WordPlay bookstore in Wardensville will host Henry and Priscilla Ireys on Friday, October 17, at 6PM to discuss their new book, The Keep: Living with the Tame and the Wild on a Mountain Farm. The Ireys’ memoir in essays, published by West Virginia University Press, is the couple’s love letter to an unexpected place and adopted lifestyle on their farm in nearby Paw Paw, West Virginia.
The Keep—the term for “the strongest or central tower of a castle, acting as a final refuge”—reflects on the couple’s looping passage from disappointment and hurt to faith and healing on land they love as much as they love each other. Written separately by Priscilla and Henry, the book’s essays illustrate different perspectives of life on a farm. Priscilla embraces farming to recover from the grief of losing a 30-year career because of poor health; to her delight, heritage goats, hogs, and cattle claim both heart and imagination. In the forests around the farm, Henry discovers the intricacies of the natural world and enough mysteries to comfort his restless soul.
Loading the full story…
