Housekeeping for Hallions

Name: Housekeeping for Hallions
Price: 23.95 AUD
Availability: OutOfStock
ISBN: 9781908157034

Des Donnelly

$23.95

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We will update you on expected arrival time to us. If this delay is too long, please let us know within 2 business days and we can give you options regarding cancelling or adjusting your order. More details on cancelling your order can be found in our Terms of Trade.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Halabatuchi Press
30 March 2026

Cultural studies; Sociology: customs & traditions; Humour collections & anthologies

What if the secret to a good life was simply caring a great deal less?

Housekeeping for Hallions is an affectionate and wickedly funny guide to the art of living simply, cutting corners with conviction, and finding profound wisdom in cheerful neglect.

A hallion, for the uninitiated, is an Irish term for that most admirable of characters - slightly chaotic, entirely charming, and utterly indifferent to what the neighbours think. Writing from Clogher in Co Tyrone, Des Donnelly has distilled the hallion philosophy into an essential handbook: part survival guide, part quiet rebellion against the relentless pursuit of domestic perfection - a pursuit that, as any hallion will tell you, is largely unnecessary and suspiciously exhausting.

Inside this book:
* Fridge archaeology, and the ethics of eating from the saucepan
* Wellington etiquette, and the case for one good pair
* The correct attitude to ironing (don't)
* Why mirrors should always be small or cracked
* The freezer as a form of long-term postponement

For anyone who has ever boiled an egg in a dirty saucepan or regarded an unmade bed as a sign of good character rather than poor housekeeping, this book will feel like coming home.

By: Des Donnelly
Imprint: Halabatuchi Press
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 140mm, Spine: 4mm
Weight: 91g
ISBN: 9781908157034
ISBN 10: 1908157038
Pages: 50
Publication Date: 30 March 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Des Donnelly writes from Clogher, Co Tyrone in the North of Ireland. Born in 1955 Donnelly's writing life has moved between the factual, the technical, and the imaginative. Each mode sharpened his attention to structure and pattern, and to the way language stores meaning, distorts it, and occasionally breaks under its own weight. He's happy as Larry to live amongst the modest disorder he advocates for.