Book news, reviews and recommendations
I’m a great fan of Irish writing but it seems to me that Irish women, in particular, have been excelling themselves over the past few years. Here are five favourites each with a link to a review on this blog. I’m sure there’ll be more to follow. Sheila Armstrong’s first novel, Falling Animals, lived up […]
Five Novels by Irish Women I’ve Read Read More »
Unsurprisingly, I jumped at the chance to review Colm Tóibín’s The News from Dublin when it was offered particularly as it’s published in Cathy’s Reading Ireland Month over at 746 Books. The nine stories comprising the collection range from Ireland to Argentina, Spain to Texas, spanning the early twentieth century to the present day. As
The News from Dublin by Colm Toibin: No duds here Read More »
Chloe Michelle Howarth’s Heap Earth Upon It is very different from Sunburn, her debut, a story of sexual awakening set across glorious hot summer days. This new one is a dark, brooding novel which follows the O’Learys who have left their home village hoping to put a distance between themselves and the most recent of
Heap Earth Upon It by Chloe Michelle Haworth: Truth will out Read More »
I was a bit doubtful about Gethan Dick’s debut when it was pitched to me. Dystopian fiction doesn’t usually appeal but it’s published by Tramp Press, a small Irish indie whose books I’ve enjoyed in the past. Water in the Desert Fire in the Night follows a disparate group of people, neighbours on a London
Water in the Desert Fire in the Night by Gethan Dick: The end of the world as we know it Read More »
The blurb for John Patrick McHugh’s Fun and Games came garlanded with praise from a slew of starry Irish literary names, not least Sally Rooney. I often wonder how that might feel for a writer; a kind of euphoric anxiety, perhaps. Set in the summer of 2009, McHugh’s novel follows seventeen-year-old John and his footballing
Fun and Games by John Patrick McHugh: Growing up is hard to do Read More »
Louise Hegarty’s debut, Fair Play, had such an intriguing premise I put up my hand as soon as I spotted it on NetGalley. She’s also a Stinging Fly contributor which always sways me in an author’s favour. For several years Abigail has arranged a murder mystery weekend to celebrate her brother’s birthday which falls on
Fair Play by Louise Hegarty: An inventive take on cosy crime Read More »
The blurb for Paul McVeigh’s short story collection, I Hear You, put me in mind a little of Jhumpa Lahiri’s Roman Stories with its structure of a few standalone pieces plus ten stories linked to a location, in McVeigh’s case The Circus, a renovated club where a talent contest is to be held. The collection
I Hear You by Paul McVeigh: Belfast tales Read More »
Despite its door-stopping proportions I couldn’t resist Catherine Airey’s much trumpeted debut with its promise of an involving tale of two Irish sisters, one of whom emigrates to New York to take up an art school scholarship ticking two of my literary boxes. Máire and Rósín’s stories span decades beginning in the 1970s when they’re
Confessions by Catherine Airey: Choose your own adventure Read More »
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
Five More Irish Novels I’ve Read Read More »
I liked the premise of Orla Mackey’s Mouthing. It put me in mind of Robert Seethaler’s The Field in which the dead remember their village, filled with all the gossip, machinations and scandalmongering you might expect from such a small community. Mackey’s debut tells the story of Ballygowan, tucked away in rural Ireland, over several
Mouthing by Orla Mackey: ‘Night night now. Tomorrow will be lovely’ Read More »
This is the latest in a series of occasional posts featuring books I read years ago about which I was wildly enthusiastic at the time, wanting to press a copy in as many hands as I could. Regular readers may have gathered that I’m fan of Colm Tóibín’s writing. His name appears on my About
Blasts from the Past: The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Tóibín (1999) Read More »