Read Ireland Book Review
Issue 225
New Irish Fiction
The Broken Cedar by Martin Malone
Hardback; 20.00 Euro / 25.00 USD / 15.00 UK; Scribner, 306 pages [Add To Basket]
The Enclave; home to Lebanon's dispossessed. Khalil has made his life in this buffer zone on the Israeli-Lebanon border, catering to the needs of UN troops. His small electrical shop has served him and his family well. But there is another matter which troubles his conscience: the brutal lynching fifteen years ago of two UN peacekeepers, one Irish, one American, to which he was an unwilling party. And a young Irishman walks into his shop, the murdered man's son. Exploring in intimate and compelling detail the effects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on everyday life, this compelling novel turns on one man's terrible crisis of conscience as he attempts to reconcile past actions and present consequences.
Star of the Sea by Joseph O'Connor
Paperback; 12.95 Euro / 15.00 USD / 9.99 UK; Secker & Warburg, 410 pages [Add To Basket]
In the bitter winter of 1847, from an Ireland torn by injustice and natural disaster, the 'Star of the Sea' sets sail for New York. On board are hundreds of fleeing refugees, some brimming with optimism, many more desperate. Among them are a maidservant with a devastating secret, bankrupt Lord Merridith and his wife and children, an aspiring novelist, a maker of revolutionary ballads, all braving the Atlantic in search of a new home. Each is connected more deeply than they can possibly know. But a camoflauged killer is stalking the decks, hungry for the vengeance that will bring absolution.
The twenty-six-day journey will see many lives end, other begin afresh. Passionate loves are tenderly recalled, ducked responsibilities regretted too late; profound relationships shockingly unearthed where once it seemed there were none. In a spellbinding story of tragedy and mercy, love and healing, the further the ship sails towards the Promised Land, the more her passengers seem moored to a past which will never let them go. A novel as urgently contemporary in its preoccupations as it is historically revealing, this gripping and compassionate tale builds with the pace of a thriller to an unforgettable conclusion.
The Big Snow by David Park
Paperback; 12.50 Euro / 15.00 USD / 10.00 UK; Bloomsbury, 278 pages [Add To Basket]
Northern Ireland, 1963. In a house with windows flung defiantly wide, a wife dies before her husband can make his confession. Elsewhere, an old woman searches desperately for a wedding dress in her dream of love. And in the very heart of this city, the purity of snow is tainted by the murder of a young woman, leaving one man in a race against time - to find the murderer before the snow melts. This novel is the story of a time muffled and made claustrophobic by unprecedented snow falls. Suddenly shaken free from the normal patterns of their lives by the extremity of the weather, the people fine their intimate desires thrown into sharp relief. The author shows this flawed slice of humanity somehow glorious.
Right on Time by Pauline McLynn
Trade Paperback; 13.99 Euro / 17.50 USD / 9.99 UK; Headline, 313 pages [Add To Basket]
Every second counts for private investigator Leo Street on her latest case. She must find a missing teenager in the drug-fuelled streets of Dublin before it's too late. But with a watch that's stopped and a biological clock that's taken over, it's not going to be easy. Leo's irrepressible sidekick Ciara, her mischievous mutt No.4, and Ciara's gorgeous twin brother Ronan, lend a helping hand. But can they track down the missing girl and save the day, or will a case of bad timing put all their lives at risk? Pauline McLynn, who shot to fame playing Mrs. Doyle in 'Father Ted', has crafted a hilarious follow-up to her bestsellers, Something for the Weekend and Better Than a Rest.
Following the Wake by Gemma O'Connor
Trade Paperback; 14.99 Euro / 18.50 USD / 10.50 UK; Bantam, 236 pages [Add To Basket]
The fallout from Evangeline Walter's murder touched everyone who knew her, as if her venom had insiduously leached into their lives and poisoned their happiness. Even her cousin, Murray McGraw, who had a genuine affection for her, was not immune, and neither was Smiler O'Dowd, who loved her. But of all those who had contact with her, none suffered more than the wife and son of VJ Sweeney, who drowned at sea before he could be charged with her killing. Was it all too neat? Ten years on, the sense of unfinished business continues to linger, and Gil Sweeney has become obsessed with finding out what really happened when he was a little boy of only eight years old.
