Dimensions
130 x 197 x 26mm
A Journey Through Ireland
There are so many stock images of Ireland - from the green-eyed colleens, Murphy's addicts and Mrs Doyles of the South to the bleak, riven towns of the north - that fainthearted travellers might be forgiven for feeling as if they've already been there.
With a curiosity and charm that give him unique access to people and situations, and the wit to tell it like it was, Mark McCrum sets out to fathom the real Ireland - and to find out what it is to be Irish.
Starting in Dublin, he roams south and west along the coast, before heading north over the border to find the now derelict home of his great-grandfathers. Driving and walking, on trains and buses, and by thumb, he meets everyone from the Anglo-Irish gentry to new-age travellers; from hardline IRA men to terrorists from the UFF; from Frank the goat-catcher to Dana the aspiring president. By the end he has learnt many things, one above all: an Englishman will never understand the Irish.
