Voices of Connemara - Bill Long

When Raymonde Standun photographed the local people of the Ireland's South Connemara Gaeltacht, she quickly sensed that there were stories to be told that lay beyond the reach a camera - unique places, unique people, and a nucleus of Irish culture with its language, music, and dance. Voices of Connemara keeps this heritage alive with its photographs, as well as the written word. The book is set against Standun's stunning images with stories of poitin for two bob, the baker's island-delivery boat, and the trials of line-fishing, alongside darker tales still vibrant in the collective memory, of landlord brutality, famine, and emigration. Voices of Connemara contains 51 interviews, among them: Martin Flaherty on the Black and Tans, Julia Greaney on the Fair Day at Spiddal, Cait Nic an Iomaire on making her own wedding dress, and Festy Conlon on his father's first fife. This is a book of inspired photographs and authentic stories that represents a captivating sample of Irish social history.