This illustrated title is a look back in time, not so long ago, when families held wakes for relatives taking the boat to America, knowing they would probably never return. The author's own grandmother went down on the Titanic, or so she liked to claim (throughout her long life). In fact, it was her photograph, en route to a relative, that sank on the ill-fated ship in 1912, but it's just one of hundreds of stories that are contained in this book. There are stories of daily life in rural communities, cutting peat in the bog, washing clothes in the river, and the wild celebrations after the threshing was finished. All aspects of Irish life in the 20th century are explored, including living in the cities, tales of home and hearth, stories of the horsemen of Kildare, fishermen of Kerry, of marriage and emigration. Many of the old photographs are from untapped Irish sources.