Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry Book

I have not finished it yet. I still have the last story to read. I wanted to read it because there seemed to be little written about ordinary Irish people of the Victorian era. There was no Irish equivalent to Dickens or Gaskell, so far as I could make out.

I have to admit that I am finding it hard work. I read a page or two on the train if I have finished a chapter in one of my other books.In my copy the print is tiny, so even though the last story is only 60 pages long, I expect it will take me about a month to finish.

The stories do not exactly overturn Irish stereotypes, but I suppose, if that's the way they were, that's they way they were. They are either rogues or rebels, or they are very pious or they like a fight.

Edit: Finished! In fairness, I should only give it one star, but I will give it an extra star because of its historical interest and uniqueness. The last story was the worst: the most false endings outside a Tarantino film, with very violent reversals of fortune. I am being generous about that extra star, because I should deduct one for the tiny print. OTOH, the Irish vernacular was very well reproduced throughout, and the author's heart was in the right place, and not anti-British, so I will let him have that extra star.