I had been searching for an out-of-print book that was one of my favorites when I was a missionary's kid in Beirut, Lebanon, circa 1966.
"The Red Knights from Hy Brasil," by Christine Savery, was about a missionary family who has to spend a summer with relatives in Ireland. They meet an intriguing boy named Shane O'Coghlin, who some of the folks in this little Irish village believe is the second coming of the legendary Irish hero, Cuchulain.
The kids learn lessons about faith along the way, and Shane ends up realizing he's just a normal boy who needs Jesus.
This book captured my imagination as a child, and sparked my love of all things Irish which endures to this day.
Anyway... I did a Google search and found a British publishing company (Lutterworth Press) that has a few Savery titles available...apparently, Christine's sister Constance was also a prolific writer.
I e-mailed Lutterworth and got a very nice reply from an Adrian Brink there. He told me that Lutterworth did not publish the book,
but he gave me the name of the publishing company that did...Children's Special Service Mission. Armed with that info, I
was able to do another Google Search that led me to the following British used book site:
http://www.abebooks.co.uk
They have three available copies! Yay!!!
I can't describe the little surge of happiness I felt when I clicked
on that page and saw: "Matches found--3".
A used but nice copy its way to me now, and ended up costing about 14 American dollars, including shipping.
Obviously, old and obscure books ARE out there, and the Internet has made it easier than ever to find them.
"The Red Knights from Hy Brasil," by Christine Savery, was about a missionary family who has to spend a summer with relatives in Ireland. They meet an intriguing boy named Shane O'Coghlin, who some of the folks in this little Irish village believe is the second coming of the legendary Irish hero, Cuchulain.
The kids learn lessons about faith along the way, and Shane ends up realizing he's just a normal boy who needs Jesus.
This book captured my imagination as a child, and sparked my love of all things Irish which endures to this day.
Anyway... I did a Google search and found a British publishing company (Lutterworth Press) that has a few Savery titles available...apparently, Christine's sister Constance was also a prolific writer.
I e-mailed Lutterworth and got a very nice reply from an Adrian Brink there. He told me that Lutterworth did not publish the book,
but he gave me the name of the publishing company that did...Children's Special Service Mission. Armed with that info, I
was able to do another Google Search that led me to the following British used book site:
http://www.abebooks.co.uk
They have three available copies! Yay!!!
I can't describe the little surge of happiness I felt when I clicked
on that page and saw: "Matches found--3".
A used but nice copy its way to me now, and ended up costing about 14 American dollars, including shipping.
Obviously, old and obscure books ARE out there, and the Internet has made it easier than ever to find them.