Life
1938- ; b. 28 Feb., Newmarket, Co. Cork; ed. Dromanarigle School., St
Mary’s Secondary School, and Drishane Convent, Co. Cork; telephonist
in Killarney and Bandon; on marriage to Gabriel Murphy moved to Innishannon;
ran guest-house, then supermarket and post office; four sons and a dg.;
To School Through the Fields (1988), anecdotal autobiography and
classic account of Irish childhood; published by Steve MacDonogh, it became
best-seller Irish-published book to that date in Ireland; sequels Quench
the Lamp and The Village (1992); The Woman of the House
(1997), first novel; Going to the Well (1998), poems; Across
the River (2000); issued A Fallen Leaf (2004), memoir of bereavement. ATT
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Works
Memoir, To School Through the
Fields (Dingle: Brandon 1988; NY: St Martins Press 1990; London: Century
Publ. 1991), 275pp.; An Irish Country Diary (Dingle: Brandon 1988);
Quench the Lamp (Dingle: Brandon 1990), 196pp. and Do. (NY:
St Martins Press 1991) [into ISIS large print 1992]; The Village (Dingle:
Brandon 1992, 1996); The Woman of the House (Dingle: Mount Eagle
1997); Going to the Well (Dingle: Mount Eagle 1998), 89pp.; Across the River (Dingle: Mount Eagle 2000), 283pp.; Alice Taylor, A Fallen Leaf: A Journey Through Bereavement (Dnigle: Brandon Press 2004), 160pp.
Poetry, Close to the Earth (Dingle: Brandon Press 1989), port. on cover. Miscellaneous, Secrets of the Oak (Brandon ?1992), fairytale for children; An Evening with Alice Taylor [cassette 1991]; Night Before Christmas (Brandon 1994); A Country Miscellany (Mount Eagle 1999), 123pp. [essays]; Introduction to Stephen Rynne, Green Fields: A Journal of Irish Country Life [1938] (Dingle: Brandon 1995); A Child's Book of Irish Rhymes (Bath: Barefoot 1996), 48pp. [ill. by Nicola Emoe]
Reprints, To School Through the Fields and Quench the Lamp [one vol.] (London: Century Publ. 1991; 1996), 154, 173, 156pp.; Country Days; Quench the Lamp; To School Through the Fields [uniform edn.] (Brandon Press 1999), all 192pp.
Discography, An Evening with Alice Taylor (Dingle: Brandon Books 2001), sound-cassette [90mins.]
Notes
Books Ireland: ‘There is no writer more full of
the milk of human kindness ... this book will find a ready market among
her fans’ (Brandon Catalogue, 1994-95, p.9, attached to listing for
Country Days, 1988.)
The Night Before Christmas (1994): ‘The Magic of Christmas
was out in the moonlight haggard with the cattle and down the fields with
the sheep but most of all it was here in the holly-filled kitchen with
the little battered crib under the tree and the tall candle lighting the
window. The candle was the light of Christmas and the key that opened
the door into the holy night.’ (Brandon Press Catalogue 1994-95).
Further, ‘It was well-known in the town that the Taylor’s jennet
had to be kept at a safe distance and whenever he stood tethered to a
pole in the street he was given a wide berth by passers-by; his hooded
eyes were always on the look-out for a likely victim. He would stand by
the side of the street pretending to be asleep waiting for the unwary
to venture too close[,] and when absent-minded pedestrians came along
he would whip his long jaw in their direction and sample an elbow and
if he got them in time, or a bottom if they were moving away [... &c.]’
(‘Seasonal Tale from The Night Before Christmas’, printed
in Sunday Independent, 24 Dec. 1995 [Leisure], 9L.)
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)