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Country Days
Alice Taylor's books have made her almost as beloved among Irish-Americans as St. Patrick himself. With nearly a million copies of her books in print internationally, she continues to be the most popular writer in Ireland today.
Country Days , her newest volume of glorious reminiscences of life in Eire, is now finally available in paperback. Like its predecessors -- including the classic To School Through the Fields -- it is filled with character and characters, delicious sensory memories, and stories remembered with whimsy and warmth. It may well be Taylor's best book yet.
"Sweet-natured and filled with amusement at life's twists and turns, Taylor ( To School Through the Fields ) should please fans and win herself new admirers with this collection of autobiographical anecdotes interspersed with homely poems celebrating everyday life." - Publishers Weekly
Country Days , her newest volume of glorious reminiscences of life in Eire, is now finally available in paperback. Like its predecessors -- including the classic To School Through the Fields -- it is filled with character and characters, delicious sensory memories, and stories remembered with whimsy and warmth. It may well be Taylor's best book yet.
"Sweet-natured and filled with amusement at life's twists and turns, Taylor ( To School Through the Fields ) should please fans and win herself new admirers with this collection of autobiographical anecdotes interspersed with homely poems celebrating everyday life." - Publishers Weekly
- GenresNonfictionMemoirIreland
160 pages, Paperback
First published February 15, 1996
6 people are currently reading
77 people want to read
About the author
Alice Taylor
109 books62 followersAlice Taylor lives in the village of Innishannon in County Cork, in a house attached to the local supermarket and post office. Since her eldest son has taken over responsibility for the shop, she has been able to devote more time to her writing.
Alice Taylor worked as a telephonist in Killarney and Bandon. When she married, she moved to Innishannon where she ran a guesthouse at first, then the supermarket and post office. She and her husband, Gabriel Murphy, who sadly passed away in 2005, had four sons and one daughter. In 1984 she edited and published the first issue of Candlelight, a local magazine which has since appeared annually. In 1986 she published an illustrated collection of her own verse.
To School Through the Fields was published in May 1988. It was an immediate success, launching Alice on a series of signing sessions, talks and readings the length and breadth of Ireland. Her first radio interview, forty two minutes long on RTÉ Radio's Gay Byrne Show, was the most talked about radio programme of 1988, and her first television interview, of the same length, was the highlight of the year on RTÉ television's Late Late Show. Since then she has appeared on radio programmes such as Woman's Hour, Midweek and The Gloria Hunniford Show, and she has been the subject of major profiles in the Observer and the Mail on Sunday.
To School Through the Fields quickly became the biggest selling book ever published in Ireland, and her sequels, Quench the Lamp, The Village, Country Days and The Night Before Christmas, were also outstandingly successful. Since their initial publication these books of memoirs have also been translated and sold internationally.
In 1997 her first novel, The Woman of the House, was an immediate bestseller in Ireland, topping the paperback fiction lists for many weeks. A moving story of land, love and family, it was followed by a sequel, Across the River in 2000, which was also a bestseller.
One of Ireland's most popular authors, she has continued writing fiction, non-fiction and poetry since.
Alice Taylor worked as a telephonist in Killarney and Bandon. When she married, she moved to Innishannon where she ran a guesthouse at first, then the supermarket and post office. She and her husband, Gabriel Murphy, who sadly passed away in 2005, had four sons and one daughter. In 1984 she edited and published the first issue of Candlelight, a local magazine which has since appeared annually. In 1986 she published an illustrated collection of her own verse.
To School Through the Fields was published in May 1988. It was an immediate success, launching Alice on a series of signing sessions, talks and readings the length and breadth of Ireland. Her first radio interview, forty two minutes long on RTÉ Radio's Gay Byrne Show, was the most talked about radio programme of 1988, and her first television interview, of the same length, was the highlight of the year on RTÉ television's Late Late Show. Since then she has appeared on radio programmes such as Woman's Hour, Midweek and The Gloria Hunniford Show, and she has been the subject of major profiles in the Observer and the Mail on Sunday.
