The charm, humour and heart of mid-century Irish life will be celebrated in Mallow this weekend with the official launch of The Lost Art of the Hamshiner, a new collection of stories by local writer Gerard O’Callaghan.
The launch takes place at West End Art Studio, Mallow, this Saturday at 7pm, and promises an evening of storytelling and local nostalgia.
The Lost Art of the Hamshiner is a witty and richly humorous collection that captures the spirit of small-town Ireland and the curious rhythms of public service life during the mid to late twentieth century. Across 52 stories, O’Callaghan blends fact and fiction with warmth, satire and deep affection, recalling post office days, childhood in Mallow, and the unforgettable characters who shaped community life.
The book’s title comes from a fictitious trade, “the Hamshiner”, dreamt up in a post office canteen conversation about ham sandwiches, and typical of the inventive humour that threads through the collection.
Readers can expect everything from quirky workplace rituals like the “cannibalising of bicycles” to tales of a dog that turned up at the post office door, to be “dealt with according to the rules”. These anecdotes, sometimes tall and always full of heart, reveal the comedy and tenderness of ordinary Irish life.
The collection is divided into six parts, Men at Work, Quirky Tales, Religious Roguery, Sounds of Home, Boyhood’s Fire and Forays into Fiction,each exploring a different shade of memory, mischief and meaning.
Together, they form a loving tribute to a disappearing Ireland, full of warmth, wit and the gentle absurdities that defined a generation.
