About this episode

Carol Cairns recounts her passionate affair with poet Benedict Ryan and their emotional reunion after nearly fifty years.

In her early twenties Carol Cairns, the daughter of a priest in Ireland, had a passionate affair with a young bohemian poet called Benedict Ryan. In the Dublin of the 1960s, their improbable partnership burned bright but briefly. Somehow the gap in their backgrounds was too great. Not long after, life took her in a completely different direction. Shortly after her 70th birthday, while thinking of names for a grandson to be, she remembered Benedict. Where was he now? After a failed marriage, she used Skype to see if the flame still burned. Carol tells Dr Sian Williams about the emotional moment they reunited, after almost half a century. Producer; Tom Alban

People in this episode

Host: Dr Sian Williams

Guest: Carol Cairns

Topics covered

• affair
• reunion
• personal history
• love
• nostalgia
• family

Keywords

• affair
• reunion
• Benedict Ryan
• Carol Cairns
• Dublin
• 1960s
• nostalgia
• Skype

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: BBC Radio 4

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