To School Through the Fields quickly became the biggest selling book ever published in Ireland, and her sequels, Quench the Lamp, The Village, Country Days and The Night Before Christmas, were also outstandingly successful. Since their initial publication these books of memoirs have also been translated and sold internationally.
In 1997 her first novel, The Woman of the House, was an immediate bestseller in Ireland, topping the paperback fiction lists for many weeks. A moving story of land, love and family, it was followed by a sequel, Across the River in 2000, which was also a bestseller.
One of Ireland's most popular authors, she has continued writing fiction, non-fiction and poetry since.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
January 5, 2019
Don't let the 3 stars fool you. I thoroughly enjoyed these essays and used them as my bedtime reading for several nights. This was my introduction to this author, and I'll look for more books by her. Entertaining, funny, thoughtful, but always practical and down-to-earth. My kind of lady.
June 27, 2020
This book frustrated me so much, that I finished it to discover why it got to me so. There could be something to the material perhaps, these quiet scenes of Irish daily life, but Alice Taylor does not make them shine at all. I wonder how it gets almost four stars on average here.
The first of the short stories, Nanna's Corset, is a really wonderful remembrance of an endless summer outdoors at the end of childhood. However, then the stories become increasingly full of clichés, and the sentences full of jarring adverbs. The attempts at wittiness made me wonder who'd think they are original in any way.
All in all, it was a grating experience. The lack of richness in language and no deftness in description made it feel like a diary that should either have been kept private, or should have undergone much more rigorous editing - to weed out all the supposedly smart metaphors that just make it all sound plain and unimaginative.
To demonstrate how it regularly misses the mark, I'll quote the last line of the book:
"They had come to hear my story but each of them had their own story, some ordinary and some extraordinary, and sometimes in life the ordinary can be extraordinary."
If you think that's clever, then you should read the book.
The first of the short stories, Nanna's Corset, is a really wonderful remembrance of an endless summer outdoors at the end of childhood. However, then the stories become increasingly full of clichés, and the sentences full of jarring adverbs. The attempts at wittiness made me wonder who'd think they are original in any way.
All in all, it was a grating experience. The lack of richness in language and no deftness in description made it feel like a diary that should either have been kept private, or should have undergone much more rigorous editing - to weed out all the supposedly smart metaphors that just make it all sound plain and unimaginative.
To demonstrate how it regularly misses the mark, I'll quote the last line of the book:
"They had come to hear my story but each of them had their own story, some ordinary and some extraordinary, and sometimes in life the ordinary can be extraordinary."
If you think that's clever, then you should read the book.
December 4, 2014
This short collection of stories is a feel good reminiscing of growing up in the Irish countryside. Alice Taylor recalls her childhood, her marriage, her neighbors, her children, and her faith in often times hilarious and insightful clarity and the reader is stuck wishing that they too lived in a quaint little village in Ireland. At least that's how I felt. When I finished listening to the audiobook, I wanted to pack up my suitcase and head over. Such a serene sounding life, beautiful and filled with wonder. Listening to the audiobook was also nice because the narrator had such a wonderful voice (anyone with an Irish accent has a nice voice, but that's beside the point).
This is a must read or listen for anyone obsessed with the Irish countryside or small village life. It's a quick read (only a 4 hour audiobook, so I can only imagine how short the actual book is), easy to put down, because each chapter is a short essay or remembrance.
This is a must read or listen for anyone obsessed with the Irish countryside or small village life. It's a quick read (only a 4 hour audiobook, so I can only imagine how short the actual book is), easy to put down, because each chapter is a short essay or remembrance.
October 22, 2025
I love Alice Taylor's books; I say it all the time. While this book was good, it wasn't one of my favorites. Amongst the various typos the stories seem to drag, unlike Taylor's usually witty and charming writing, but I will say there were moments when I laughed at loud.
