David Thomson's memoir of his ten years spent as a tutor in Ireland picks up the thread of "Nairn in Darkness and Light", the story of his Scottish childhood. In 1932, at the age of 18, he went to Woodbrook, a house that gives its name to a small rural area in Ireland. This book grew out of two great loves - for Woodbrook, and for Phoebe, his pupil. It builds up a picture of a genteel pre-war society, of Irish history and troubled Anglo-Irish relations, and of a delightful family. Above all, it portrays the enchantment of falling in love and the desolation of bereavement.