The author lived in Ireland for about ten years in the 90s of the last millennium. During this
time the stories of the planned book series were written down. These stories mix fact and
fiction. It is about the traditional storytelling of the old days in Ireland. The idea came to
him at a storytelling festival in the small western Irish town of Kiltimagh which he attended
for the first time. However he got his inspiration from the stories told by the people around
the crackling peat fires which conjured up a mystical atmosphere to accompany the stories.In
this first volume of the planned series there are three frame stories into which these tales
are incorporated. It is about self-awareness and love prejudice and courage as well as death
and how to deal with it. Above all however it is about storytelling itself:In the 1st story
the narrator meets a strange old man who asks him for an unusual favour. ***The title story
tells of the nomad girl Saóirse who has just turned sixteen. At the start of a storytelling
festival at the weekend she is allowed to gain unaccompanied experience in the small town of
Kiltimagh for the first time. It is a time full of stories and Saóirse learns about love.
Watching over all of this is the wise old Méabh who advises the girl to listen only to the
call of her heart. This is not so easy but as a result she ends up making a difficult and
painful decision.***In the third story an overtired driver is travelling west towards Galway
along the sometimes-narrow roads. As he is about to fall asleep he leaves the road to rest. In
the darkness someone knocks on the rear window and asks for a lift in accent-free German.
During the journey he recognises a former best friend from his youth in the person who got on
the train and a journey back in time to a repressed past begins.***Finally the reader learns
the story of a storyteller who has forgotten how to tell stories. Then the protagonist suddenly
finds himself in the role of an executioner.
