What an inveterate gossip was Jane Caroline Stanley, nee Mahon, who on her visit to Ireland from Ann Arbor, Michigan, wrote letters to her family at a rate of three or four a day to keep them informed of her adventures in the land of her forebears. These were the Mahons of Castlegar, Co Galway, one of whom, John Ross Mahon, Jane's father's cousin, was co-founder of Guinness and Mahon bank, currently in the news. Her letters, largely gossipy accounts of visits to family relatives, picnics, parties and other outings, have been edited by her grandson and published in a pricey volume which will appeal primarily to members of the extended Mahon and L'Estrange families in Ireland and the US. The letters afford glimpses of life among privileged, middle-class Protestants and contain little of serious comment on social or political affairs. The editor has added footnotes which, unfortunately, betray a lack of knowledge about Ireland: Offaly is repeatedly described as "King's County" or "Co. Kings", for example. The book will have little interest for the general reader.