Living by the River

Living By The River by Pierce Turner, is a delightful collection of autobiographical short stories about a young man’s coming of age in the harbour town of Wexford, Ireland, where the River Slaney meets the Irish Sea. This is the writing debut of Pierce Turner, an award-winning Irish musician. The Sunday Times critic Liam Fay said this of him, “Pierce Turner has created what I consider to be the finest body of work in Irish music, bar none”.

All these years after Pierce Turner and Larry Kirwan emigrated to New York as Turner and Kirwan of Wexford, it’s only fitting that Pierce’s former partner Larry should be the first to appraise this book.

“The best way to read Living By The River is to imagine you’re at a party in the sitting room of Pierce’s house overlooking The Quay, back when his mother and father - Molly and Jem - were alive, and everyone had to “do a turn,” be it singing, reciting or telling a story. You’ll hear about boarders reluctant to pay their way, Sputnik the warrior dog and his untimely passing, the glory days of Rec-Pho and White’s Barn, Sammy Sinnott’s magic cure for the Rolling Stones, and all the other tales that weave a picture of a magical time when we were young, bulling to get out in the world and leave our mark upon it. That’s what you’ll experience in this lovely book, a special sliver of the universe, gone but not forgotten that you too can be a part of for some glorious golden hours”. Larry Kirwan.