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A Cocoon With A View
Back in the last weeks of February, which now feels like a hundred years ago, we here in Innishannon were busy planning what was termed 'The Big Rake Off' of the dead grass on the long sloping bank beside the road coming into the village. Happily unaware of forthcoming events, we were totally focused on creating our wild flower to get something like this going you need a 'metheal', a word which prior to the corona virus was unknown to anyone under 40.
Then everything changed ... Exploring the themes of community, family and personal wellbeing, Alice Taylor examines a world changed utterly by the arrival of a once-in-a-century infectious disease.
Heart-warming, reflective yet always practical, Alice is a wonderful guide in a world unlike the one we lived in only a few short months ago.
Then everything changed ... Exploring the themes of community, family and personal wellbeing, Alice Taylor examines a world changed utterly by the arrival of a once-in-a-century infectious disease.
Heart-warming, reflective yet always practical, Alice is a wonderful guide in a world unlike the one we lived in only a few short months ago.
119 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 15, 2020
5 people are currently reading
16 people want to read
About the author
Alice Taylor
198 books60 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.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
June 21, 2021
This is adorable. An older woman documents her time in lockdown or ‘cocooning’. It’s very much conversational and reminded me of visits to older relatives when they catch up with everything over a cup of tea from neighbourhood gossip, gardening, snippets of wisdom, personal history and anything and everything. The narrator does a brilliant job too of capturing the story. W
April 5, 2021
A delightful listen from an Irish older woman in lockdown during the COVID-19 panademic
January 6, 2022
Thank you for the sweet Xmas present (2021) from Sister Mary Riordan. I have been trying on the concept of "nesting" this winter and this book dovetailed nicely with that idea. Cocooning is the Irish term for what we (in the U.S.) have been calling "stay at home" during the pandemic. Alice explains her processes of coping with isolation. Like most of us, cocooning has given her new eyes for the beauty of nature around her. I particularly enjoyed the swift (bird) relocation project that she was working on with her son-in-law in the spring of 2020. So yes, the book covers months March through May of 2020. As we know we are way further down the road from that and grappling with the continued uncertainty and wreckage of the pandemic. More like this please! I want to read what happened and what happens to Alice next!
May 21, 2021
Reflections and lessons learned:
“Nothing focuses our mind like our own mortality”
I had heard nothing about this book but spotted it on a Library new releases list and was not disappointed by the wonderfully humanistic summary of living in lockdown. I had also not heard the word meitheal before but had turned to a little basic gardening myself - an ongoing slowing of life opportunity and a need to reconnect with a bit of nature, perhaps for a healing/living parallel.
“Beggars can’t be choosers and neither can cocooners...”
Our hoarding and full house did suddenly feel useful during the last two years as we did have so much available to us! Other sensible resonant elements included valuing good bed linen, Doberman’s, polishing silver, rescued conversations that wouldn’t have happened, birdsong - simply slowing down, listening, empathising and offering and sharing gifts wherever needed. Fantastic end highlighting the audiobook provider with the phrase about recommendations - “we’re sure they’ll love you for it!”
“Tidy your house tidy your mind...”
“Nothing focuses our mind like our own mortality”
I had heard nothing about this book but spotted it on a Library new releases list and was not disappointed by the wonderfully humanistic summary of living in lockdown. I had also not heard the word meitheal before but had turned to a little basic gardening myself - an ongoing slowing of life opportunity and a need to reconnect with a bit of nature, perhaps for a healing/living parallel.
“Beggars can’t be choosers and neither can cocooners...”
Our hoarding and full house did suddenly feel useful during the last two years as we did have so much available to us! Other sensible resonant elements included valuing good bed linen, Doberman’s, polishing silver, rescued conversations that wouldn’t have happened, birdsong - simply slowing down, listening, empathising and offering and sharing gifts wherever needed. Fantastic end highlighting the audiobook provider with the phrase about recommendations - “we’re sure they’ll love you for it!”
“Tidy your house tidy your mind...”
June 27, 2021
I loved this book. No it’s not worth the 5 stars I’ve given it but I’m still doing it as it is so good. A feel good book that I read as an audiobook. Very relevant in every way atm. This woman is a star.
March 6, 2021
This was a lovely little read. Capturing a moment in time and the resilience of many of those cocooning.
April 9, 2025
Listened to the audiobook, but didn’t like the narrator.
October 13, 2025
Delightful.
June 30, 2021
Simply lovely to listen to this audiobook book. Beautifully read.
August 10, 2021
A sweet read and an interesting look at what lockdown feels like!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews