Last of the Donkey Pilgrims

A newly-wed American Vietnam vet goes on a journey of self-discovery, circling Ireland's coastline on foot with a donkey and cart in this memoir.Kevin O'Hara's journey begins as a mad lark: who in their right mind would try to circle the entire coastline of Ireland on foot-and with a donkey and cart no less?But Kevin had promised his homesick Irish mother that he would explore the whole of the Old Country and bring back the sights and the stories to their home in Massachusetts. Determined to reach his grandmother's village by Christmas Eve, Kevin and his stubborn but endearing donkey, Missie, set off on 1800-mile trek along the entire jagged coast of a divided Ireland.Their rollicking adventure takes them over mountains and dales, through smoky cities and sleepy villages, and into the farmhouses and hearts of Ireland's greatest resource-its people.Along the way, Kevin would meet incredible characters, experience Ireland in all of its glory, and explore not only his Irish past, but find his future self.'One of the finest books about contemporary Ireland ever written . . . In a style evocative of Steinbeck's Travels with Charley, O'Hara writes memorably of his most unusual way of touring his ancestral home of Ireland.' -Library Journal'It took newcomer O'Hara 25 years to compose this poke at Ireland's edge, time for the events to become burnished. His writing is all the better for it; like the Irish fog, it's both glowing and lightly pushed by an unacknowledged melancholy.' -Kirkus Reviews