The Irish Chateaux: In Search of Descendants of the Wild Geese by Renagh Holohan (Lilliput, £9.99)

Some Irish emigrants definitely had more glamorous lives than others. The wild geese's flightpath to France started in 1607 with the Flight of the Earls. The Irish Chateaux looks at what happened to those families. They included the Hennessys, O'Byrnes, MacMahons, Dillons, O'Neills, Butlers, and went on to become cognac purveyors, merchants, soldiers, businessmen and statesmen. Many of them lived in fabulous houses, some of which are now open to the public; the map and gazetteer indicate their location. This reprint of the 1989 edition includes an extended bibliography and a supplementary list of chateaux with Wild Geese connections.