severe drought and water shortages. She describes the challenges of all these dramatic weather changes. Alice began the year wondering how she would feel about reaching eighty. She was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was just another milestone on a journey that is still varied and interesting. Here she writes about these feelings, and the many pleasant and challenging events of her eightieth year.

Alice Taylor takes a look back at the well-used schoolbooks she used in her youth in the 1940s and 1950s. Flicking through the pages of the books and recalling poetry and prose she learned at school, Alice reminisces about these texts, how she related to them and how they integrated with her life on the farm and in the village. In her warm, wise way, Alice reflects on poems and stories on topics ranging from birds, trees and nature to fairy tales and legends, and ties them in with her own knowledge and memory of traditional country life. Containing the text of the poems that readers will remember from their own school days, and evocatively illustrated with photographs of the school books and Alice’s notes on them, as well as nature, flora, fauna and objects associated with schools of old, this is a reminder of childhood days and a treasure trove of memory.

In Tea for One , Alice Taylor celebrates the little moments that bring us joy After many busy years raising a family and running a business, Alice is now living alone – with all the challenges and pleasures that brings. From improving her painting to perfecting her garden, exploring family histories and reclaiming her mother’s art of tea-making, Alice celebrates the small acts that fill her days and make her happy. Table of Contents Contents Learning from the Elders page 9 As Time Goes By 11 Solitude 21 Let’s Have a Cup of Tea 23 The Gift of a Book 29 My Beloved Comforter 39 Catch Your Hare 47 A Gaggle of Geese 55 History in Our Heads 63 Written in Stone 73 Gardening 83 A Little Bit of Heaven 85 Fake or Real? 91 The Scent of a Rose 101 Gatherings 109 And God Made Sunday 111 Separate Tables 121 Sign of the Times 129 Going the Distance 137 Challenges in Isolation 145 Grounded! 147 Storm in a Teacup 151 Not Now! 157 Changing Seasons 165 Goodbye, Goodbye to Summer 167 Flower Power 173 And Here Comes Christmas 181 The Highway to Santa 191 Releasing Happy Hormones 199 Baby, It’s Cold Outside 205 Hope Springs Eternal 215 Roots 223 Afterword 233