Letters to and from his home cost postage of two shillings and nine pence each way until the penny post was introduced in 1840

Dr Patrick Rowan reviews a limited-edition book that chronicles one doctor’s working life in adverse social and medical conditions.

Dr Atthill, in his Recollections, recounts his remarkable medical career and describes the adverse environment in the Dublin in which he was practising.

He qualified as a doctor at the age of 19 and his medical positions included that of working as a dispensary medical officer, as physician to the Adelaide Hospital and finally as Master of the Rotunda Hospital.

This book was originally published in 1911, the year after the author’s death, and is now issued in a limited edition of 750 copies because of its contribution to Irish medical and social history.

Dr Lombe Atthill was born in 1827 and was the son of the Church of England Rector of Drumcree, near Portadown. He spent some time at a school in England. Letters to and from his home cost postage of two shillings and nine pence each way until the penny post was introduced in 1840.

At the age of 16, he came to Dublin to be apprenticed to Dr Maurice Collis, a surgeon at the Meath Hospital, who insisted that the youth also attend Trinity College Medical School.

After qualifying, he worked in the Fleet Street Dispensary. For this he received no pay and was obliged to get donations of a guinea each from two people — or else he had to pay this himself.

He gives graphic descriptions of the appalling conditions of the sick poor in Dublin during and after the Famine. Several families were sharing one room and others were confined to basement rooms without light or heating. Typhoid fever and typhus were rife. He watched Daniel O’Connell walking around the streets and listened to the blind beggar Zosimus recite his rhymes.

When he was offered the position of Dispensary Medical Officer in Geashill, Co Offaly, at £80 per annum, he jumped at the offer.

He found the patients in Offaly “cunning” and there was very little private practice in this rural area, where some of his patients were reduced to eating boiled nettles.

After two years, he returned to Dublin, hoping to build up a private practice but found it was hard going. He toyed with the idea of going to England but he had now married and his wife persuaded him to stay in Dublin. Meanwhile, he had received an MD from Trinity College.

His next big break came when he was appointed physician to the Adelaide Hospital. Here he set up a busy outpatient service and was establishing a good practice when he was offered the post of Assistant Master in the Rotunda Hospital. He had to resign his post in the Adelaide and worked in the Rotunda Hospital for the next 20 years until he was appointed Master in 1878.

Despite much opposition from the Governors, he was successful in establishing an outpatient clinic. He found that the hospital was in need of various improvements and had a lot of trouble trying to persuade people to support the hospital financially.

One big problem he had to tackle was the state of nursing in the hospital. Very few of the nurses were trained and some were even illiterate. He had great trouble in getting them to change from their severe black attire to a nurses’ uniform, but eventually succeeded.

Atthill was friendly with many of the greats of 19th Century Irish medicine, including Graves, Stokes, Crampton and Corrigan. The last was so popular that it is said his servant left more money when he died than did Corrigan because of all the bribes from people who wanted to see the doctor, but Atthill was present once when Corrigan dismissed his servant for taking a bribe.

One-guinea fee
A lady from Cork had given the servant one shilling to be first to see Corrigan and when he had completed his examination and requested his fee, the patient told her she had already paid the servant. The fee at that time was one guinea.

Atthill had various ups and downs during his lifetime.

When leaving the mail steamer at Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire), the ship’s Master suddenly moved the ship so the doctor and the gangway dropped into the sea. Despite his heavy clothing, he managed to stay afloat until he was dragged ashore.

He witnessed the enthusiastic reception Queen Victoria received when she visited Dublin in 1849 but her appearance was marred by torrential rain, which left the unpaved streets in a quagmire.

He has the usual grumbles about ungrateful patients and those who choose not to pay — so human nature hasn’t changed much over the years!

Lombe Atthill was elected President of the Royal College of Physicians and President of the Royal Academy of Medicine. In his retirement he spent much of his time yachting.

This book gives a valuable insight into the social and medical conditions during the lifetime of this apparently very pleasant person.

• Recollections of an Irish Doctor by Lombe Atthill. Published by Ballinakella Press.

Operation Transformation’s Dr Eddie Murphy, Principal Clinical Pyschologist, HSE; Dr Eva Orsmond, nutritional expert; and Karl Henry, fitness expert

Aoife Connors takes a look at the latest health-related TV shows to be broadcast this coming week, including Operation Transformation’s efforts to tackle type II diabetes.

Need to get fit after the traditional Christmas over-indulgence? There couldn’t be a better time to start with the return of Operation Transformation to RTÉ One television for a fifth series. In an effort to raise awareness about the increasing prevalence, complications and seriousness of type II diabetes, the new series will consistently feature the chronic condition, as 5 per cent of Irish population are now living with the disease.

