"These illustrations are whimsical complements to Lee's enchanting descriptions of dramatic landscapes, simple and extravagant meals, and spontaneous interactions with local people." – Foreword Reviews
In this sequel of Leslie's Travel Companions, the author explores the homelands, history, and culture of Ireland. Her charming memoir entries interweave a visual feast of colorful plein air illustrations, informative hand-drawn maps, and thought-provoking discourse.
The author moves to Dingle, Ireland for a month in November to visit ancient sites, surf-pounded coves and cliffs, and to see what life is like on this remote and beautiful peninsula in the off-season. In the evenings, she samples many excellent restaurants and lively music-filled pubs, then retires to her apartment on the harbor to read Irish history by her fireside. When friends and family arrive, the adventures continue up two-track paths, into bays filled with a blizzard of salt balls, alongside a remote horse fair, and inside a storm that sends the Spanish fishing fleet in the safe harbor in Dingle.
In a later spring trip, she settles in a cottage on Roaring Water Bay in southwest Cork to discover the territory of her direct maternal ancestry. There she searches the records to learn what life was like in that tragic time for the people of Ireland before her family emigrated to America in 1849. Delving deeper, she considers her own loss of thousands of years of cultural heritage in contrast to the relatively recent family history in America of less than two hundred years. All the while, she travels the exquisite coast from the land and ocean, samples many fine restaurants, traditional music in pubs, hunkers down in a near hurricane, and enjoys the locals and visitors from home.
Leslie's Travel Companion trilogy on Ireland and Scotland: Book 1: We Are the Land, Ireland, Book 2: The Hole Made by a Waterfall, Ireland, and Book 3: Six Degrees of Latitude, Travel Tales of Scotland and Ireland.
And before you leave on your trip, make sure to bring the essential take-along, pocket-sized Leslie's Field Guide to Ireland.