Irish Fiction

NEW 2/09

P.S. I Love You by Cecilia Ahern
Holly couldn't live without her husband Gerry, until the day she had to. They were the kind of young couple who could finish each other's sentences. When Gerry dies, 30-year-old Holly is set adrift, unable to pick up the pieces. But with the help of a series of letters her husband left her before he died and a little nudging from an eccentric assortment of family and friends, she learns to laugh, overcome her fears, and discover a world she never knew existed. Also try Rosie Dunne.

The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry
Recording the events of her life from a mental hospital in Sligo, Ireland as her hundredth birthday approaches, Roseanne McNulty considers returning to society when she learns that the hospital is about to close. Also try Annie Dunne.

Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy
Eve and Benny grew up inseparable, in the village of Knockglen. They knew the sins and secrets behind every villager's lace curtains...except their own. In Dublin, at the university, Benny and Eve met beautiful Nan Mahlon and handsome Jack Foley. But heartbreak and betrayal would bring the worlds of Knockglen and Dublin into explosive collision that would test the meaning of love and the strength of ties held within the fragile bands of a circle of friends. Also try Tara Road or any novel by this prolific author.

Ireland: A Novel by Frank Delaney
This unforgettable "tour de force" marries the intimate, passionate texture of the Irish spirit with a sweeping, epic historical scope, to tell the story of how the character of the land and its people were shaped by history, neighboring England, and the Irish themselves. Also try Tipperary. 

Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle
Paddy Clarke, a ten-year-old boy who longs to be a missionary, experienes life's joys and setbacks – specifically his parent's fights – as he grows up in the north of Liffey, Ireland, in the late 1960s. Also try A Star Called Henry or The Commitments. 

The Gathering by Anne Enright
As nine members of the Hegarty clan gather for the wake of their drowned brother Liam, his sister Veronica remembers the secret he shared with her about what happened in their grandmother's house thirty years ago, a betrayal that spans three generations. Also try Yesterday’s Weather. 

Irish Gold by Andrew Greeley
Nuala Anne McGrail, a student at Dublin's Trinity College, is beautiful the way a Celtic goddess is beautiful - not that Dermot Michael Coyne of Chicago has ever seen one of those in his twenty-five years - unless you count his grandmother Nell, who left Ireland during the Troubles with her husband Liam O'Riada, and who would never tell why they left. Somebody else remembers, though - or why is Dermot set upon by thugs? The Nuala McGrail series continues with Irish Lace. 

Irish Girls About Town
Authors Maeve Binchy, Marian Keyes and Cathy Kelly top an impressive roster of the Emerald Isle's most popular women writers and prove that when it comes to spinning a good yarn, the Irish are the best in the business. Showcasing dazzling wit and remarkable insight in short stories that run the gamut from provocative to poignant, these Irish women will tug at your heartstrings and have you crying with laughter in no time. Also try Ladies' Night at Finbar's Hotel, another anthology of stories by Irish women writers; Note these books are filed by title under IRISH and LADIES, respectively. 

The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
In the semi-autobiographical Portrait, young Stephen Dedalus yearns to be an artist, but first must struggle against the forces of church, school, and society, which fetter his imagination and stifle his soul. The book’s inventive style is apparent from its opening pages, a record of an infant’s impressions of the world around him – and one of the first examples of the “stream of consciousness” technique. Also try The Dubliners. 

Best of Friends by Cathy Kelly
Four very different women: Abby, a TV actress; her painfully shy teenage daughter, Jess; Lizzie, reeling from her ex-husband's new romance; and Erin, returning to Ireland from Chicago to help her husband's career - are brought together in the town of Dunmore, Ireland, by various circumstances as they get the chance to transform their lives for the better. Also try Just Between Us. 

