James O'Halloran has spent a lifetime working with the "people of no property" in Ireland, Africa, South and Central America. He has been with them in the ordinary experiences of everyday life in a world where wealth, power and privilege belong to others. The sense of reality that permeates his stories - sometimes tragic, sometimes hilarious, and always starkly human - is rooted in his compassionate solidarity with the oppressed people of whom he writes and is eloquent tribute to his own skills of observation and to his mastery of the short story. "O'Halloran writes with a shrewd eye and an accurate ear, catching and holding the reader's attention with some startling precise images and with dialogue so natural and accurate the reader feels at times as if he were eavesdropping on the characters of these tales ... a skilled and stimulating collection of a gifted writer."--Brendan Kennelly
