Life in Kilrush, Joe Riley’s account of Kilrush in the 1940s and 50s is now available as an audiobook.
The original book was published a number of years ago and he says he is delighted that it is now available in the audiobook format.
“It’s the best thing I’ve ever done, I wish I had done it years ago. I got a fella, Mark Manning, he’s from the West of Ireland and has a real Irish accent, and there aren’t many books of Irish origin with a really nice, clear accent,” he told The Clare Champion.
“The book has all the expressions of the people and the characters of the town from those days. You can listen to this and he brings the book alive.”
On its themes, he says, “It’s about the history of Kilrush in the 40s and 50s. I was four years old when I went to Kilrush, that was 78 years ago.
“I lived there until I was 15, was at school with the Christian Brothers and the rest of it.”
He reflects on the development of a local holy well.
“The history of that was that a young lad called Joseph De Loughrey on March 17, 1944 was murdered at St Senan’s Well, but at the time it was just a few stones,” he said.
“What happened was his four brothers built up that well in 1948.
“I used to have to take them tea and sandwiches when they were building it. They built it with their own money. A lot of people don’t know the history of that, how the statues got there and that sort of thing.”
When he was a boy Scattery Island was still inhabited.
“I used to be an altar boy and on Saturday we’d go for mass on the island. There were families living there, the last one left around 1970 or something like that,” he said.
“I used to always be roped in on a Saturday with Father Ryan and Father Connheady.
“There are stories about the history of the town, about weddings and wakes and about the culture of Kilrush.”
Now 82 years of age, Joe lives in Southport in the United Kingdom but hopes to make a visit back to Kilrush in the coming weeks.
In 2014, it was announced that Joe’s autobiographical account of life in the West Clare town in the 1940s was to be made into a Hollywood film by Los Angeles based Grafton Street Productions.
This book, entitled Ghosts of Kilrush, was published in 2003 and Joe sold the film rights for a dollar.
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.