Irish Literature

Age, youth, childhood and race – a 20 Books of Summer round up!

No 568 The Cold Cold Ground by Adrian McKinty #20booksofsummer

As a massive Tom Waits fan, I’m a sucker for a book that uses his lyrics as an epigraph so The Cold Cold Ground by Adrian McKinty won me over before I even started reading. Thankfully though, the book itself did not disappoint. The story is set in 1981 in Northern Ireland during The Troubles.…

“Are you a witch or are you a fairy, or are you the wife of Michael Cleary?” No 571 The Cure by Carlo Gébler

COLONEL EVANSON: Why did you place your wife in the fire? CLEARY: I would not have done that. I would sooner put myself in the fire than put my wife in it. Carlo Gebler’s The Cure is based on the true story of Bridget Cleary, an Irish woman who was burned to death by her…

The Ugly Face of Beauty – Skin Deep by Liz Nugent

Liz Nugent certainly understands the power of an opening paragraph. Her previous novels Unravelling Oliver and Lying in Wait both grabbed the reader’s attention from the off and refused to let up. Skin Deep is no different I wondered when rigor mortis would set in, or if it already had. Once I had cleared away…

No 574 This Side of Brightness by Colum McCann

An interview with Rosemary Jenkinson (with added giveaway!)

Today on the blog, I am delighted to welcome the very talented Rosemary Jenkinson to chat about her work. Rosemary is an accomplished short story writer and playwright, who has just finished her year as Artist-in-Residence at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast. Born in Belfast in 1967, Rosemary has published two collections of short stories, including…

The Uninvited by Dorothy McArdle

The Uninvited by Dorothy McArdle was first published in 1942 and was recently reissued as part of Tramp Press’s Recovered Voices series. It was a good choice for that female-led publisher, as what starts out as an easily recognizable gothic haunted house tale, morphs into a fascinating exploration of the dangers inherent in labelling women…