A Secret Map of Ireland

When award-winning Irish Times’ journalist Rosita Boland was a young schoolgirl she had, in common with all Irish children, a map of Ireland. Iconic in its pinks, greens and yellows, the Educational Company of Ireland map was a staple of the Irish schoolhouse. Taking her very own map from those by-gone schooldays, Rosita Boland takes the reader on a tour of Ireland, a tour like no other.

In 32 vibrant essays, Rosita visits each of the counties of this island nation, and brings back with her tales so unusual and unique that they could only be ‘of Ireland’.

From the monkey who crash-landed with an American B-17 Flying Fortress en route from Marrakesh to England, to the French mausoleum in Monivea; from Europe’s most westerly weather station – famed for recording the highest ever wind speed in the British Isles – to the Tayto factory of dreams in Armagh, this delightful book is one of the most unusual, and engaging, travel guides of Ireland you're likely to come across.

Praise for A Secret Map of Ireland:

'This is an essential book for anyone visiting Ireland. It is even more essential for those of us who live in Ireland and think we know it. It is full of rare and fascinating detail, rambles in a hidden Ireland' Colm Tóibín

'An engaging journalist and an award-winning fiction writer, Rosita Boland is, in her own words, "ready for a reading of whatever lay ahead". Her readers should respond to this invitation’ The Irish Times