A wonderful walk through the story of Moriarty's childhood growing up on a small farm in north Kerry, and his lifelong engagement with traditional Catholic sacraments, taking as his point of departure Philip Larkin's poem 'Church Going' - a richly meditative essay of extraordinary resonance that begins with a visit to the island of Inis Fallen on Loch Leine:
"People say we live in a time of ritual deprivation. Not so people of my age born into Christian Ireland. From three days' of age I was inducted onto the Christian sacramental road, and that journey I rehearse in this book."
"The connection between psychic pain and religious ritual in Catholicism is done beautifully. More than any other, this was very personal and profoundly moving."
- Michael Harding
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