Tom Phelan's We Were Rich and We Didn’t Know It

17 Audrey Avenue,Oyster Bay NY 11771

12 March, 2022

Description

Author Tom Phelan will be joining us to discuss We Were Rich and We Didn’t Know It: A Memoir of My Irish Boyhood In Honor of Irish American Heritage Month Author Tom Phelan will be joining us to discuss We Were Rich and We Didn’t Know It: A Memoir of My Irish Boyhood. Tom Phelan, who was born and raised in County Laois in the Irish midlands, spent his formative years working with his wise and demanding father as he sought to wrest a livelihood from a farm that was often wet, muddy, and back-breaking. It was a time before rural electrification, the telephone, and indoor plumbing; a time when the main modes of travel were bicycle and animal cart; a time when small farmers struggled to survive and turkey eggs were hatched in the kitchen cupboard; a time when the Church exerted enormous control over Ireland. Phelan had just turned fifty when his first novel, In the Season of the Daisies, was accepted for publication. Since then, Phelan has written five other novels: Iscariot, Derrycloney, The Canal Bridge, Nailer, and Lies the Mushroom Pickers Told. Born and reared in Ireland, he now lives in New York. We Were Rich and We Didn't Know It recounts Tom's upbringing in an isolated, rural community from the day he was delivered by the local midwife. With tears and laughter, it speaks to the strength of the human spirit in the face of life's adversities. He will take questions and autograph copies purchased at Theodore’s Books. Please let us know if you plan to come so that we may have enough seating and books available.