Staying ahead of the field

Biography: Queen of the Ploughing: By Anna May McHugh, Penguin Ireland, €23

Anna May McHugh was born in the loft of a farm building in 1934 because her family’s thatched house was burned to the ground.

During World War II, her mother put a rug over the curtains in the house to blacken out the candlelight inside. Her fear of bombs from the German Luftwaffe was not exaggerated. Three women died in Wexford ...