I’m surprised it’s taken me so long to do a second Five Books I’ve Read post on Irish novels given how many excellent ones I’ve read since I started this feature. The five below are a mix of Irish and Northen Irish all with links to reviews on this blog, beginning with a writer who’s become a firm favourite for me.
Opening with a beginning and an end Donal Ryan’s The Queen of Dirt Island follows four generations of women in one unconventional household. Left to bring up her daughter alone, Eileen Aylward becomes so close to her mother-in-law that Nana moves in. Saoirse grows up loving the background banter between the two women, straining her ears to catch the whispered gossip Nana can’t resist. Eileen and Nana continue their litany of affectionate insult until Nana slips into an inevitable decline. Ryan’s novel gently unfolds their story in short, elegantly mellifluous chapters. The Queen of Dirt Island shares the same setting as Strange Flowers characters from which become bound closely into the Aylwards’ story, putting me in mind of Kent Haruf with whom Ryan shares an ability to paint the universal on a small canvas.
I very nearly didn’t read Ruth Gilligan’s The Butchers thanks to my own squeamishness and an off-putting blurb. It begins with the photograph of a naked man hung upside down from a meat hook in a cold store taken in 1996 at the height of the BSE crisis. Gilligan tells the story of eight men who travel the country, slaughtering cattle following the old ways, through the 12-year-old daughter of one of them, framing her novel with that dramatic opening scene and its consequences. It’s a striking exploration of the old Ireland, with its rich tradition of folklore, and the struggle towards the new, through two families who are more entangled than they realise.
Audrey Magee’s The Colony follows two men who make their way to an island which remains unnamed although its identity is not heard to guess. Both are planning to spend the summer there, each with very different agendas, caught up in their own concerns, oblivious to their effect on the islanders, in particular on a young boy who hopes to escape becoming a fisherman. Meanwhile, far away in the North, sectarian murders make widows and orphans every day. Magee’s powerful, beautifully expressed novel offers a different spin on the theme of colonialism from the one usually followed.
Acclaimed short story writer Louise Kennedy’s first novel, Trespasses, sees a Catholic teacher falling in love with an older man: a prominent barrister, married and a Protestant. Michael’s requests for Cushla to give Irish lessons to him and his friends usher her into the world of the comfortably off, educated Protestant middle class while paving the way to an affair. Kennedy explores the Troubles through a tender love story which echoes the divisions running through Northern Irish society, setting it in County Down where she grew up. A deeply moving novel, but not one that was easy to write, I’m sure.
In Billy O’Callaghan’s My Coney Island Baby two lovers, engaged in an affair stretching over 25 years, meet for an afternoon once a month, a welcome interval in their humdrum marriages. Now each is faced with a crisis that threatens this relationship which has become so precious to them both. Michael tells Caitlin that his wife has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Later in the afternoon she tells him her husband is in line for a promotion that will take him to Illinois. They both know these monthly meetings are about to end unless they make an irrevocable decision. There’s an elegiac tone to O’Callaghan’s prose coupled with a timelessness which suits his subject beautifully.
Any Irish novels you’d recommend? Always happy to add to my long list…
If you’d like to explore more posts like this, I’ve listed them here. My first five Irish novels are here.
I’ve recently read – and got a lot from reading – the Magee and the Kennedy. And anything by O’Callaghan goes straight onto the list. Ryan too. The Queen of Dirt Island has eluded me so far. I’ve a feeling that most of books by Irish writers that I’ve read recently have been recommended by … you!
Well I can’t be anything but pleased to hear that. I do read a lot of ’em
I really rated the Ryan and the Kennedy too. The others are all appealing, especially My Coney Island Baby – I’ll look out for it.
Excellent, aren’t they. The O’Callaghan’s lovely – bittersweet.
Did you see about Gillian Anderson & the upcoming adaptation of Trespasses? https://m.independent.ie/style/celebrity/celebrity-news/gillian-anderson-in-co-down-to-shoot-troubles-thriller-based-on-louise-kennedy-novel/a1857209587.html
I hadn’t spotted that – thank you! Slightly nervous about it as I was before seeing Small Things Like These which turned out to be brilliant. Fingers crossed.
I saw STLT last night…walked out after not able to talk.
It’s a tough watch, isn’t. Silence in the cinema after the showing I went to.
I LOVED The Butchers and am pleased to find somebody else who’s read it as it seemed to go under the radar.
I’m so glad I overcame my reluctance to read it. I’ve not noticed anything new fro her since.
You (and Cathy and Kim) always ensure there’s loads of Irish fiction on my radar! Trespasses won the McKitterick Prize a couple of years ago and, without giving anything away, I can say that there are also some phenomenal looking Irish novels in the running this year.
Oh, that’s great to hear. Tip me the wink when you’re able!
Great examples from our Irish writers Susan. I was blown away by Trespasses, it will be interesting to see how it translates to the screen. I am reading Alan Murrin’s The Coast Road. Really enjoying it, great characterisation in particular.
There are so many to choose from! Fingers crossed for the Trespasses adaptation. I enjoyed the Murrin too. I recently read another fine Irish novel you might like: Garrett Carr’s The Boy From the Sea, to be published next year..
I will look out for that one. Another great book of short stories I read this year by an Irish writer is Old Romantics by Maggie Armstrong. Highly recommend it to readers.
I have it on my list! Thanks for mentioning it, though.
The only one of these I’ve read is the Magee, which I liked very well while reading it, but it’s mostly slipped from my mind now. The Butchers did catch my interest when it first came out, though I never ended up getting hold of it—perhaps something to remedy!
I think The Butchers was one of those titles that slipped under the radar, sadly. Maybe it was that blurb. I’d definitely recommend it.
I do remember the “meat hook” phrase being in the blurb, and me thinking “ehhhhh….”
Exactly! She was so appreciative on social media when I reviewed it I wondered if it hadn’t had much coverage.
Irish writing seems to have exploded in the past five to ten years. There are so many amazing writers coming out of Ireland – so few of whom I’ve read! I really must read Donal Ryan and I believe this is the book I’ve got (so hurray!), and I’ve heard nothing but praise for Trespasses. I’m also very interested in The Colony and have hovered on the brink of buying a copy several times. I might actually do so, now it has your mark of approval!
I hope you do, Victoria! A highly original take on colonialism. I couldn’t agree more about Irish writing. So much of what I read these days seems to come from one small island.
Lovely to see The Colony and Trespasses here, Susan. Two excellent reads. I should take a look at Audrey McGee’s back catalogue at some point…
They are, aren’t they. Interesting to see Channel 4’s plans to adapt Trespasses.
I loved all of these, but The Butchers was a real stand out for me. I had hoped it would get a lot more attention than it did.
It certainly deserved to be noticed didn’t it. Have you heard if there’s anything else in the pipeline from her?
I haven’t heard of anything. Would be vert interested to see what she does next.
Ah, that’s a shame. It’s been quite some time since The Butchers. I wax hoping there was another in the works.
I very much enjoyed Trespasses Susan but thought Louise Kennedy’s short story collection The End of the World is a Cul-de-sac was just extraordinary. My favourite Colm Tóibín is The Master, a perfect read for long winter nights.
A blast from the past readers may not have come across is Jennifer Johnston- Shadows on our Skin, How Many Miles to Babylon? and The Gates are all wonderful, sometimes reminiscent of William Trevor’s writing and subject matter.
I loved The End of the World… Short stories that have stayed with me which is often not the case. Tóibín is a long time favourite and, of course, William Trevor but thanks for mentioning Jennifer Johnston who I’d forgotten all about. So much talent on such a small island!
Making note of all these!
Lovely to hear that!