Local history and the "growing up" novel made a literary breakthrough with Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes. Its worldwide success set a benchmark for the genre. Kevin Duffy would be the first to admit that his book, Fifty Years Behind the Counter, is no threat to McCourt's opus. But this book by one of Co Galway's best-known characters is an extremely well written portrayal of local folklore and the story of his life.
Based in Headford, Duffy is an auctioneer, seller of farm machinery and hardware, purveyor of fishing tackle and one of the biggest suppliers of outboard engines in the country.
His story starts in 1946 when, six months into a teacher-training course in Dublin, his eyesight began to deteriorate rapidly. He was told not to continue with his studies.
He then decided to become a shop assistant, a decision that would catapult him into a career in retail lasting over 50 years.
Duffy describes how he built his career, with his big break coming when his mother sold the family farm and bought a shop in Kilmaine, Co Mayo. He could now run his own business and let his entrepreneurial skills flourish.
The book is full of anecdotes, which give the reader interesting and amusing insights into how things were in the 1950s. With rural electrification came the washing machine, which like every new gadget, Duffy supplied. This is his description of its unorthodox use:
"The farmer's wife was still churning her own butter and the conventional cedar churn was a laboursome chore for most housewives. Someone must have realised that by putting the cream into the washing machine, it could churn the cream into butter and a few housewives latched onto this new invention.
"Now washing machines were never designed to make butter. It may not have been very hygienic but butter was churned this way by a few. It never really caught on and most of the women were unwilling to admit they practised the idea."
Duffy's book is not just about life behind the shop counter, it is an excellent social history, travel book and angling memoir, to boot.
Fifty Years Behind the Counter by Kevin Duffy is available in Galway bookshops.
Contact number
Readers who wish to contact Lorna Siggins can leave messages by dialling (01) 670 7711, extension 6299