The House of Pure Being

by Michael Murphy

  At the National Concert Hall, watching the At Five in the Afternoon rehearsal. (Conor Ó Mearáin)

  ‘My mother is ninety-three years old, and she dwells now in a house of pure being.’ (Keith Heneghan)

  ‘Helen had arrived at a conclusion. “Now that it’s been done you can use the photograph in the new book if you like,” she stated.’ (Conor Ó Mearáin)

  ‘Terry then signed the register, followed by Barbara and Tiernan, who used the special Italian Delta pens for the first time that we’d given to each of our witnesses as a gift.’ (Conor Ó Mearáin)

  Not-a-wedding guests: Aengus Mac Grianna, Emer O’Kelly, Eamonn Lawlor, Eileen Dunne and Colm Murray. (Conor Ó Mearáin)

  ‘We’d prepared Helen by telling her that I didn’t intend to use the portrait in my new book. Some of the other photographs that we’d taken paparazzi-style through the bustling streets of Tarifa earlier on that carefree August day were brimming with life and movement …’ (Conor Ó Mearáin)

  ‘… Anna wears her heart on her sleeve. When she deems a person her friend, she impulsively gives her all.’ (Conor Ó Mearáin)

  ‘Conor tries to capture through his lenses this revelation of being, a point in time which affords him a glimpse through to eternity.’ (Conor Ó Mearáin)

  Copyright

  First published in 2013 by

  Liberties Press

  140 Terenure Road North | Terenure | Dublin 6W

  Tel: +353 (1) 405 5701

  www.libertiespress.com | info@libertiespress.com

  Trade enquiries to Gill & Macmillan Distribution

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  Distributed in the UK by

  Turnaround Publisher Services

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  Distributed in the United States by

  Dufour Editions | PO Box 7 | Chester Springs | Pennsylvania 19425

  Copyright © Michael Murphy, 2013

  The author asserts his moral rights.

  ISBN: 978–1–907593–98–7

  2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1

  A CIP record for this title is available from the British Library.

  Cover design by Fergal Condon

  Internal design by Liberties Press

  Landscape photograph of Spain by Conor Ó Mearáin

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated, without the publisher’s prior consent, in any form other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent publisher.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or storage in any information or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the publisher in writing.