In a fast-paced, modern Ireland it can be difficult to imagine the daily lives of our nineteenth-century predecessors. However, in this book Olive Sharkey reconciles past and present with evocative descriptions of the lives, activities and material possessions of irish people living between 1800 and the 1930s. The implements of the home, the farm, the garden and for home-crafts are recounted, with hundreds of detailed drawings in the authentic folk art style. These once familiar objects - bittles, butterworkers, noggins and truckle beds - are looked at anew in the context of the people who used them and depended on them for their livelihood.

Author Biography

Olive Sharkey comes from a farming family in the Irish midlands. She has worked as an architect's draftsperson, and after her marriage began writing and drawing and contributing to newspapers and magazines. Her other interests include natural history and photography.