{"product_id":"2940170456826","title":"We Were Rich and We Didn't Know It: A Memoir of My Irish Boyhood","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eIn the tradition of Frank McCourt¿s \u003ci\u003eAngela¿s Ashes\u003c\/i\u003e and Alice Taylor¿s \u003ci\u003eTo School Through the Fields\u003c\/i\u003e, Tom Phelan¿s \u003ci\u003eWe Were Rich and We Didn't Know It\u003c\/i\u003e is a heartfelt and masterfully written memoir of growing up in Ireland in the 1940s.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTom Phelan, who was born and raised in County Laois in the Irish Midlands, spent his formative years working with his wise and demanding father as he sought to wrest a livelihood from a farm that was often wet, muddy, and backbreaking.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt was a time before rural electrification, the telephone, and indoor plumbing; a time when the main modes of travel were bicycle and animal cart; a time when small farmers struggled to survive and turkey eggs were hatched in the kitchen cupboard; a time when the Church exerted enormous control over Ireland.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eWe Were Rich and We Didn't Know It\u003c\/i\u003e recounts Tom¿s upbringing in an isolated, rural community from the day he was delivered by the local midwife. With tears and laughter, it speaks to the strength of the human spirit in the face of life's adversities.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Simon \u0026 Schuster","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47100651503856,"sku":"2940170456826","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940170456826_p0.jpg?v=1763803668","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940170456826","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}