She moves through the boom

This is a quirky, kaleidoscopic view of contemporary Ireland. By turns hilarious and dark, it is a fascinating snapshot of a singular moment in the country's history. Behind the triumphant headlines of the boom, there are changes going on -- in the way people work, speak, eat, even the way they think -- that cannot be quantified by statistics nor squared with the hollow cliche of the Celtic Tiger. This book is about these intangible changes, and it paints a picture the newspapers and tourism propagandists are missing. Ann Marie Hourihane talks to working mothers, wine importers, the organizer of a rural water scheme, shop assistants, a Nigerian preacher, teenaged removal men, and other exemplary -- because ordinary -- members of Irish society. These people aren't talking about the boom; they're living it, sometimes without even noticing, and they speak its languages -- of social liberation, stubborn tradition, banal consumerism, and others. A great deal has happened to Irish people in the last few years, and this book helps to uncover those changes, both good and bad.