THE SWANS OF BALLYCASTLE

A quietly retold Irish legend has the pathos of undeserved misery and the heartrending charm of happiness found in a never-never land- two things children understand. In a time gone by Deirdre, Kevin and Michael were three children with a wicked stepmother. Injustice follows injustice until the children are told to leave and never to return until the broken belfry bell sounds again. As swans they swim to an island to live fleeting centuries in a swan community. But their return, marked by the bell's sound is sad again, for though a kindly schoolmaster cares for them, their mysterious appearance in a Ballycastle now 200 years older brings its hostility and the children- swans again-return to their island. If you're at all sentimental this will make you cry.