Dunlavin Diversions book

 My latest book, Dunlavin Diversions, has just been published.

The book, which costs €20, is on sale locally in Dermot Hughes’ shop in Dunlavin, and is available from my new website (chrislawlor.ie). There can be no formal book launch or signing in these unusual times, but any local person wishing to buy the book can collect copies from my house on Sparrow Road, where signed copies with personalised messages can be obtained. I can also deliver signed, inscribed copies to purchasers within a 5 km radius of Dunlavin.

In mid-March 2020 at the onset of the national lockdown, I decided to post a series of regular articles on social media as a diversion from all the Covid-19 related news. I drew on sources from far and wide, republishing some pieces (the oldest dates from 1984) and combining them with many new pieces which are published for the first time in this collection. The complete series contains a hundred separate diversions, and these are now being published together as an anthology in book format.

The diversions contained in this book focus mostly on aspects of the local history of the Dunlavin region of West Wicklow. Though local history predominates, there are also articles on Irish national history, some prose essays, short stories and even a couple of poems. The topics covered are also diverse. They include Dunlavin's military tradition from the eighteenth century to the present; the life and times of Countess Constance Markievicz; the commemoration of the R.I.C. in today's Ireland, a century on from the Anglo-Irish War; a short story about an eventful class outing; an observation on the cartoons that children watch on television... and much more. This book truly contains a quirky, eclectic mix!

Visit chrislawlor.ie for details of this and my previous books, many of which are also on sale on the website.