Background
Eilis Dillon was born on March 7, 1920 in Galway, Ireland to Thomas and Geraldine (Plunkett) Dillon. Her father was professor of chemistry at a university. They lived in a village on the sea coast a few miles west of Galway.
With second husband, Vivian Mercier, dividing their time between California and Ireland, 1978
(Poisoning of coarse and beastly entrepreneur from Dublin ...)
Poisoning of coarse and beastly entrepreneur from Dublin who is trying to debauch quiet Wicklow village. Seen through the eyes of nice little rat-poor middled-aged person who suddenly inherits a baronetcy. Most snug: well and intelligently written with copiously detailed background unmarred by any stage Irishry. Good surprise finish. Maurice Richardson in The Observer.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1601870426/?tag=2022091-20
1954
(Eilis Dillon was born into the milieu that made the moder...)
Eilis Dillon was born into the milieu that made the modern Irish Republic. She draws on layers of family histoiy to trace the nation's past, remembering much of her own life in the process. From the Victorian Dublin of her grandfather, Count Plunkett, and her poet uncle, Joseph Plunkett's part in the Easter Rising and its bitter aftermath, she moves to the beautiful but impoverished Galway of her childhood, to the Sligo where she went to convent boarding school, and to the intricacies of social life in wartime Cork. Eilis Dillon's deep knowledge of the Gaelic tradition gives her a special insight, and her writing glows with poetry, humour, understanding and an infectious love for her native land. From the proud city of Cork to the walls of Derry, from Killorglin's Puck Fair to the Galway Races, Eilis Dillon's prose is matched and complemented by the brilliantly evocative photographs of Tom Kennedy, whose marvellous eye for detail and brooding sense of place contribute a unique visual dimension to this most compelling of books about Ireland by one of the country's most distinguished novelists.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0340263423/?tag=2022091-20
(The Island of Ghosts is a haunting story that takes place...)
The Island of Ghosts is a haunting story that takes place on a remote island off the west coast of Ireland. When Dara and Brendan don't return from their sailing trip with Mr Webb to the Island of Ghosts, everyone in the village assumes they have drowned, except their sisters Barbara and Cait. The two girls borrow a boat and set out to find their brothers, but they too become captives of Mr Webb on the island.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0862787084/?tag=2022091-20
(A vivid reconstruction, in words and pictures, of life un...)
A vivid reconstruction, in words and pictures, of life under Trajan the Emperor, nearly 2000 years ago. Four different families are brought to life, and set with historical accuracy in the drama of imperial Rome. Tourists can still visit these historic streets and buildings. For young or old, student or tourist, here is living history by an international writer, who lived in Rome for six years.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0862782643/?tag=2022091-20
(in Barrinish, on the wild coast of Connemara in the West ...)
in Barrinish, on the wild coast of Connemara in the West of Ireland there is a niche in a cliff that is known locally as the singing cave. On the day after a great March storm, Pat, the narrator, hears the cave begin to sing: It was a long, deep, ringing sound, as I have often imagined the bells of drowned ships must ring under a swelling sea. He discovers an inner chamber in the cave and in that chamber the skeleton and tomb of a Viking warrior, but when he visits the cave again the next day the Viking and his hoard have disappeared. Who has stolen this treasure and why? Pat has told nobody about it but his grandfather and local amateur archaeologist, Mr. Allen. With the quest for the missing Viking and his tomb, an exciting and perilous adventure begins for Pat and for his friend, Tom Joyce, in whom he confides the story an adventure that is to take them on a lobster boat as far as the Breton port of Kerronan and back again to Connemara. Before the fate of the Viking is finally decided, Pat encounters good and evil, pride and greed, generosity and cunning in the people of Barrinish and Brittany. Cover design by Carol Betera.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1853711535/?tag=2022091-20
(John's grandfather set out to build the perfect hooker. H...)
John's grandfather set out to build the perfect hooker. His daughter, Maggie, took over the task, and the splendid craft was completed. John set sail, ending up on a deserted island - empty except for one unusual inhabitant. From here begins a strange adventure, full of tense, exciting moments.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0862782635/?tag=2022091-20
(The people of remote Inishrone, a few miles off the Conne...)
The people of remote Inishrone, a few miles off the Connemara coast, know better than to go to the Island of Horses. Everyone has heard tales of men who have gone there and never come back. Yet one day young Pat Conroy and his friend Danny MacDonagh head off anyway, telling their parents that they are fishing for eels. On the island they find no ghosts but many mysteries, including a beautiful - and tame - black colt. But when they return home, with the colt in tow, they find themselves launched into a world of trouble. Before their adventure is over, the boys must brave rough seas and the murderous duplicity of a conniving horse trader, with only the advice of Pat's frail grandmother and their own good sense to guide them.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1590171020/?tag=2022091-20
(John's grandfather Old Dan, refuses to leave his farm on ...)
