TO SCHOOL THROUGH THE FIELDS: An Irish...

TO SCHOOL THROUGH THE FIELDS: An Irish Country Childhood by Alice Taylor (St. Martin’s Press: $8.95). It’s hardly surprising that Taylor’s affectionate memoir has become the biggest best seller in Irish history: Her descriptions of a simple life in a misty countryside lit by peat fires embody the best-loved images of Ireland. Taylor grew up on a prosperous family farm in Linasheoga, near the Darigle River. In simple, unadorned sentences, she fashions a loving portrait of a close-knit family, bound by their common labors and the rewards of honest toil on the land.