Twelve Sheep: Life lessons from a lambing season

by John Connell

For John Connell, the lambing season on his County Longford farm begins in the autumn. In the sheep shed, he surveys the dozen females in his care and contemplates the work ahead as the season slowly turns to winter, then spring.
The twelve sheep have come into his life at just the right moment. After years of hard work, John felt a deep tiredness creeping up on him, a sadness that he couldn't shrug off. Having always sought spiritual guidance, he comes to realise that, in addition to the soothing words of literature and philosophy, perhaps the way ahead involves this simple flock of sheep. In the hard work of livestock rearing, in the long nights in the shed helping the sheep to lamb, he can reflect on what life truly means.
Like the flock that he shepherds, this book is both simple and profound, a meditation on the rituals of farming life and a primer on the lessons that nature can teach us. As spring returns and the sheep and their lambs are released into the fields, skipping with joy, John recalls the words of Henry David Thoreau, reminding us to 'live in each season as it passes.'

Genres: Ireland, Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2024

About the author

John Connell's work has been published in Granta's New Irish Writing issue. His memoir, The Farmer's Son, was a #1 bestseller in Ireland. He lives on his family farm, Birchview, in County Longford, Ireland

Reviews

[Vasil]

Приключвам книгата със смесени чувства: на удовлетворение, че е попаднала при мен (благодаря ти, Ники!), и на тъга, че простотата и яснотата, с които дарява читателя, са трудно откриваеми и вероятно няма скоро да ги срещна. "Дванадесет овце" на Джон Конъл е нужна литература в епоха, която до такава степен ни занимава с проблемите на обществото, че връзката ни с природата се усеща все по-изтъняваща. Тя е припомняне, че има някои работи извън нас, които ни изпълват с възхищение и смирение, било то когато ги възприемаме като нещо по-висше или като нещо, което се намира под човека. Двандесетте урока са кратки и директни, но не особено дълбоки – и все пак, нужно ли е ценното да бъде само онова, което изисква особено мисловно усилие, за да се стигне до същината му? Конъл дава друга перспектива: че изживяването и прозрението са също толкова ценни пътища към сърцевината, колкото и вникването чрез осмисляне.

[Laura M · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun and interesting book to read. It had some neat and interesting facts you won't come across unless you're looking for them. It also was just really nostalgic to be for some reason, it just reminded me of my childhood, running around the countryside in Ireland.

[Miranda O’Shea · Rating 5 out of 5]

An ode to my favourite profession, my way of life. This book is a meditation, grounding and beautiful as it is real. As a farmer, I loved the beauty the author brought to what can sometimes feel mundane.

If you are not from an agriculture background, this book will still bring you closer to yourself. It takes the life lessons we all encounter daily and shows you them through the lens of the land and those who tend it.

A must-read by an excellent Irish author. 5 stars. 🤩

[John Pehle · Rating 2 out of 5]

"The Lambing Season" was just okay. Part of my lack of enthusiasm is probably due to a false expectation of what the book would be like. Author John Connell wobbles between deep reflection and humble brags about his "journey". At times, I felt kinship and found it quickly followed by feeling lectured. Perhaps that is the way of the world with this sort of memoir but I have read better. I wish Connell and his lambs well but I am not likely to read him again.

[Lydia Schoch · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nature is filled with lessons.

One of the bright spots involved the tale of how Mr. Connell started off with twelve sheep to begin with. It’s shared early on and was filled with amusing details about some of the possible problems one can encounter when searching for this type of animal in a world where not every seller is honest or has the buyer’s best interests in mind. Honestly, it reminded me a little of pitfalls of online dating as far as needing to vet everything carefully goes.

I was surprised to find so much religious content in a book that was marketed as a memoir about sheep husbandry. My expectation was that the majority of the content would be directly related to the care and keeping of sheep, so it was disappointing to see how often the text veered away from that to discuss his faith instead. Yes, these two topics theoretically could be combined into the same story, but I’d expect the blurb to represent that accurately and for the author to spend much more time explaining why they are so intimately connected in his mind. It’s like writing the first few chapters of a sweet historical romance novel only for zombies to suddenly show up in chapter four and start biting everyone. Authors, please don’t obscure your genres or mislead your audience! It’s not good writing and it is frustrating for people who are specifically looking for the sort of stuff you write as well as for those who have excellent and sometimes even traumatic reasons for avoiding certain genres. There are readers out there who would love a theological farming book, so it only does a disservice to the rest of us to suddenly be pulled into a completely unrelated genre without warning instead of letting everyone know upfront what to expect.

