No Tears In Ireland

Sylvia Couturié

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Review

An unusual memoir, recollected in tranquillity, of a traumatic time.  Two young French sisters, Sylvia and Marguerite, went to Ireland in August 1939.  The war broke out and they found themselves trapped in what was, to them, an alien land.  At first it seemed fortunate that their Irish governess, Miss Walsh (Wally) had come with them, but soon it became clear that this possessive and snobbish woman was never going to let the girls go without a fight.

Despite offers of shelter from others, Wally kept the sisters for years in a beach hut on the coast of Waterford, where they were not even allowed to play with local children.  They were her job, her security and her reason to be.  Written in a deceptively simple style, the book offers a delightful glimpse of the lost world that was neutral Ireland.  It is also a rare insight into the mind of a courageous young teenager, whose private determination not to cry in Ireland was her own personal contribution to the war effort. - review by John Wyse Jackson (Seán)