In 1953, Ray Bradbury was invited to Ireland. To write a script for the film adaptation of “Moby Dick”, which was prepared by the famous director of “old Hollywood” John Huston, known for the film “The Maltese Falcon”. The script was ready, and the film with Gregory Peck and Orson Welles was released in 1956. Bradbury sincerely fell in love with the rainy Green Island and its soulful inhabitants. Ireland and the Irish became constant characters in Bradbury's poetic stories. Over time, there were so many stories that they formed a whole cycle and Bradbury decided to combine them into one novel. It contained stories about working on the script, about ominous banshees and cheerful Irishmen, about cozy pubs and gloomy castles, about cold winds and warm winds. The book included the entire “Irish Cycle” - the novel “Green Shadows, White Whale” and the supplementary his story “Swamp Passions.”