The weans of Rowallan

The rarest kind of children's book, one that simply tells its episodic story with wit, without a moral, and yet conveys a vivid sense of characters, place and time. The setting is northwest Ireland just over a hundred years ago, a decaying Anglo-Irish house inhabited by a tragically widowed mother of five lively children and a few old family retainers. The mother took to her bed after the death of her husband, leaving the children free to roam the wild countryside and interact with the often eccentric villagers, farmers, and fisher-folk who make up the sparse population. There is a distinctly Irish blend of tragedy, comedy, and wonderful language that makes this rare book a treasure. It is a pleasure to see that this edition has the inimitable pen and ink illustrations by Peggy Bacon that were the perfect complement to the edition that I enjoyed as a child.