We Were Rich and We Didn't Know It by Tom Phelan

In the tradition of Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes and Alice Taylor’s To School Through the Fields, Tom Phelan’s We Were Rich and We Didn't Know It is a heartfelt and masterfully written memoir of growing up in Ireland in the 1940s.

Tom 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 back-breaking.

It 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.

We Were Rich and We Didn't Know It 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.  


A sometimes sorrowful, often humorous look at growing up in 1940's Ireland, when the kitchen was truly the heart of a home and the location of everything from bathing to turkey plucking. Tom Phelan shares with readers a look at his close knit family, dealing with bullies, and life on the farm. It is an engaging heartfelt memoir that paints a brilliant picture of simpler times.
4 out of 5 stars.

I received an advance copy for review

About the author
Tom Phelan’s memoir "We Were Rich and We Didn't Know It" was awarded a star by Kirkus Reviews, indicating a book of exceptional merit. Kirkus calls the book “A tender recollection of growing up on a farm in Ireland in the 1940s….A captivating portrait of a bygone time,” noting that “In precise, vibrant prose, novelist Phelan creates a finely etched portrait.”

Newsday says We Were Rich is "an evocative memoir, with echoes of Frank McCourt."

And the book blog For the Love of Books, says “Phelan’s story is one of grace and beauty.”

Tom Phelan was born and reared on a small farm in Mountmellick, Co. Laois, Ireland. He was fifty when his first novel, “In the Season of the Daisies,” was accepted for publication by the Lilliput Press in Dublin. Books Ireland's reviewer later wrote, "The most obvious question posed by a novelistic debut with as much resounding vigour as this is: Where has Mr. Phelan BEEN?"

“In the Season of the Daisies” was selected by Barnes and Noble for its Discover Great New Writers series and was a finalist for the Discover award.

In addition to "In the Season of the Daisies," Phelan’s novels include "Iscariot," "Derrycloney," "The Canal Bridge," "Nailer," and "Lies the Mushroom Pickers Told." These deal with such themes as Irish soldiers in World War I, returned emigrants, the abusive Irish industrial schools and the church-state collusion that allowed them to flourish, the priesthood, and life in rural Ireland in the mid-1900s.

Tom Phelan lives in New York.