Catherine de Courcy

Catherine grew up in Dublin and graduated in history from UCD in 1979. She became a professional librarian and worked in libraries in Ireland, Papua New Guinea and Australia. She travelled the Australian outback with her husband, John, and wrote several guide books. She has an international reputation as a historian of zoos. In 2003, several years after the death of her husband, Catherine returned to Ireland.

Books by Catherine de Courcy

Dublin Zoo: An Illustrated History

As Dublin Zoo makes the transition from bars and cages to state-of-the-art animal habitats its story, beginning in 1831, is recorded.  The mixed fortunes of the Zoo are traced as it survived the Famine years, political trouble, economic hardship and public discomfort with wild animals kept in cages.  Dublin Zoo’s proud past is united with present and future direction as the extraordinary changes in recent years are described.

August 2009, The Collins Press

Advenure In GriefAn Adventure in Grief

John Johnson was a Vietnam veteran who was devoured by post-traumatic stress and, eventually, he found it impossible to go on living. After his violent suicide, his wife, Catherine de Courcy, was faced with an overwhelming grief, which left her physically debilitated and emotionally battered. She chose to deal with the grief head-on and confront everything it threw at her. 

Using practical tools to help her such as extra soft pillows, a container load of tissues, good food, sunsets over the water, 1950s musicals, airport novels and the television, she treated grief as a tough adventure that brought her into the depths of sadness, loneliness and eventually into a deeper sense of self that reinforced the joys of living despite the violent suicide of the man she loved. 

By writing an account that looks unflinchingly and without self-pity at the hidden aspects of grief, Catherine has turned her own story into an example of how to manage the strange and unsettling challenges that death of a loved one provoke. She also portrays with sympathy and honesty the devastating impact of post-traumatic stress on a Vietnam veteran long after the war has ended. 

World rights: Collins Press
Spring 2009

Catherine de Courcy is represented at Jenny Brown Associates by Jenny - .

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