Portlaoise's miraculous man has new Maryborough book
John Dunne’s books about Portlaoise have been credited with raising awareness of the town’s history among readers at home and abroad.
Following best-sellers Home (2016) and A Book About Portlaoise (2019), the final volume of his Portlaoise Trilogy, The Maryborough Miracle is set to be launched on November 9.
Like its predecessors, The Maryborough Miracle spans two centuries of life in the town and is full of people (many long gone, many still with us), places and historical events. Topics range from a young woman’s miraculous cure to the death of a notorious murderess; from emigrants’ memories to a detailed survey of the Market Square and its people.
Other chapters feature local placenames and landmarks, an account of the disease that ravaged the locality in the 1830s, and the author’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Not to mention the hostile rivalry between local newspapers in the nineteenth century and the long quest to find somewhere decent to swim in the most landlocked county in Ireland!
The Maryborough Miracle will be launched by All-Star football legend Colm Browne in Dunamaise Arts Centre at 7 pm, Tuesday November 9th.
The evening will also feature an audio-visual presentation of Music in Maryborough 1880 – 1950. All welcome.
CHECK OUT THE October 26 edition of the Leinster Express for a full interview with John.