Organ VoluntaryThese vivid, masterful short stories explore the condition of Irelands people as the country steps cautiously towards modernity. Caught between tradition and change, the characters portrayed long to move forward, yet fear what they may lose. In the title story, Organ Voluntary, an undervalued parish organist clashes with a vain young cleric, culminating in a hilariously disastrous Easter spectacle. A Snowman in July describes a lonely schoolteacher

The essays are accompanied by over fifty photographs

Michael O’Doherty

intriguing

Over the next three decades

the Church

He was Record Secretary and Silver Medallist for Oratory in 1967-68

From the narrow alleyways and backstreets of the Liberties and the north inner city to the leafy environs of the south side

an Irish cardiologist and clinical scientist of international repute

Finland and farther afield

appears here for the first time in English

Utterly humane

‘The Lost Decade’