Read Ireland Book Review
Issue 140
New Irish Fiction
The Gingerbread Woman by Jennifer Johnston (Hardback; 14.99 IEP / 18.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
On a rainy afternoon on Killiney Hill, a young man walking, without his overcoat, happens upon a woman gazing out over Dublin bay, humming Shubert, standing perilously close to the edge. From their rather testy encounter develops a remarkable friendship which will enable each to face afresh their very different damaged pasts, and to look, however tentatively, towards the future.
Clara speaks often to, and worries about, her mother, the jam maker, who irritates, yet also deeply affects her. Equally preoccupying are her emotional entanglements - perhaps rather foolish at her age. Lar, who has left the North, but cannot put his huge grief behind him, speaks only reluctantly to his parents: his pain is too great for words, for family.
Jennifer Johnston, one of Ireland's finest and most distinguished novelists, has written a wonderful portrait of two uncompromising individuals, of the loves they have lost, and of the troubled bond between parents and children.
Crazy Man Michael by Jim Lusby (Paperback; 9.99 IEP / 12.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
The book is the fourth in the McCadden detective series. It centers around the Irish Minister for Justice who is about to reform the Murder Squad, an elite unit with exclusive responsibility for investigating homicides throughout the Irish state. Its first case is expected to centre on a cluster of unsolved murders of women, and DI Carl McCadden, currently stationed at Waterford, is hotly tipped to lead the new unit.
Unfortunately, in the weeks leading up to this prestigious assignment an old acquaintance, an undercover copy named Rookie Wallace, turns up on McCadden's patch in a bad state and with a bizarre story - and with the Special Branch on his tail. It's obvious that he has stumbled into some heavy stuff, particularly when the official line turns out to be that Wallace has gone rogue, and thrown his lot in with the villains he was supposed to be infiltrating.
Atalanta by Fred Johnston (Paperback; 8.99 IEP / 10.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
This novel by a prominent Irish poet casts a magic spell of music and mythical love. It is meticulously crafted with taut prose and a pulsating story. The story focuses on a small town in Northern Ireland. Before the chill finger of the province's violence touches the quiet fishing village of Ardreagh, life goes on, complete with Orange marches, as it has done for generations. But a storm is gathering. A bomb changes the village, and a local teenager's fantasy world, forever.
Table Talk: Oscar Wilde edited by Thomas Wright (UK)(Hardback; 12.99 IEP / 16.99 USD) [Add To Basket]
This book is the very first collection of Oscar Wilde's spoken stories to appear in English. It contains unfamiliar tales, fascinating versions of Wilde's famous plays and printed stories, and translations of several tales originally recorded in French. From letters, interviews and various other sources, the editor has painstakingly compiled this unique collection of previously unavailable material. Some of the stories are comic anecdotes and tales of fantasy based on Irish folk legends; others are audacious adaptations of Biblical tales. All are animated by Wilde's irrepressible energy and sense of wonder, woven out of his powerful intelligence and his endlessly inventive imagination.
The Feng-Shui Junkie by Brian Gallagher (Paperback; 6.99 IEP / 9.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
This is an amusing first-novel about relationships set in contemporary Dublin. A lemon-yellow Wonderbra is the last thing Julie expects to find hanging on the inside doorknob of her Dublin flat when she returns early from holiday. The evidence is clear: Ronan, her husband, is having an affair. Fuelled by anger, despair and drink, Julie embarks on a campaign of detection and revenge. Her first victim is Ronan's beloved Porsche. Then, after she has identified the lovely golden-haired Nicole as her rival, a clandestine visit to her house not only provides useful information but ample opportunity to vent her wrath. An unexpected turn of events throws Julie and Nicole together.
Broken Biscuits Don't Count by Anne Schulman (Paperback; 5.99 IEP / 7.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
Emma Green has it all: A luxurious Dublin city-centre apartment, a company car, a challenging job - and an even more challenging credit card bill. A loving father, a group of quirky friends and a six-year-old romance keep her social life buzzing. Best friend and confidante Jo has moved to London but they deal with that by e-mailing each other regularly. Emma has the Celtic Tiger firmly in her grasp - then it turns tail and bites her.
The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella (Paperback; 5.99 IEP / 7.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
In this novel we meet Rebecca Bloomwood. She's a journalist. She spends her working life telling others how to manage their money. She spends her leisure time … shopping. Retail therapy is the answer to all her problems. She knows she should stop, but she can't. She tries cutting back, she tries making more money. But neither seems to work. The stories she concocts become more and more fantastic as she tries to untangle her increasingly dire financial difficulties. Her only comfort is to buy herself something. Follow her adventures as she tries to escape from this dreamworld, find true love, and regain use of her credit cards.
Shaken & Stirred by Colette Caddle (Paperback; 6.99 IEP / 9.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
Businessman Doug Ryan had everything under control - but he didn't have a heart attack on his agenda. When it happens, his is not the only like shaken up. Pamela, his ambitious wife, lives in a perfect world. It is thrown into chaos when his illness stirs up new emotions and leads him to question his life and their future. Gina Barrett gets that promotion. Life could be bliss - if she could find a man who understood the meaning of the word 'commitment'. Susie Clarke is over the moon when she lands the job of her dreams - except that she's nineteen, pregnant, with the father fast becoming a distant memory.
That Girl From Happy by Judy May Murphy (Paperback; 7.99 IEP / 10.00 IEP) [Add To Basket]
Janie Jay Kelly has gone. Aimee, Sammy, Fat Molly and Boots are left at Happy - each with a void to fill. Against a backdrop of city life, the author, a native Dubliner, paints a fluorescent, tangy, grown-up alternative to the Wizard-of-Oz. Through a mixture of flashback, drunken revelation and confession, this book sweeps the reader along in a whirlwind of obsession, insecurities and gritty zest.
Ellie by Jackie Mills (Paperback; 9.99 IEP / 11.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
This is a funny and poignant thriller-cum-love-story. Ellie is facing her forties with a son who's being bullied, a job that's under threat, an ex-husband who calls her on the sly and elderly relatives rattling around the crumbling pile vainly trying to stay warm. When her boss is found hanging from the light fixture in his office, the local council decides to close the Blessed Oliver Plunkett Library where Ellie works and re-deploys its staff to other branch libraries. The council, however, has underestimated the resistance it will face from the local, mainly geriatric community. As the elder fight to save their library, Ellie learns to take a stand on the things that matter in her own life.
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