Twelve Sheep

Reviews / Votes

A small gem, full of quiet wisdom and gorgeous descriptions of the wonder of nature, the redemption it holds, and how the landscape is charged with meaning...It's been a long time since I read such a positive book * Independent * Connell has written a wise book, suffused with honesty and authenticity. * Irish Independent * As with much great spiritual literature, there is a resonance in Twelve Sheep between content and form. The sound, rhythm and pacing of the language has a deeply relaxing and meditative effect...It's a joy to read a writer who swims against our materialist dogma to confidently express the magic of life * Irish Times * A book to read and re-read, then, slowly and thoughtfully * Rural Jersey Country Life Magazine * A beautiful and soothing book, at once far-reaching and intimate, it serves as a sublime exhortation to stop and savour our precious and fleeting time on earth, to be grateful for the life we're given -- Donal Ryan This is such a lovely book, beautifully constructed and crafted. As everyone knows who has enjoyed The Cow Book, John Connell writes like a dream. In Twelve Sheep he returns to the old family farm in Longford, and the contours of a landscape both starkly real and richly imagined, to quarry that inexhaustible seam, the simple yet profound life lessons that come from farming. This is a wise and humane book, a book to lift our spirits in grim times -- Michael Wood Twelve Sheep is what I call a real book, an honest book. I can hear John Connell's voice lilting off the page, and telling me the many truths he has discovered: truths I need to know, and everyone needs to know. -- Rosamund Young Sheep, and sheep farming, are far more interesting than you think -- Tim Flannery I usually view rural Ireland from a train or car window but reading this gripping, fascinating book I felt I was becoming a cattle farmer -- Roddy Doyle on THE COW BOOK A vivid and sharply observed account of a way of life which is almost invisible, a new hidden Ireland. It is also a fascinating portrait of a single sensibility, a born noticer, someone on whom nothing is lost, observing birth and death, the landscape and his own heritage -- Colm Toibin on THE COW BOOK A gorgeous read, full of warmth, truth and tentative wonder. John Connell has written "an elegy to the nature I know", but this book is an elegy to so much more - to art and myth and sorrow and longing -- Sara Baume on THE COW BOOK