Binding: Hardback
Date Published: 01 Oct 2026
In Ireland, to say I'm grand can range from meaning I'm on the verge of a nervous breakdown to I think this is the happiest I've ever been in my life. It is our catch-all term so as not to burden the other person too negatively or positively. (Because we are very sound like that.)
It rings out throughout the nation from morning to night; in the church yards, pubs, schoolrooms and streets, easing the worries of all who hear those magical words: Ah look, it'll be grand.
And aren't they dead right? Don't things always seem to work out in the end?
Freud said of the Irish, This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever. Well, why would they need it? Armed with the certainty that things will be grand, this book details how the Irish have become the most well-adjusted race on earth through the magic of keeping level heads and refusing to get notions.
With quotes and lessons from famous Irish characters - both historical and fictional - and chocked full of charming stories from the Emerald Isle, this tongue-in-cheek guide to life is the perfect antidote to Murphy's Law, bestowing a deep assuredness that life always seems to work itself out eventually.