This wonderfully inspired book carries the reader back 1000 years to Ireland's early monastic tradition. Combing scholarship and historical fiction, Moorehouse traces the influence of Vikings, Romans and Anglo-Normans on Irish culture through an imagined story of life at the monastery on Skellig Michael. The second half of the book is a more traditional history of monastic traditions in Ireland, organized thematically.  (IRE13, $14.00)