Seán O’Faoláin is a chronicler of Irish life and ways, and Ireland has historically been a resource-poor country with a high birth rate. The history of Ireland since the potato famine in the mid-nineteenth century has been marked by periods of massive emigration. During O’Faoláin’s lifetime, much of Ireland’s young, well-educated population left the rural areas for the cities and suburbs, or left the country for England, the Continent, or the United States—wherever they could find greater economic opportunities.