Peter Costello
The papers and the bookshop windows are full of Christmastime promotions. Everyone is spoilt for choice. So I thought I should act like an editor and provide details of what seems to be an essential selection which all will enjoy.
Dear Gay: Letters to the Gay Byrne Show, a hand written history of modern Ireland , compiled by Suzy Byrne
(Gill Books, €26.99)
For a full quarter of a century Gay Byrne was the leading daytime broadcaster. His radio show received a constant stream of letters from his listeners all over the country. They treated Gay like an honorary uncle.
They poured out to him their hopes and fears, not just for themselves but for the nation and how it was changing all around them. Of course, many of these were funny; many ,though serious at the time, can be read with amusement, but others remain enshrined in their loneliness and agony.
As he read them out he entered into a sort of continuous dialogue with the people of Ireland, about every topic under the sun, and sometimes from darkness too.
A selection of these has now been assembled by the broadcaster’s daughter Suzy. The Gay Byrne touch still continues, as she provides an illuminating commentary on them and the time they come from.
Dear Gay she claims is “a sweeping handwritten history of a radically changed Ireland and a fitting tribute to Ireland’s best-loved broadcaster”.
Milltown: a history, by David Costello
(Wordwell, €50.00)
This is a local history of the South Dublin village and district that spans 4,000 years, yet as is so often the case the events of the 19th and 20th Century dominate.
Still that aside, all local histories are important. They are always the product of a loving attention to details. Those concerned with the history of south Dublin will want this.
Those who live elsewhere, however, should think of buying and reading their own local history. The more we try to know about the past, the more we will be able to learn. (The author is no relation of the Books Editor, in case readers are wondering.)
An Eye On Ireland, by Justine McCarthy
(Hachette Ireland, €23.99)
Author McCarthy entered journalism in the “male dominated world of the 1980s”. In her career she has been able to cover a huge range of topics in a rapidly changing Ireland.
But was there ever a time when Ireland was not rapidly changing, I wonder. However, for young adults she will bring issues they have heard about alive. But I thought it was the women journalists of the 1960s who broke the mould, or so they told us.
Still we all have tendencies to think that when we were young we were the ones (as they say) ‘present at the Creation’.
The Lamplighters of the Phoenix Park: A Unique History of One of Ireland’s Most Famous Places, by Donal Fallon, with Frank and John Flanagan
(Hachette Books, €32.20)
Frank and John Flanagan relate their family’s 150-year-old connection with the Victorian gas lamps of the Park. Anyone walking through the park must have wondered about these.
The events in the public life of the Park over that time are woven into an unique family chronicle. The Flanagans and other working people of the city, however, were those who gave the city its identity.
The common people are the real heroes of a nation, and not so much the belauded patriots and others. A great read altogether, another personal story of universal interest.
Raised by the Zoo: My life with Elephants and Other Animals, by Gerry Creighton
(Gill Books, €22.99)
Gerry Creighton was a leading figure in RTÉ’s long running show The Zoo. The title is literally true. His father worked for the zoo, and Gerry joined the staff in his teens. He is now retired.
What there is to be known about the zoo and its traditions from a Victorian institution into an important player in ecological survival and education, Gerry Creighton knows. This delightful and entertaining book is one which the whole family will enjoy, as they enjoyed the show which he animated.