Karen Hansen has always been interested in 'personal history' - the vernacular accounts of unremarkable people. So often these normal, humble people feel they have nothing in particular to share but, as is evident from this book, Karen has drawn together a fascinating collection of personal accounts from Irish immigrants to New Zealand. Her collection of interviews grew from a few stories that intrigued her into a diverse an invaluable record of recent history that has had very little written about it. Karen has met many more Irish immigrants with similarly involving life-stories and the potential for more books is a certainty.