In two weeks, Merrion Press are due to publish a new paperback edition of the acclaimed ABANDONED IRELAND by Rebecca Brownlie! Here’s the synopsis…

Abandoned Ireland travels the length and breadth of the island of Ireland visiting and documenting our forgotten buildings, highlighting their social importance, and bringing their stories back to life through the medium of photography.

From Big Houses to humble cottages, schools to prisons, churches to dance halls, these buildings may now be abandoned, but they are far from empty. As a photographer, Brownlie’s instincts are remarkable. In the seemingly ruined and mundane she finds diamonds in the rough; her images of the ordinary ephemera of past lives – dusty love letters, rusting spectacles, photographs yellowed and curled with age – paint the pictures of real people and full lives.

Rebecca Brownlie’s photography reverberates with the echoes of our ancestors. Bursting with engaging and often surprising details, each haunting photograph is an invitation to immerse yourself  in history, and an Ireland long gone.

Here are just a few of the great reviews the book has received…

‘The author is interested above all, one senses, in the grain of day-to-day life: in the stories and power retained by detritus and everyday objects – the crucifix on the wall, the dusty piano, assorted books, the bottle of cod liver oil – even amid the desolation of abandonment. And more than anything, Brownlie’s tremendously evocative photographs tell and amplify such stories of materiality, and of buildings poised trembling between life and death.’ – Neil Hegarty, The Irish Times

‘The images are captivating … she has a natural eye for composition, and a talent for picking out features of interest, whether that’s highlighting the breathtaking architectural aspects of a building, or honing in on the sights that tell the stories of the forgotten lives within.’ – Chrissie Russell, The Sunday Independent 

‘ABANDONED IRELAND is packed with beautiful, evocative pictures of neglected buildings which now serve as crumbling time capsules of days past. Here, photographer Rebecca Brownlie explains how a fascination for seeking out haunted houses evolved into an ongoing quest to document decaying dwellings and their often fascinating histories…’ – The Independent

‘Rebecca Brownlie’s beautiful photographic catalogue… provides food for thought in a multitude of ways.’ – Michael Duggan, The Irish Examiner

Merrion has also published ABANDONED IRELAND 2, which is out now.