Growing Up with Ireland: A Century of Memories from Our Oldest and Wisest Citizens

by Valerie Cox

'An incredible portal to our past' The Sunday Times

On 7 January 1922, Ireland became a free state. Born into that era of turbulence and hope were the twenty-six women and men whose stories and memories of a lifetime are captured by cherished Irish journalist Valerie Cox.

From recollections of the big snow of 1932, to Éamon de Valera speaking to crowds in a rural town square, to the dawning of electricity, these evocative pieces reflect both a simpler time and a tougher one, where childhood was short and the world of work beckoned from an early age.

In living memory are tales of 'rambling houses' - where each night neighbours would walk over the fields to sit around the fire, drink tea and tell stories - raising a family in an earlier era, the scourge of TB, hiding out in Santry Woods when the Black and Tans raided, and pride in a father who was interned in Frongach after the
Easter Rising. Also explored are thoughts on the good and bad of how life has transformed over a century.

Growing Up With Ireland is a compelling portrait of an Ireland in some ways warmly familiar, and in others changed beyond recognition, from those who were there at the beginning.

Genres: Nonfiction

336 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 26, 2019

Reviews

[Fon E · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of snapshots of the lives of 26 people who were born in or around the creation of the independent country of Ireland from 1922 onwards. By now in their 90's, they have lived varied and interesting lives through times of huge change and turmoil, not just in Ireland but on a worldwide scale too.

Two of the people featured both coincidentally went to Germany in 1938 as part of an exchange programme in their respective schools, landing right into the midst of Nazi Germany.

The individual stories are interesting and I did learn from them but I imagine it would appeal more to older readers. I did feel disappointed that most of the people interviewed didn't seem to hold much regard for the generations coming up after them, even though it is their own children and grandchildren. I thought that was quite sad to hear.