On January 19, Operation Transformation was due to hold a National Type II Diabetes Day when the IMO and ICGP were to provide doctors from 9am to 1pm in nine centres throughout the country. Any member of the public that is deemed high-risk, after completing a risk assessment form at the centre, will receive a free capillary prick test. Filming was expected to take place between 9am and 12pm, with live radio broadcasts from each centre.

In the new series, Operation Transformation hopes to reverse one man’s diabetes as Michael Casey volunteers to be the subject of this innovative study. Prof Gerald Tomkin, Consultant Endocrinologist at the Beacon Clinic, will conduct the study for the first time in Ireland.

In total, five overweight leaders overcome physical and emotional challenges as they battle to become fit and trim by changing or kick-starting their exercise regimes and new eating habits. Another issue to be highlighted in the series is the growing problem of maternal obesity. The Operation Transformation crew spent a week in the Coombe Hospital talking to doctors and people who are seeing the effect of obesity in Ireland’s maternity hospitals. The programme shows first-hand the effects by following the journey of one woman who became pregnant whilst overweight.

In an effort to get everyone out and about walking, Operation Transformation was also organising a nationwide walk on January 14, in conjunction with the Irish Sports Council. And building on the success of last year’s 5k run in Dublin’s Phoenix Park, the programme will host a 5k race in the Park on February 18 next.

The public and those following the programme online are encouraged to participate, while fitness expert Karl Henry has designed a 5k training plan that is available at www.rte.ie/ot.

The series has also launched the ‘Fit for Life’ campaign this year in conjunction with Prof Niall Moyna, University Professor at the School of Health and Human Performance, and a member of the Centre for Preventive Medicine in DCU. Prof Moyna believes that if a child is fit by the age of 18 years, they will have a better chance of being fit for life. He states that the education system should reflect the importance of physical activity, particularly at leaving certificate level, where points should be awarded for physical education, similar to any other examination subject.

Nurses
In a new fly-on-the-wall six-part series on RTÉ One television, The Nurse documentary series follows the daily lives of six nurses, their patients and their communities.

Community and public health nurses make almost 10,000 house calls every day.

From Inishbofin to inner city Dublin, nurses work at the frontline of the health service every day and the series aims to capture this work by portraying life from cradle to grave through a nurse’s perspective.

In demonstrating a day’s work for a community nurse, the six-part programme portrays the nursing care required for the elderly, those alone in our communities, new mothers and the terminally ill.

A large proportion of the nurse’s day is spent travelling in the car from one call to the next, on top of the paperwork that must be completed.

Each programme highlights different cases where community and public health nurses across Ireland help their patients cope with cancer, multiple sclerosis, amputation and electrocution. The nurses also encourage a teenage girl to combine motherhood and education, while another nurse battles on behalf of an MS sufferer who is struggling to maintain his independence. (Thursdays, RTÉ One, 10.15pm)

Junior doctors
In another medical TV drama, Junior Doctors returns to BBC screens for a second series, giving viewers an insight into the lives of doctors in training. The cameras follow eight newly-qualified junior doctors as they embark on their foundation years in some of the busiest and most challenging departments at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. The doctors attempt to balance their new-found responsibilities with being a young adult, juggling demanding shifts and sometimes life and death situations, with their own hectic social lives.

With night shifts, difficult patients and endless paperwork, the reality of life for the young doctors starts to unfold in their journey from first-day nerves to accomplished professional.

Each year, around 7,500 junior doctors start work across the hospitals of Great Britain, with almost 90 foundation year one and foundation year two junior doctors taking up their positions at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, on what the nurses call ‘Black Wednesday’ (BBC Three, January 24 at 9pm).

A salty grave: The ship Rena, which ran aground on the rocks off the New Zealand coast with its cargo

What many news agencies failed to report about the stricken container ship Rena was that it was carrying 4,000 cases of Astrolabe Sauvignon Blanc destined for Ireland, reports Giovanni Morelli.

‘Whatever does not kill me strengthens me’ – Nietzsche.

I hope you all had a pleasant and peaceful holiday. My New Year’s resolution is NOT to make any resolutions because if past experience is worth anything, none of them are observed for more than a few weeks.

I am writing this from Tuscany and, as a lover of all things Tuscan, I have visited the town of Sansepolcro with Chiara to see the beautiful painting (fresco) of The Resurrection by Piero della Francesca.

Apparently Aldous Huxley said about it in an essay in 1925, “… And when at last one has arrived at Sansepolcro, what is there to be seen? A little town surrounded by walls, set in a broad, flat valley between hills; some fine Renaissance palaces with pretty balconies of wrought iron; not a very interesting church, and finally, the best picture in the world… we need no imagination to help us figure forth its beauty. It stands before us in entire and actual splendour, the greatest picture in the world.” I cannot say if it is the most beautiful picture in the world but it is very moving and certainly leaves a lasting impression.

According to Tim Butcher from Cape Town, the fresco was ‘saved’ by a young British gunnery officer during World War II. Tony Clarke was about to give the order to shell the town of Sansepolcro when he remembered Huxley’s essay and that Piero’s fresco was there.

He knew that if the town was shelled, the church and the fresco would probably be destroyed so he did not give the order. The Germans evacuated the town, the British troops entered and the fresco was saved! If you are in Tuscany, be sure to go and see it.

What has this got to do with wine? Absolutely nothing, you might say. Well, the connection is rather tenuous, I must admit. I was following a story by Robert Taylor in the Wine Spectator about the ship Rena that went aground on the rocks off the New Zealand coast. The ship began to break up and it is interesting to read the different perspectives by reporters.

The Wine Spectator was reporting the story because the ship contained 4,000 cases of Astrolabe Sauvignon Blanc, which apparently was destined for Ireland.

The general manager of Astrolabe, Jason Yank, was quoted as saying: “All I’m concerned with the minute is making sure the Irish market has their Astrolabe for Christmas. You don’t want to upset the Irish.”

A number of coincidences are reported. The name of the reef on which the ship ran aground was called the Astrolabe reef and the ancient navigational instrument which might have prevented the ship from becoming impaled on the reef is called an astrolabe! Other newspapers and media reported the huge oil leak and the damage to wildlife and never mentioned the wine!

I took a trip to O’Briens wine shop and purchased a bottle. They have two Sauvignon Blancs from Astrolabe, one at €18.99 and the other around €32. I chose the former! It was a clean, refreshing, well-made wine but I still think it tasted too much of gooseberries. I can get a much better Sauvignon Blanc from Touraine or even a better Sancerre for about the same price. But, as I have said many times, wine drinking is a very subjective pastime.

A piece of news that might make you feel better in these troubled times — Nicholas Bakalar, writing in the International Herald Tribune, quotes a study from the Journal on Alcohol and Drugs, in which wine-drinkers lived longer than abstainers and high-wine drinkers lived longer than low-wine drinkers. They also found that moderate consumption of other alcoholic drinks, such as beer, had a beneficial effect on longevity. Needless to say, there are many possible explanations for their observations and as the authors say, the results of the study were observational, not experimental.
Whatever the reasons, I think I’ll continue to have a few glasses of wine daily.

Best wishes for 2012 and Buono Anno Nuovo.
Giovanni.

The Temple Street Children’s Hospital Christmas ‘lighting-up’ ceremony

Aoife Connors previews some health-related television and radio programming coming to your screens over the Christmas holidays.

The magical Christmas atmosphere in Temple Street Children’s Hospital is set to be portrayed on TV screens over the holiday period as TV3 recently filmed the ‘lighting-up’ of the hospital’s exterior on December 8.

For the first time in the hospital’s 140-year history, Temple Street is being lit up by hundreds of sparkling Christmas lights decorating the hospital’s exterior. The initiative is part of an innovative fund-raising project that involves a number of Irish companies sponsoring a light bulb for the Christmas event, in an effort to raise funds for the hospital.

The ‘Light up a Child’s Life’ event brought patients, families and staff together for the countdown to the inaugural big switch-on at Temple Street, while the Gardiner Street Gospel Choir performed Christmas carols along with Santa and his elves.

The lighting-up ceremony was filmed as part of the Temple Street Children’s Hospital Christmas Special, which is due to be broadcast on December 19 (TV3, 7.30pm) and also on Christmas Day.

On a recent visit to the children’s hospital, the TV cameras captured the decorations going up, as letters were posted to the North Pole and the doctors and nurses strove to do their best to make Christmas magical for their young patients.

Some inspirational children and teenagers were interviewed as they prepared to go home with their families for the holidays. The TV cameras also witnessed a very special visit on Christmas Eve for those who needed to stay.

Meanwhile, the BBC’s flagship arts documentary series ‘Arena’ returns, with the first documentary exploring the extraordinary life of Sir Jonathan Miller. Known as a brilliant humourist, qualified doctor and  practising artist, Miller straddled the great divide between the arts and sciences, and influenced British culture through the media of television, radio, theatre and opera.

The documentary follows Miller as he reflects on his participation in television and rediscovers his work on the stage, as well as taking him back to his formative years in Cambridge, and his scientific and artistic heritage after he departed London for the city of Florence, his second home.

On BBC 4, viewers can discover why the brain looks like a giant walnut and how it can fit in enough wiring to stretch four times around the equator, as well as how a magnet on your head can stop you mid-sentence. Prof Bruce Hood will be delivering a demonstration-packed three-part series called ‘Meet Your Brain’.

In the first of this year’s Christmas Lectures to be screened on December 27 at 8pm, Prof Hood gets inside the individual’s head to explore how the brain works. He measures the brain’s nerve cells in action, reads someone’s mind from 100 miles away and reveals how the brain ultimately creates its own version of reality.

Nine-year-old Michael Stokes, who features in the first episode. Michael is pictured with Temple Street’s head porter John Doyle

The latest installment of the documentary series on Temple St  sees the programme-makers given unprecedented access to the hospital and its patients. Aoife Connors reports.

The Children’s University Hospital (CUH) Temple Street has opened its doors once again to TV3 cameras as the channel launched series two of the interesting documentary based on the daily highs and lows for patients, families and staff within the hospital.

The six-part series follows the inspiring journey that children, parents and staff at Temple Street go through each day. The documentary-makers were given unprecedented access to the hospital wards and theatres as they follow the young patients and families who struggle through their medical journey and emotional turmoil in the hospital. It also highlights a family’s joy in seeing their child’s treatment having a successful outcome, as many families give everything up to see their child recover and live a healthy, happy life. The series also shows the staff members who devote their time and working lives to the children in their care. It airs on TV3 screens on Monday nights, Nov 7 to Dec 12 at 8pm.

In the first episode, ‘Family Ties’, Specialist Plastic Surgeon Dr Dylan Murray and his team at the hospital’s craniofacial department met 12-year-old Cealan and his mum Róisín as they prepared for surgery. The craniofacial team at Temple Street offers a national paediatric service aiming to treat and normalise deformities of the skull, face and jaws, whether congenital or acquired. Some 11 years ago, Cealan swallowed dangerous corrosive acid and was left with several internal and external injuries. He has been a patient at Temple Street since the accident.

A brave patient, Cealan has undergone 50 separate procedures following the accident in the hope that one day he will have the ability to eat and drink normally.

Mr Murray explains: “Cealan presented to me following 50 previous operations with an inability to open his mouth because of extensive scar tissue. This resulted not only in difficulty eating and breathing but also severe restrictions in the growth of his jaw. We undertook an operation to remove the scar tissue inside his mouth and replace it with soft and pliable skin from his forearm using micro surgery.”

The first programme also featured a lively nine-year-old boy called Michael who arrived at the hospital for treatment for his brittle bones. This episode also featured newborn identical twin brothers Ben and Cian, who are awaiting a hernia operation.

The second episode, entitled ‘Where Life Begins’, followed the journey of newborn baby Neill who was at the hospital to undergo vital surgery. Born with a large tumour on his lower back, Baby Neill required immediate investigation and the tumour needed to be removed. The tumour is a huge burden on his vital organs and survival. His mum and dad lovingly looked on in the hope that they could soon bring their loved one home for the first time after long and intensive surgery.

Also on the programme, a little girl named Brooke arrived at the hospital after being bitten by her dog and we meet Craig, who needed to undergo surgery on his cataracts.

On November 21, the third episode of Temple Street Children’s Hospital, ‘Critical Decisions’, followed the lengthy journey of a 15-year-old who was involved in a road traffic accident. The teen was left with a large amount of glass in his wounds, therefore the team had to ensure he did not suffer any significant brain injuries.

The third episode of the show also features a young girl named Rene, who needed to have a large mole removed from her forehead. Waiting at her bedside, her mother reflects on the burden the mole placed on her daughter’s life. She hopes the required surgery will give Rene confidence, strength and a healthy life.

Meanwhile in the emergency department, the documentary makers meet Karl, who arrived at the hospital after being hit with a hurl by his friend.

'When I left Tuscany at the end of August, the vintage was looking good. The weather was very warm with relatively cool nights — just what vines love'

Giovanni Morelli ponders his latest selection of wines but is saddened by the amalgamation of family growers into big wine-producing corporations.

“Good wine is a good familiar creature if it be well used.”
William Shakespeare, Othello.

Having returned from Tuscany, blue skies, 30°C and starry nights, it is difficult to adjust to grey skies and rain. Chiara kept saying before we left Tuscany that Ireland might get an Indian summer! That didn’t work out, but I must admit we were getting no sympathy.

When I left Tuscany at the end of August, the vintage was looking good. The weather was very warm with relatively cool nights — just what vines love.

All the Merlot had been harvested, which is quite early. Hopefully things went well for Sangiovese and there were no flash hailstorms, which can cause such damage to the grapes within 15 to 20 minutes.

Casa Emma makes an excellent Chianti Classico (CC). This is a relatively small vineyard of about 21 hectares and produces 85,000 bottles annually. The vineyard is near San Donato in Poggio and not far from Castellina in Chianti.

The CC is available in Ireland from The Corkscrew, Chatham Street, On the Grapevine, Dalkey, Holland’s of Bray, The Wicklow Wine Co and Caprani’s in Ashford. It retails at about €19.95. The 2008 is drinking very well at present.

One of the saddest things happening in our new globalised world is the takeover of small companies, often family owned, by large corporates whose only interest is in making a profit and not quality. One of my favourite Californian vineyards, Seghesio, has just been bought by the Crimson Wine Group, part of a large financial conglomerate called Leucadia National.

The Seghesios are the second-oldest wine-making families in Sonoma County. Anybody who has had the chance to drink their Zinfandel made from old vines will have fond memories. The family are quoted by Tim Fish in the Wine Spectator as saying, “What they (Crimson Wine Group) have been able to do qualitatively and on their scale is almost without peer”. We shall see, but I wonder if the quality will be maintained.

The Zinfandel is available in Ireland from WineOnline, Dublin, The Wineshop.ie, Le Caveau, Kilkenny and Curious Wines, Cork. It is not cheap and prices vary from €25-€30 per bottle, but you will enjoy it.

Cloned yeast
Did you stay awake during those microbiology lectures at college? Do you remember anything about yeasts, besides causing thrush? Well, of course as a wine drinker you will know that the interaction between yeasts on the grape skins with the sugar in the grapes produces alcohol.

Most wine-makers rely on the naturally-occurring yeasts, but some of the ‘big’ growers prefer to add cloned yeasts. Now it appears, according to scientists in Sweden, that Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the best yeast for fermenting wine. In an article in Nature Communications, J Piskur and colleagues from Lund claim that S.cerevisiae underwent a series of gene changes 100-200 million years ago that helped it to become the leading ‘fermenter’ for beer and wine. He is quoted by Jacob Gaffney in the Wine Spectator as saying: “S.cerevisiae produces ethanol, accumulates it, and kills the competing microbes.” The scientists say the further laboratory genetic manipulation of S.cerevisiae might allow alterations in the final alcohol content of wine.

Green and blanc
What am I drinking since my return to the Emerald Isle? There is a wonderful Sauvignon Blanc from Touraine, Le Courlis, available from The Corkscrew, Chatham Street, and Caprani’s of Ashford for €11.95.

I have never liked the Sauvignons from New Zealand, as most of them taste like grape juice to me. Touraine is on the Loire and is sometimes called ‘the garden of France’. Wines from here are particularly good value compared to the likes of Sancerre and to me are generally underpriced. Of course, Touraine is famous for its Châteaux, for example Amboise, where Leonardo da Vinci died in the arms of King Francois I. M&S also have a nice Sauvignon at less than €10.

Domaine Jacky Marteau has a slightly more gooseberry taste and is not as rounded on the palate as Le Courlis, but is still excellent value. Try and go that extra mile and spend €11.95. You won’t be disappointed.

Let’s hope we get that Indian summer.

Happy drinking,
Giovanni.

The book has 23 cases with zoom-able images and the material is presented as the patient would describe the symptoms

Publishers have developed an application (or App) for a book on haematology for medical students, which is set to increase its appeal to the technology-savvy generation.

Wiley/Blackwell and the author Prof Shaun McCann said they had been anxious to develop the App, commenting that while there were many books on haematology, most of them were aimed at qualified doctors.

Clinical Cases Uncovered — Haematology was published in 2009 as part of a series including paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology and general practice, directed at medical students and NCHDs in their early training.

“I hope that the CCU App will appeal to medical students worldwide,” Prof McCann, a Lecturer in Haematology in the School of Medicine at Trinity College Dublin, told Irish Medical Times. “I have deliberately kept the case presentations as near to reality as possible. The real focus of the application is to make students think and to help students and trainee doctors recognise, understand and treat haematological diseases.”

The book — authored and edited by Prof McCann, with chapters contributed by Professor of Haematology at La Sapienza University of Rome Prof Robin Foà, Prof Owen Smith, Consultant Paediatric Haematologist, Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin, and Dr Eibhlin Conneally, Consultant/Lecturer in Haematology — differs from other haematology texts in that it has a chapter on basic science, which provides factual background, and one on ‘the approach to the patient’.

The book also has 23 cases with zoom-able images and tables and the material is presented as the patient would describe the symptoms. The text builds up the answers to various clinical and test results and ends with an algorithm and all cases are well illustrated.

The book also has a glossary of haematological terms and multiple choice questions (MCQs), extended matching questions (EMQs) and self-assessment questionnaires (SAQs), which test the knowledge the student has acquired.

The application is available through the Apple App store for £1.49 Stg (€1.71) for each case or £17.49 stg (€19.97) for the 22 cases, as one is free.

The details of the book itself are: Clinical Cases Uncovered — Haematology by Prof Shaun McCann, Prof Robin Foà, Prof Owen Smith and Dr Eibhlin Conneally, Wiley-Blackwell. 2009.

Meanwhile, a vibrant Irish developer is making serious waves in the development of applications on the iPhone and iPad platforms. 3D4Medical has one of its applications, 3D4Medical’s Skeleton System Pro App, featured in the latest Apple iPad2 TV commercials in the US. The company is based in Ballsbridge, Dublin.

3D4Medical has enjoyed significant success over the past 24 months. It has seen almost five million App downloads; 10 of its Apps have been ‘Number 1’ on the USA iTunes store (eight in ‘Medical’, one in ‘Fitness and Health’).

Its iMuscle App was voted ‘App of the Week’ by Apple in June of this year; and 3D4Medical’s Heart Pro App was chosen for global TV advertising with Apple and has been publicised by Apple iPad VP as the ‘Best App Ever’.

The company, which was founded in 2004, concentrates on the medical sector and has developed applications on a variety of anatomical areas including the brain, muscle system, heart and skeletal system.

“We’re a small but very profitable and growing company and we’re only getting started,” said John Moore, CEO and founder.

“The company has plans to release 10 more titles by the end of the year, with a list as long as your arm for release beyond that.

“Additionally, our applications are evolving beyond anatomy into disease states, conditions, tests and procedures.

“Our market is medical students and medical professionals primarily and they love the iPad as a learning and patient education tool,” he concluded.

Aoife Connors reviews a debut novel that gives an honest and entertaining depiction of teenage life in modern Ireland, with just that added twist.

Sixteen-year-old Felicity Costello, known to her family and friends as ‘Flick’, faces many of the same teenage struggles as most of her friends. There’s just one difference that sets her apart; her sexuality.

For a large part of this debut novel by Geraldine Meade, Flick battles mentally and emotionally to get her head around why she likes girls instead of boys, trying everything she can think of to keep the way she feels a secret because of the shame of being ‘different’.

Author Meade — a primary school teacher with six children — narrates teenager Flick’s mindset and actions throughout the novel with authenticity. The reader is given descriptions of the teenager’s attempts to like boys, but soon discovers Flick’s first crush is actually on another girl, when she kisses her brother’s girlfriend Becks.

Not dodging any issues, Meade’s book is aimed primarily at a more mature teenage audience.

In one section she details how Flick is drugged and raped on a night out by a college friend of her brothers.

She also highlights with insight the significance of social media for adolescents today.

When a best friend of Flick’s posts a photo on Facebook of Flick kissing another girl, the vulnerable teen overdoses in an attempt to escape her perceived shame, although thankfully she’s discovered in time by her anxious parents.

While praised as a rare example of an Irish ‘gay coming-of-age’ book, Flick reaches out to a much broader audience.  In depicting life growing up as a young adult in today’s Ireland, the author confronts and discusses many of the issues that most teenagers have to deal with through the life events of Flick, such as peer pressure, smoking, binge drinking, drug abuse, exploring ones sexuality, exam pressures, living up to parents’ expectations, being ‘cool’ and fitting in with friends.

Spanish Inquisition
During one of her ‘hangover sagas’, Meade describes how Flick tells her over-anxious mother, “I don’t need the Spanish Inquisition every time I’ve had a night out,” and declares she does not meet her mother’s expectations at all. The author highlights how differently Flick views everything in comparison to her parents.

When the road to recovery does begin, Flick’s parents insist on counselling sessions following the overdose. Once again, Flick’s character agonises over feeling the way she does. Determined not to let her guard down, she resolves not to tell ‘Dr Rodge’ about her feelings.

The book deals well with the stresses of trying to ‘fit in’ and appear ‘normal’ around friends and at school. Yet Meade highlights how such peer pressure to conform can easily get on top of a teenager. The pressure to hide her sexuality and the pain of being unable to tell anyone deeply depresses Flick and the author details with subtle emotion her ongoing shame at being different.

Mixed-up emotions
The reader’s interest is maintained throughout the 270-page book with concern and sympathy for Meade’s main character, as Flick struggles through her mixed-up emotions, with the author effectively describing the anxiety and fear that haunts Flick as she struggles with her sexual identity.

Meade clearly identifies the impact social media can have on a teen’s life. Facebook is regularly referenced, highlighting how a contentious photo can damage one’s social status, humiliating the teenager within their peer group.

Referring to every character by nickname could be a bit off-putting for some older readers (i.e. we have Dr Rodge, Fee, Kar and Kev), but perhaps it’s just a reference to how most teenagers actually speak. But frequently, the author chooses the lingua teen to good effect, and peppers the pages with such colourful terms as ‘lezzers’, ‘weirdos’ and ‘freaks’.

As Flick’s mind races constantly with a “whirlwind of emotions”, similarly, chapter by chapter, the book moves from one thought process, emotion, or anxious place to another.

However, in certain chapters there is a tendency to over-analyse situations, drawing things out — but again that’s possibly a reflection of how teenagers like Flick can over-analyse things, especially in panicky situations.

Meade’s first novel is an honest reflection of a teen’s mixed-up thoughts on life in general, and on their sexuality in particular, and a read worth recommending to teenagers, perhaps someone from 14 years onwards, as they will identify with many of the worries and dramas in the protagonist’s life.

• Flick by Geraldine Meade. Little Island. ISBN 978-1-908195-01-2

Dr Charles Daly reviews a new book examining the mysterious disappearance of postman Larry Griffin in Stradbally, Co Waterford, on Christmas Day 1929

Many years ago, on call one Christmas Day, I called into my then-local Garda station to report a sudden death. While there, the member on duty insisted on giving me a Christmas drink and I spent a pleasant half an hour with a glass of brandy and some delicious apple tart and cream.

This was probably not best practice for either party; I was driving and he was manning the station, but after all it was Christmas, and it never occurred to me that it was irregular behaviour.

I later heard that this particular member, because of his fondness for the sauce, may have been given a desk job where he was less likely to cause trouble than on the beat.

I was reminded of this episode reading the sad story of Larry Griffin, the postman who disappeared in Stradbally, Co Waterford, on Christmas Day 1929 in mysterious circumstances.

His body was never found despite searches of local bogland, disused mine shafts and other recently-dug graves.

He may have died accidentally following a drunken altercation in a local public house, or after falling down the stairs in the local Garda station where he may have been taken to sleep off the effects of drink, and his body may have been impulsively dumped in panic. Local folklore has it that he was buried underneath a road that was being resurfaced at the time.

Several people were charged with murder, including four Gardaí, a primary schoolteacher and the local publican and his family. Contemporary Garda reports and court transcripts reveal a shocking amount of lies, half-truths, evasions, U-turns, retractions and statements of frank perjury made by suspects and witnesses in connection with the incident.

The prosecution case collapsed sensationally when the star witness, who had made a detailed and lengthy statement placing the action in the pub, inexplicably retracted his evidence. It is possible somebody close to the defendants may have ‘got at’ him: shortly afterwards, with the help of the Gardaí, he was discreetly relocated to another part of the country.

The collapse of the trial meant the worst possible outcome for nearly all concerned. The defendants, although technically innocent, still carried the whiff of guilt on their shoulders. The schoolteacher remained out of work for over a year before he was reinstated, and for the Griffin family there was no closure, either in terms of a murder or manslaughter conviction or being able to bury their husband and father.

The Gardaí emerged badly from the whole business. The Stradbally members were in breach of regulations, drinking in the barracks on Christmas Day and sneaking in and out of the pub, which was officially closed. All, including the defendants, were dismissed; four other Gardaí, brought in to investigate the disappearance of the postman, were forced to resign because of their heavy-handed treatment of some of the accused, even though the then Commissioner, General Eoin O’Duffy, let it be understood that he wanted what is known in football slang as a ‘result’, regardless of how it was achieved.

Other investigating officers were forced into internal exile by the top brass for perceived incompetence (at that time, a transfer to Donegal was the equivalent of being sent to Siberia!).

The quality of forensic investigation was more reminiscent of Inspector Clouseau than of CSI, and questioning of suspects owed more to the Lugs Brannigan approach than to the subtle probing of Inspector Morse.

It did not help that the Gardaí were also identified with the Free State and the Cumann na nGaedheal government of the time, and were distrusted by large sections of the population who were sympathetic to the disaffected Fianna Fáil/Sinn Féin/Irregular element, and who would be unlikely to co-operate with investigations.

At times this book, written by Fachtna Ó Drisceoil, reads like The Valley of the Squinting Windows meeting Twin Peaks with a bit of Father Ted thrown in, but there is nothing amusing about the death and disappearance of Larry Griffin and the shadow it cast on the area.

The protagonists are long since dead, but it is still a live matter and a touchy subject in Stradbally, where the pub is still run by the same family, and the Griffin family still lives in the area, as do descendants of the teacher and some of the other suspects.

Naturally they are sensitive about a matter they had nothing to do with, but which they have inherited like the mark of Cain from their ancestors. Could there be somebody out there who knows the final resting place of Larry Griffin from a deathbed confession?

The story of Larry Griffin’s disappearance would make a great movie, but the time is not yet right — perhaps in another hundred years?

• Dr Charles Daly is a GP in Dungarvan, Co Waterford.

• Fachtna Ó Drisceoil, The Missing Postman: what really happened to Larry Griffin?, Mercier Press, 2011.

Badia a Coltibuono. The Abbey dates from the 11th century

Giovanni Morelli hits the white roads of the Cartizze and Chianti regions on a whistle-stop tour to sample some of the best Prosecco and reds currently available.

Mi dispiace molto ma non era mia culpa!

I may have misled you unintentionally about Prosecco. The sparkling wine made in Northern Italy is in fact made from the Glera grape. Until 2009, the grape and the wine were called Presecco but not anymore.

The consumption of these wines has increased dramatically over the past 10 years because they are relatively cheap and have a fairly low alcohol content.

The wines come from the Friuli Venezia Giulia and Veneto and the most famous areas are Valdobbiadene and Conegliano, both north of Treviso.

The hill of Cartizze, which consists of 107 hectares of vines, is considered by some as the home of the best Prosecco, but that claim is disputed by many.

Prosecco is widely available in Ireland now, from M&S to most wine shops, and it just means tasting as many as possible until you find the one you like.
If you are going to Italy on holiday, and I hope you are, try sparkling wines from Jesi (Verdicchio grape) which are inexpensive, or the more expensive wines from Franciacorta in Lombardy.

These are much more pricey because they are made with the ‘champagne’ method from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, or the so-called ‘Saten’, which approximates to Blanc de Blanc in Champagne, i.e. Chardonnay only.

I have recently consumed one from Majolini, which I can recommend. It is as good as many champagnes I have tasted and is given an excellent rating by Gambero Rosso.

Seeing red
If you are in Chianti it is a red wine area and the predominant grape is Sangiovese. Tuscany is full of hidden places and you have to go off the beaten track to find the most charming and interesting of them. Most of the roads are the so-called Strada Bianca, or white road. These are non-paved and would put any Kerry road to shame for the number of potholes! However, persist and you will be rewarded.

'A little further up the Strada Bianca is Bibbiano. Here we met the charming Elisa (don’t tell me a pretty girl can’t sell more wine!) and we tasted the 2008 Chianti Classico, which is 95 per cent Sangiovese and the much better Montornello 2008'

A beautiful village, Lilliano, is just off the road from Castellina in Chianti to Monteriggioni (a completely walled medieval town). The house that belongs to the vineyard owners was damaged during the wars between Florence and Siena, and subsequently during World War II. At present, it is a beautiful, creeper-clad villa surrounded by vines and olive trees.

The Princess Elenora Ruspoli began bottling and selling wine in 1958 and it is presently owned by Giulio and Pietro Ruspoli. Their Chiainti Classico 2008 is drinking very well at present and is very good value at €9 from the wine shop in the Tenuta (farm).

Strada Bianca
A little further up the Strada Bianca is Bibbiano. Here we met the charming Elisa (don’t tell me a pretty girl can’t sell more wine!) and we tasted the 2008 Chianti Classico, which is 95 per cent Sangiovese and the much better Montornello 2008. This wine is made from Sangiovese older vines exclusively. It is delicious and well worth the €13 we paid.

Again, the house in which the Morrocchesi family live is beautiful, surrounded by Cypress trees commanding a magnificent view of the surrounding valley. Elisa, believe it or not, learned her English during a six-month stay in the true capital of the world, Cork!

While looking down the valley, I saw my two eagles again. They were flying high and heading down the valley. It seemed they were hardly moving their wings but letting the warm air currents do all the work. On a few occasions they almost seemed to collide, but of course never did. Needless to say, I did not have my binoculars.

The weather this July was peculiar for Tuscany. It was warm and sunny until about the 20th.  Then the temperature dropped, even though on most evenings we were able to have a swim followed by dinner on the terrazza. On two occasions we lit a fire, later in the night — something unheard of in July in Tuscany!

Chianti Classico
I suppose no visit to Chianti is complete without going to Badia a Coltibuono, near Gaiole. The Abbey is well restored and there is a very nice restaurant in the grounds with wonderful views of Florence across the valley. The vineyard is run by the Stucchi Prinettii family and they are major producers (almost one million bottles per year). In spite of this their Chianti Classico is excellent and available from most good wine shops in Ireland.

The other morning (August 13) I bumped into Barbara Widmer, oenologist in La Brancaia. She says it is too early to predict the quality of the 2011 vintage and the next few weeks will be very important. The farmers here live in dread of fulmine, electric storms which are often accompanied by grandine, large hailstones. These storms, although they may only last 30 minutes, can cause major damage to the grapes, especially in August.

As I said in this column many years ago, growing vines for wine is like having a baby. All can go well until the last minute. Then nature can intervene with disastrous results!

At time of writing, the weather is perfect with blue skies and temperatures in the high 20s, so let’s hope it continues like this.

Next time, I’ll be writing to you from dull and dreary Ireland. It’s hard to imagine such weather when you are bathed in sunshine here.

Ciao for now.
Giovanni.