Handy Andy is the most enduringly popular of the novels of Samuel Lover, author, artist and muscian. The laughing philosopher of the story is Andy Rooney, a fellow who had ‘the most singularly ingenious knack of doing everything the wrong way. More than simply a comic novel, it has been described as a 'pill to purge melancholy’.

Lover may be equally remembered as a painter, most notably for his minature portrait of Paganini, and for his many ballads. There is a wonderful musicality in the laguage which, combined with the accomplished artist’s eye for composition, makes this comic tale of Irish Life a volume to treasure.