Focus on drink replaces kitchen sink

A long time ago in what might just as well be a land far away, a writer (and actor) with a slightly exotic assumed name wrote a novel about an Irish village. As a result, his father, a schoolmaster, had to leave the area and the author himself never returned.

A lawsuit by aggrieved parties ensued. The book was publicly burned.

Brinsley MacNamara, real name John Weldon, had set the novel in the ...