Family Matters (ePub)

This is a story of a normal Irish family. They, like any other family, have their ups and downs, their good times and bad times. The central character of the story is Robert Myles Holmes. After many years as a successful business man he decides to have his story told and turned into a book. He engages a writer and author to write his biography and, at the same time, tell the story of his friends and family and their parts in his life.There are basically two families involved. The Holmes family and the Boswells. They become linked through one marriage. The Boswell family are descended from, and still are at heart, Romany Gypsies and very proud of it.The Holmes family are country folk. The patriarch of the family was Watson Holmes who was for many years the estate manager on a very large estate. Upon his retirement he was given some acreage of land from the estate in gratitude of his years of service.It was upon this land that he built the first family home which was the basis for the eventual bigger family home rebuilt by his son Steven. This became the home of this family for many years.The Boswells, in agreement with the Holmes family, established themselves and built a smaller house close by.The whole story is told based on all the history and facts gleaned by the author over a number of visits to Robert. It has, of necessity, been somewhat dramatized otherwise just plain history would become boring to the reader. Nevertheless everything in this story is based on the true family history as related by Robert Holmes and gleaned from papers and diaries left behind by members of the extended family and those family members and friends still living.Whilst this story is about family matters, and their day to day impact on each member of the family, it is also true to say that family does matter in every ones life.