Raised in London with Irish and Scottish roots, Emily O’Hare made a name for herself as a wine buyer and head sommelier at The River Café, London. That was before she fell in love with Italy and decided to make it her home. She now runs wine and yoga retreats at Castello di Potentino, a medieval castle in Tuscany. Her longterm goal, in addition to growing her retreat business, … [Read more...] about What Are You Like? Emily O’Hare Under the Tuscan Sun
Issues
The Pain and the Pleasure
Reek Sunday, the last Sunday in July, when pilgrims climb Ireland's holiest mountain, Croagh Patrick went ahead with far few climbers this year. Fr. Charlie McDonnell, parish priest of Westport, speaking to Patsy McGarry for the Irish Times, explained that the numbers at the mountain were "the smallest attendance of any Sunday this year, estimating that “between 400 to 500 … [Read more...] about The Pain and the Pleasure
Sláinte! The Doors of Dublin
The story behind the Georgian houses in Dublin City and why no two adjacent doors are alike. Mention the word “doors” to someone of the Boomer Generation (me, for instance) and the first free association response could easily be The Doors, that late 1960s music trio featuring Irish American lead singer Jim Morrison, whose iconic song “Light My Fire” earned the group a … [Read more...] about Sláinte! The Doors of Dublin
The Touch of The Poet
Five years ago this summer, a dream came true – but not quite the way the daydreamer envisioned it might. A decade earlier, I approached the poet and Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney, proposing a magazine profile of him and requesting an interview in Dublin. An enthusiastic admirer of his work, I’d just published an assessment of his translation of Beowulf – “a cross-cultural … [Read more...] about The Touch of The Poet
Review of Books
Books of Irish and Irish American interest. ℘℘℘ FICTION Pond By Claire-Louise Bennett English writer Claire-Louise Bennett’s debut novel Pond is a through-the-looking-glass experience of the human psyche in its most cloistered state, where the commonplace is ignited into something far brighter and stranger. Some time after an academia-induced breakdown, an anonymous young … [Read more...] about Review of Books