Joe McGowan

The history of a nation is not in parliaments and battlefields, but in what thepeople say to each other on fair days and high days, and in how they farm andquarrel, and go on pilgrimage.

W.B. Yeats, Introduction to Stories from Carleton

‘There was two foot long recesses in the bottom of the kitchen walls. There’swhere they used to hatch the geese. I saw them in our house. We closed themoff one time the station Mass was coming. The space under the dresser wasused for nesting too. I knew a brood of goslings to be hatched in our house athome. The goose died an’ would ye believe it, the gander went in an’ hatchedthe eggs — that will happen. Did ye know that if ye pet the goslings, take themaway from the goose, ye could go to the bog an’ the whole lot’d follow ye?They’re very aisy petted, an’ pigs the same.’

This anecdote and many others inside take us on a journey into the secret heart ofIrish country life in the 20th century. It depicts too the universal battle of managainst the elements. Beginning with an account of the villagers’ death-defying ef-forts to recover wreckage from an unforgiving ocean, A Bitter Wind is a ramblethrough an Ireland of the heart that no longer exists. Unfolded here are the beliefs of ordinary people, their superstitions, customs,

fears and joys, their struggle to extract a living from the ruthless extremes of Na-ture on land, sea and shore. In these pages we re-live the adventures of ordinaryindividuals who, in snatching a livelihood from the forces of nature, lived extraor-dinary lives. Here you will meet the bewitched hares that stole milk from the farmer’s cows

and learn of the preventive measures and antidotes used against them. Stories ofthe Evil Eye, red-haired women and the seachrán ramble through the pages: all anintegral part of the warp and weft of everyday life not so long ago. Home grownremedies for toothache, arthritis, mumps, ‘elf-shot’ cows and many other ailmentsare revealed and much, much more…

What the critics say about McGowan’s previous work:‘Enthralling… The writing is poetically descriptive flowing along enthusiasticallyfrom the laptop of a talented researcher, and chronicler, about a life unchanged forcenturies and then, suddenly gone… A valuable addition to a genre whose formi-dable icons have been Kevin Danaher and Robin Flower.’

Joe Kennedy The Irish Independent

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Joe Mc Gowan is a native ofMullaghmore, Co. Sligo. Born onthe family farm, he worked there inhis early years until emigrating tothe U.S.A. in the ‘60s.Shortly after his return to Irelandin the ‘70’s, Joe, becoming keenlyaware of the accelerating pace ofchange in the Irish countryside,decided to record the old lorebefore it vanished completely. Formany years he has been dedicated topreserving, visually and orally,Ireland’s disappearing traditionsand customs. His books are inspired by countlessnights spent listening to the storiesof the older generation augmentedby meticulous archival research. Hisshort stories, cameos of Irish lifeboth past and present, featurefrequently in magazines, on localradio and on RTE. The days of thestoryteller are gone but theirknowledge and lore will, happily,live on in these pages.

His previous books include: Echoesof a Savage Land; In the Shadow ofBenbulben; Inishmurray: Gale Stone andFire; Inishmurray: Island Voices;Constance Markievicz: The People’sCountess; Sligo: Land of Destiny; and AFairy Wind CD

A Bitterwind