Preface : connections and separations
Introduction : Irish types, American patterns
1. What Americans know and how they know it : song
2. What Americans know and how they know it : story
3. "Picture postcard Ireland" : Thomas Moran's The world I made for her
4. Naming the past : Lisa Carey's The mermaids singing
5. The pain of not knowing : Katharine Weber's The music lesson
6. Bringing paddies over : Alice McDermott's Charming Billy
7. The rage of the dying animal : Mary Gordon's The other side
Conclusion : the journey.