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Leitrim Books is pleased to announce the publication of The Wind and the Hearth: The Collected Works of Nora J. Murray. Continuing our dedication to the voices that have shaped the literary landscape of County Leitrim, this new volume restores a vivid, long-quiet writer to the modern reader. At the center of this release is her original 1918 poetry collection, A Wind Upon the Heath, returned to print at last and gathered together with her uncollected poems, essays, short stories, and a newly researched biographical introduction.

Born in Carrick-on-Shannon, Nora J. Murray was a schoolmistress and a sharp-eyed observer who captured the reality of early twentieth-century Ireland from the hearthside and rural boreens. Her writing moves beautifully from the lyrical, blue-hazed mountains of her poetry to the sharp, knowing humour of her prose, where she had the measure of the tramping man and the strong farmer alike. More than just a literary artifact, The Wind and the Hearth is a welcome seat by the fire with a generation that has passed, offering a true window into the soul of the West.