Cronin's Sheebeen

Cronin's Sheebeen is a thatched roof pub about a mile from Westport. The Guiness is cold, the atmosphere warm, and the mussels served in a garlic cream sauce. I ate and drank and read The Ghost Light, Joseph O'Connor's new novel based on an affair between the Irish playwright John Millington Synge (The Playboy of the Western World, Riders to the Sea) and the actress Molly Allgood (sister of Sara Allgood, known best to American audiences for her portrayal of Beth Morgan in How Green Was My Valley). Though Ghost is overwritten at times, its dialogue is impeccable and the view into a time when actors and playwrights were disdained as well as revered never ceases to fascinate.