John's grandfather Old Dan, refuses to leave his farm on Plover Hill, even when the valley around it is flooded and it becomes an island. The only sensible option is for John to move in there with him. When their idyllic lifestyle and the rich wildlife of the island is threatened, John wonders will he be able to save Plover Hill for his grandfather and for the animals for whom it is a santuary?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0862787092/?tag=2022091-20
(Folks in young Michael Farrell’s town have been speculati...)
Folks in young Michael Farrell’s town have been speculating about the lost island of Inishmanann for generations. Some say that the island is the last stronghold of the old god of the sea; others, that no on who has gone in search of it has returned to tell the tale. But everyone agrees that for a brave and enterprising spirit the island holds out the promise of things “rare and valuable.” Four years ago, Michael’s father became obsessed with tracking down the elusive island. He bought a fishing boat and set sail. No one has heard from him since. Then a shifty beggar turns up in town with a message for Michael Farrell: his father is on the island, and Michael must join him there.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1590172051/?tag=2022091-20
Eilis Dillon was born on March 7, 1920 in Galway, Ireland to Thomas and Geraldine (Plunkett) Dillon. Her father was professor of chemistry at a university. They lived in a village on the sea coast a few miles west of Galway.
Eilis attended the local primary school where she became proficient in Irish and gained an intimate knowledge of tradition in the Connemara. She was also educated by the Ursuline nuns in Sligo.
Dillon began to write poetry and at sixteen saw her work published under a pseudonym in a small magazine. After a year away, Dillon returned to Sligo, where a teacher suggested she try her hand at writing novels. Her first success was written in Irish, the language she had learned at home and as manager of an Irish language school owned by a friend of her father’s.
After the success of The Lost Island,published in 1952, she wrote almost exclusively in English. Most of her books were aimed at teen readers with themes of self-discovery and problem solving evident.
In 1964 she moved to Rome due to her husband's poor health. While there she acted as adviser to International Commission on English in the Liturgy. She returned to Cork with her husband in 1969 where he died the following year. She continued to visit Italy over the next several years, setting some of her stories there including Living in Imperial Rome (1974) and The Five Hundred (1972), though these were not as popular as her Irish books. After 1974 she divided her time between California, Italy and Dublin.
Dillon's adult fiction career began in 1953 with the publication of the detective novel Death at Crane's Court. This was followed by Sent to His Account in 1954 and Death in the Quadrangle in 1956. These novels are known for their depiction of contemporary Ireland. Over the following decade Dillon published many novels including The Bitter Glass (1959), Across the Bitter Sea (1973) and The Wild Geese (1981).
In her later years Dillon played a prominent role in Irish culture. She was a Fellow of the Royal Society for Literature and a member of Aosdána, served on the Irish Arts Council 1974-79, chaired the Irish Writers’ Union and the Irish Writers’ Centre, and founded the Irish Children's Book Trust. In 1987 Dillon and her husband moved permanently to Dublin where she supported up and coming Irish authors. Her last story was Children of Bach published in 1993. Eilís Dillon died in Dublin in 1994 and is buried beside her second husband in Clara, County Offaly.
(in Barrinish, on the wild coast of Connemara in the West ...)
(John's grandfather Old Dan, refuses to leave his farm on ...)
(A Greek slave of a Roman artisan plans his escape from th...)
(The people of remote Inishrone, a few miles off the Conne...)
(Folks in young Michael Farrell’s town have been speculati...)
(The Island of Ghosts is a haunting story that takes place...)
(Poisoning of coarse and beastly entrepreneur from Dublin ...)
1954(A vivid reconstruction, in words and pictures, of life un...)
(Eilis Dillon was born into the milieu that made the moder...)
(John's grandfather set out to build the perfect hooker. H...)
Quotations: “I never remember a lime when I did not want to write. I composed my first story at the age of seven, about a mouse called Harry who got into bad company, committed murder and was hanged. I would not choose such a subject for a children’s book now.”
Eilis married Cormac O'Cuilleanain, a university professor, on March 28, 1940. He died in 1970. She married Vivian Mercier, a professor and critic, on April 5, 1974. He died in 1989. She had three children from the first marriage, Eilean, Maire and Cormac.