How childhood holidays in Kerry inspired Caroline O'Donoghue's new novel
A group of men gathered at the bar are talking about gorse. Specifically, they are talking about the illegal gorse fires that ravaged the Kerry countryside that weekend, killing not only wild animals but thousands of pounds worth of livestock at the height of the lambing season.
“You could hear the sheep for miles around,” says one man, taking a mournful sip of his Guinness. “The poor old things.” “Awful stuff,” says another. And they are all quiet, these Kerrymen, in the terrible loss that this most recent fire has brought about.