Watermelon by Marian Keyes
Claire has everything she ever wanted: a husband she adores, a great apartment, a good job. Then, on the day she gives birth to their first baby, James informs her that he's leaving her. Claire is left with a newborn daughter, a broken heart, and a postpartum body that she can hardly bear to look at. She decides to go home to Dublin. And there, sheltered by the love of a quirky family, she gets better. Also try Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married.

Bard: The Odyssey of the Irishby Morgan Llywelyn
A fourth-century Celtic bard, Amergin, inspires his warrior clan to travel from the Iberian Peninsula to Ierne (present-day Ireland). This is the tale of the coming of the Irish to Ireland, and of the men and women who made that emerald isle their own. Also try Red Branch, Finn Mac Cool, and any others by this accomplished author.

Winterwood by Pat McCabe
Once, journalist Redmond Hatch was in heaven, married to the lovely Catherine and father to enchanting daughter Immy. But, returning to the remote Irish mountains where he grew up, Redmond meets Auld Pappie Ned, a seemingly benign fiddler and storyteller who ignites a disastrous series of events. Also try Call Me the Breeze and Butcher Boy.

The Light of Evening by Edna O’Brien
From her Dublin hospital bed, the ailing and elderly Dilly Macready recalls the important events and people of her life, from her emigration to America in the 1920s, to her Irish marriage, to motherhood, as she eagerly awaits a visit from her estranged daughter, Eleanora. Also try In the Forest. 

The Mammy by Brendan O’Carroll
Seven kids, one dead husband called "Redser," and not a chance that she'll be defeated. Every morning at five, Agnes Browne leaves her tenement flat and sets up her produce stall on Moore Street, in the teeming heart of The Jarro - home to Dublin's dealers, dockers, draymen, and those on the dole. The Agnes Browne Trilogy continues with The Chisellers.

My Dream of You by Nuala O’Faolain
Nearing 50 years old, with few friends and no family, Kathleen returns home to Ireland for the first time in 30 years to pursue the 150-year-old story of an English lady and her illicit affair with an Irish man during the Potato Famine. Kathleen then begins a romance with a married Irishman named Shay. She and her lover cling together in a rented cottage, with the imminent end of their affair hanging over their heads. Also try O’Faolain’s biographies, including Are You Somebody? 

In the Province of Saints by Thomas O’Malley
Young Michael McDonagh narrates O'Malley's debut, a brilliant coming-of-age story set against the Irish Republican struggles of 1976 to 1981. Yearning to redeem those he loves, Michael justifies the temptation to criminalize himself as the sacrifice demanded by his personal ghosts: an adulterous father who flees to America, a mother driven to madness by cancer and rejection, and uncles who smuggle weapons and eventually kill for the cause.

The Tea House on Mulberry Street by Sharon Owens
Struggling with a stale marriage and the outdated atmosphere of their tea house, Penny and Daniel Stanley serve a host of refuge-seeking customers, including a star-struck artist and a mysterious woman who seeks a long-lost companion. Also try The Ballroom on Magnolia Street. 

An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor
A recent medical school graduate, Barry Laverty is delighted by the opportunity to join a small rural practice in the beautiful hills of Ballybucklebo, Northern Ireland, until he meets his superior, Dr. Fingal Flahertie O'Reilly, a cantankerous older physician who has his own way of doing things. This series continues with An Irish Country Village.

The Master by Colm Toibin
Nineteenth-century writer Henry James is heartbroken when his first play performs poorly in contrast to Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" and struggles with subsequent doubts about his sexual identity. Also try Brooklyn.

Fools of Fortune by William Trevor
In this award-winning novel, an informer's body is found on the estate of a wealthy Irish family shortly after the First World War, and an appalling cycle of revenge is set in motion. Led by a zealous sergeant, the Black and Tans set fire to the family home, and only young Willie and his mother escape alive. Fatherless, Willie grows into manhood while his alcoholic mother's bitter resentment festers. And though he finds love, Willie is unable to leave the terrible injuries of the past behind. Also try The Story of Lucy Gault and The Oxford Book of Irish Short Stories, which Trevor Edited.