That being said, some of my favorite passages from the book:
"Flowers are beautiful but daffodils are special. They are the key that opens the door of spring, to tell us that it is time for a new beginning."
"Waves thundered against black rocks below, shouting an awesome welcome, while sea spray like natural holy water showered me in a returning benediction."
"His crowning glory was a sparse crop of hair, so well oiled that little rivulets ran down his bony face like mountain streams between brown rocks."
"His hand felt dry and brittle and I almost expected it to crinkle like autumn leaves between my fingers."
That being said, some of my favorite passages from the book:
"Flowers are beautiful but daffodils are special. They are the key that opens the door of spring, to tell us that it is time for a new beginning."
"Waves thundered against black rocks below, shouting an awesome welcome, while sea spray like natural holy water showered me in a returning benediction."
"His crowning glory was a sparse crop of hair, so well oiled that little rivulets ran down his bony face like mountain streams between brown rocks."
"His hand felt dry and brittle and I almost expected it to crinkle like autumn leaves between my fingers."
August 6, 2019
Brilliant! 😁
March 1, 2021
The author's autobiography, growing up in Newmarket, Co. Cork, Ireland, the hometown of my maternal grandfather. Enjoyed reading about simpler days of the 1940s Ireland.
March 1, 2022
Short vignettes of small town life in Ireland. Very sweet.
February 6, 2023
I'd read this before...
April 10, 2016
"Alice Taylor's books have made her almost as beloved among Irish Americans as St. Patrick himself. With nearly a million copies of her books in print internationallly, she continues to be the most popular writer in Ireland today. Country Days, her newest volume of glorious reminiscences of life in Eire, is now finally available in paperback. Like its predecessors -- including the classic To School Through the Fields -- it is filled with character and characters, delicious sensory memories, and stories remembered with whimsy and warmth. It may well be Taylor's best book yet."
~~back cover
I think you have to have grown up or at least lived in Ireland for these vignettes to have any meaning for you. Since I didn't, the meaning & rememberences were lost on me.
~~back cover
I think you have to have grown up or at least lived in Ireland for these vignettes to have any meaning for you. Since I didn't, the meaning & rememberences were lost on me.
March 28, 2009
Taylor is the author of several personal reminiscences of country life in Ireland. This book was a somewhat eclectic collection of stories, some humorous and quirky, some feeling very Irish, some more obscure or random in their feeling. Supposedly the author's first book ("To School Through the Fields") in the series was her best, but I enjoyed these stories and the reading of the narrator.
August 23, 2010
Am 43 pages into this collection of short true stories/poems of Taylor's youth in County Cork, Ireland, and it's just wonderful. She is the Irish Miss Read, if you're familiar with the latter's work. Full of warmth and humor, a perfect antidote to and temporary escape from the world we wake up to every day. Highly recommended.
April 26, 2015
A cozy, personal story about various events in the author's life in her small town in Ireland. This lovely little book offers a first-person glimpse on neighbors, relatives, and life in general. Since each chapter is a different and unconnected story, it's an easy book to pick up and put down to read at a later time. But it's short and charming, so you'll probably read it all at once anyway.
Read
March 16, 2008Lovely book of short stories - reminiscences, really - of the author's life in an Irish village. There must be someone close to her with Down's Syndrome as references turn up in the stories. Sweet to read.
I'm also still re-reading, as slowly as possible, Catcher In The Rye....
I'm also still re-reading, as slowly as possible, Catcher In The Rye....
November 7, 2010
Although this wasn't as good to me as the first two books, I really enjoyed Country Days for its short views into everyday life. I missed the lovely detailed descriptions of how things were done that the first two books had.
September 5, 2012
So far an enjoyable read
December 5, 2011
Finally reading this delightful book, which my SIL gave me in 1997. Better late than never...
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews