William Carleton was an Irish novelist, and one of fourteen children of a tenant farmer. Carleton's early life resembled what he later described in his books. His father had an extraordinary memory and a thorough acquaintance with Irish folklore, which Carleton drew upon in later works. He became regarded as one of the great Irish novelists, and a master chronicler of the lives and character on the Irish people. Careleton's stories are the trials of common people, told in their own words, full of the sense of time and place that marked his stories. Ned's preferred abode is the public house, till his spouse comes with the servants to fetch him: "And then you might see Ned between the two servants, a few paces in advance of Nancy, having very much the appearance of a man performing a pilgrimage to the gallows, or of a deserter guarded back to his barrack, in order to become a target for the muskets of his comrades." Ned and his neighbors are larger than life, but all too human.

Author Biography

William Carleton (1794- 1869) was an Irish writer and novelist. He is best known for his Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry, a collection of ethnic sketches of the stereotypical Irishman. In 1830 he published his first full-length book, Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry (2 vols.), which made his name and is considered his best achievement. In it he stereotyped the Irish "Paddy" in sketches such as "Phil Purcel The Pig Driver." A second series (3 vols.), containing, among other stories, "Tubber Derg, or the Red Well," appeared in 1833 and Tales of Ireland in 1834. From that time till within a few years of his death he wrote constantly.