With that being said, I did enjoy the descriptions of what it means to be emotionally attached to a piece of land. That was an off-topic detail that ended up feeling related to the main storyline, and it helped to explain why someone would persevere through the difficult aspects of farming when it would be so easy to sell everything off, move to the city, and no longer have to worry about animal hijinks or sudden illnesses. A little more of this would have been appropriate in my opinion.

The inclusion of so much theology and philosophy also meant that there wasn’t much space left for sheep stories which, to be honest, is the entire reason I picked up this book in the first place. As someone who has only ever interacted with sheep briefly and with a sturdy wooden fence planted firmly between us in real life, there was so much I didn’t know about this species that this book barely skimmed over. The author had a wonderful opportunity here to paint a vivid picture in his readers’ minds of how sheep behave, what it’s like to interact with them, and maybe even a little bit about what they think about the world around them. To see it squandered made me sad as I would have happily read something twice this length if it had genuinely been about the lives of sheep.

I did appreciate how short most of the chapters were. They were almost like a series of very short stories that followed the same themes, so this could be a good thing to read for people who only want to dive in for a few pages at a time. This also made the occasional longer chapters, such as the one on rural decay and the downside of encouraging young people in rural places to seek higher educations and then jobs in other places, more meaningful.

I’d recommend The Lambing Season to readers who love the inspirational genre and know in advance that this is what they’re signing up for.

[Juilee Decker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful journey told as a transition from a professional (and highly-successful) career of globe-trotting and city life to the ways on an Irish family farm where nature and the presence of God are woven together to unveil 12 “lessons” or, rather, musings on how a search for self can reveal ways of knowing applicable to readers’ own journeys. Each chapter’s telling consists of life reflections, reports on John’s dozen head of sheep that he cares for, as well as quotes from thinkers and writers such as Plato, Henri Nouwen, Rachel Carson, and others. Context of the author’s Irish Catholic roots are helpful but not essential to obtaining meaning from reading the book.

[Raymond Bucko · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very poetic and prosaic. Essentially it is about identity and ecology. The book is beautifully written and basically it is an extended reflection on being a farmer and a shepherd. The author maintain that Irish culture is essentially agrarian. This can be applied to many cultures. Thus you need not be Irish to love this book. The book takes place during a year when the author had moved back to Ireland. He manages to cover more than a year and more than just farming. This book was read to me and it was written very well. It is a short work but it is filled with
wisdom.

[Edel · Rating 4 out of 5]

*4.5 Stars*

A beautiful uplifting book that I would recommend to all!

Set in rural Ireland, John Connell reflects on life at his Irish farm and on the journey that lead him back home there to look after his 12 sheep during lambing season.

John Connell's books always reminds me how beautiful the Irish countryside is, I'm so lucky to be able to see it every day.

[Anna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Although this is a smallish book I found only about four pages which actually mentioned ‘sheep’ so I only managed to get about three quarter way through. Should you wish to read more of a psychological review from the Irish author this would indeed make good reading probably.

[Becky Stout · Rating 4 out of 5]

While a little scattered in terms of ideas, I can appreciate this author’s journeys and how returning home to raise lambs has provided a vehicle for all he’s learned. Learning to shepherd ourselves through growth and with grace is a valuable lesson for all of us.

[Anne Donnelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read, highly recommend it.

[Laura Flynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeously reflective

[Will G · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just wanted more about sheep, is that too much to ask?

[Amy Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the book. I couldn’t but it down.

[Jeff Brennan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely warm book about farm life and how it can reflect on life in so many ways.I felt my spirit lift a little with this book.

[Mya · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thoroughly enjoyable book, great stories and lessons for us all.

[Snappy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very little to do with lambs or the lambing season

[Erin Willson · Rating 4 out of 5]

nearly a 5. delightful read

[Caroline Price · Rating 2 out of 5]

Readable but not ground breaking. A man comes home to farm sheep after wandering and studying and writing. Quotes all the greats.

[Donna M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book about farming, lambs and spirituality—how a life on the farm connected him to something greater.

[Jennybeast · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is less "stories of life on an Irish family farm" than meditations with religious overtones on the subject matter of faming and rearing sheep. It's a memoir of a seeker. It's got a certain beauty to it. It wasn't at all what I hoped it would be, but even though I found the religious overtones uncomfortable, I appreciated that they are only party Christian, and nuanced. It was interesting to read about Connell's journeys. I really hated the section that centered a migrant worker in Washington because it very much wasn't clear if she even knows that he's writing about her or has inserted her picture into his book. It felt messy, in the way contemplation is messy. And also peaceful and full of gratitude, which I appreciated. It was useful to me, so that I may avoid this writer in the future, because I really did want to read farm stories and this really is not that, but also if you are looking for a meditation centering sheep, this is definitely a great book to pick up.

Advanced Reader's Copy Provided by Edelweiss.