Competition: Win Alice Taylor’s ‘The Journey’

Posted on 29 November 2009

A perfect antidote to the stresses and strains of modern living, this delightful gift book is an important reminder of the simple things in life that matter most…

‘As C.S. Lewis once described the experience of reading Edmund Spenser, to read Alice is ‘to grow in mental health’’ Hibernia

‘She has become the most popular and universally loved author in memory’ Mail on Sunday

‘[In her poetry] she remains honest and unpretentious’ Books Ireland

Alice Taylor’s poems have proved perennially popular. Some have been woven into her phenomenally successful memoirs, and she has published three previous books of poetry. Organised thematically, this substantial collection includes sections entitled “The Home Place”, “A Village Romance”, “Grief and Grace”, and “Winter Ploughing”.

Alice Taylor is the biggest-selling author ever published in Ireland. Born on 28 February 1938 on a farm near Newmarket in County Cork, she married and moved to Innishannon where she ran a guesthouse at first, then the supermarket and post office. She and her husband, Gabriel Murphy, who died in December 2005, had four sons and one daughter. In 1984 she edited and published the first issue of Candlelight, a local magazine which has since appeared annually.

In 1986 she published an illustrated collection of her own verse. To School Through the Fields, her first memoir, was published by Brandon in 1988 and was an immediate and unprecedented success, becoming the biggest selling book ever published in Ireland, and her sequels, Quench the Lamp, The Village, Country Days, The Night Before Christmas and The Parish were also outstandingly successful. Since their initial publication these books of memoirs have also been translated and sold internationally.

Alice Taylor’s ‘The Journey – New and Selected Poems’ is published by Brandon available in hardback  at €18.99

To stand a chance of winning this book, simply answer the following question:

Alice Taylor was born in 1938 near which County Cork town?

Send your answer along with your full contact details to: Alice Taylor Competition, Coast & Country Magazine, Shannon House, Connolly Street, Bandon, Co. Cork. Closing date for entries is December 31st 2009.