This is the original Vanishing Ireland book, "a collaboration combining image and thought, observation and memory beautifully complimenting and enriching each other. Richard had been recording the splendour and spirit of his homeland for many years, and when the photographs were brought together they struck a deep chord with one of Ireland' finest novelists. Edna O'Brien's journey is a home coming to the land of her birth, she portrays a land where the attachment to home and the heart is as deep and binding as the longing to escape it."

The 120 pages of photographs "capture the faces of those who stayed behind- the elderly couples whos sons and daughters have long since emigrated, he records the crumbling of stone and the majesty of nature, the overgrown homesteads which dot the landscape like ancient monuments, women wearing black shawls and fishermen in currachs".

"Both photographer and writer share a love of Ireland that was-the land of shenanigans and miracles, religious fervour, whitewashed thatch cottages built of stone, and isolation from the rest of the world".