Remember When?

+++ More than 20,000 readers in Ireland and Irish communities worldwide +++

Looking for a present for your mother, father or grandparents that will not sit on the shelf, but will get them talking?

The wireless on the dresser. The paper on the kitchen table. The neighbour who had heard it already and came in to say so. That is how the big news came into the house in Ireland - and how people remember it: not by the year, but by where they were and who was in the room.

Remember When? Ireland gathers 30 pieces of news from 1946 to 2020, told slowly and the way they reached the kitchen. It is not a history book or an analysis, and it takes no side.

The Big Snow of 1947. Electricity reaching the countryside. Ration books disappearing. Ronnie Delany in Melbourne. The boat to England. Television arriving. The man on the moon. Dana in Amsterdam. Decimal Day. The Pope in the Phoenix Park. Italia '90. Riverdance. The ceasefire. The Good Friday Agreement. The euro. The smoking ban. The Queen in Dublin. Katie Taylor in London. And the spring when everything stopped.

Every chapter includes:

• A short text in large print - 16 pt, written to be read aloud
• Perhaps you remember - five small scenes from those days
• What stayed with us - what the event left behind in everyday life
• A YOUR MEMORIES box with three questions that have no wrong answers

That means 150 memory prompts and 90 conversation questions across the book.

Why this book is different:

• PROPER LARGE PRINT - short chapters and airy pages that are easier on the eyes
• TOLD FROM THE KITCHEN - the range, the turf, the messages, the good room and the parish, rather than statistics and analysis
• NO SIDE TAKEN - difficult events are included because people remember them, but told gently and without blame or painful detail
• WRITTEN FOR IRELAND, NOT ADAPTED - Irish news, Irish kitchens and Irish English, from town and country, coast and midlands
• TO READ ALONE OR ALOUD - one story is plenty for an afternoon, and some days a single page will do

The book also makes room for those who grew up in the North, moved to Ireland later in life, or spent years abroad before coming home. Their kitchen belongs here too.

It ends with News of your own, inviting the reader to take a copybook and write down the days their own family never forgot.

For whom: for daughters and sons looking for a meaningful present for a parent; for grandchildren who want Grandad or Nana to tell them how it was; for Irish families abroad buying for someone at home; and for day centres, active retirement groups and nursing homes.

Sometimes one small detail - a wireless, a newspaper, a bus ticket or a voice at the door - is enough to bring an entire day back.

An honest word: this book offers company and conversation. Reading and remembering together can bring people closer, but it is not a treatment or therapy, does not replace a health professional, and makes no promise to improve memory.