Born in Ballycoan, Northern Ireland, Ruth Schwertfeger represents history and memory in an impressionistic memoir of her childhood on a small farm and attending a girls' school in Belfast. Through the author's girlhood and discovery of her own national and religious identity, this humorous memoir is shaped significantly by images of Schwertfeger's father—"the Wee Wild One"—who spent his days in delightful mischief on a Purdysburn farm in the early 1900s. Schwertfeger provides her own interpretations of characters existing before her time and connects these and her own childhood memories in Ireland to her life today.
These unmistakably North Irish stories are unified by a common language, which also emerges as a touchstone that draws all Irish home. Schwertfeger's voice reflects a shared and persistent desire for all Irish people to return to the roots that hold them, all the while appreciating her experiences traveling and studying European culture as an academic. She also explores many facets of social life in Northern Ireland that are often hidden behind the stereotypes of history and public rhetoric. Her stories convey a passionate and articulate woman seeking connect ions between the separations that occur through time.