All the People All the Time by Declan Lynch
Paperback; 8.99 Euro / 11.50 USD / 7.50 UK; TownHouse, 280 pages [Add To Basket]
Victory Bartley is on the edge. Publicly humiliated by criticism of his son's ailing TV show, he has had enough. Once a successful showband manager in Ireland, he is now a sad resentful alcoholic. He bears most of this resentment towards the rock star Richie Earls, one of Ireland's rock and roll elite who has it all - everything Victor wants. But things are about to change. As the events of one tragic, drug-fuelled night at Richie's south Dublin mansion take their toll, the tables are turned. Suddenly, Victor has the one thing that Richie wants This is murder and music mayhem with a twist from a new Irish talent.
Mohammed Maguire by Colin Bateman
Paperback; 9.99 Euro / 12.50 USD / 6.99 UK; HarperCollins, 228 pages [Add To Basket]
Here come the Marines destroying a terrorist training camp in the Libyan Desert, along with both the parents of a ten-year old boy, Mohammed Maguire. Brought back to Ireland, the land of his mother's birth, young Mohammed is treated as a public relations commodity by both sides of an argument that he doesn't understand - but which he can see with the clear eyes of a child. Dark and irreverent, this novel is a wickedly funny fable for our troubled times.
Class Act by Alison Norrington
Paperback; 9.99 Euro / 12.50 USD / 6.99 UK; Poolbeg, 532 pages [Add To Basket]
Geri's life is in a bit of a rut. In its pre-marital state it was lived with passion, attitude and alcohol. Now, post-pregnancy and post-separation, it needs a good kick-start. But, oh to be her best friend Sinead! Refined, relaxed, high-flying Sinead riding the corporate roller-coaster in sunny Spain well, actually, insecure, lonely and bored Sinead crawling from one disastrous relationship to another. Geri and Sinead are so busy trying to keep the lid on their own emotions, each fails to notice how the other has gone rather quiet and distant. But Geri is about to restart her life
A Brush With Love by Tara Heavey
Paperback; 9.99 Euro / 12.50 USD / 6.99 UK; Gill & Macmillan; 434 pages [Add To Basket]
Legal secretary Fern can't quite believe her luck when posh barrister James Carver takes a shine to her. With her mahogany brown hair - 'I blend in with the office furniture' - and green eyes, she doesn't feel in any way special. After all, a typing speed of 60 wpm and a dream of being an artist hardly make her a catch. Flattered and thrilled at the attention, Fern is smitten, even when James turns out to have some very strange habits When will Fern see that he is a total rat? When she gets fired - for sleeping with a judge - or when she suspects he is seeing someone else? With her family breaking apart and her love life in disarray, Fern refuses to see the truth about James - or about herself, and why she's running away from a man who really loves her
My Lover's Lover by Maggie O'Farrell
Paperback; 12.50 Euro / 15.00 USD / 10.00 UK; Review; 322 pages [Add To Basket]
When Lily moves into Marcus's apartment, she is intrigued by signs of his recently departed ex-lover. A single dress left hanging in the wardrobe, a mysterious mark on the wall, the lingering odour of jasmine. Who was this woman? And what exactly were the circumstances of her sudden disappearance? It doesn't take long for Lily's curiosity to grow into an all-pervading obsession. This fine literary novel is a gripping exploration of the ambivalence at the heart of intimate relationships, keenly observed and superbly imagined. A psychological drama with, at its core, the timeless theme of love betrayed: shock, grief, and loss spring from the pages with intensity.
The White Road by John Connolly
Paperback; 12.50 Euro / 15.00 USD / 10.00 UK; Coronet; 504 pages [Add To Basket]
In South Carolina, a young black man faces the death penalty for the rape and murder of Marianne Larousse, daughter of one of the wealthiest men in the state. It's a case that nobody wants to touch, a case with its roots in old evil, and old evil is private detective Charlie Parker's speciality.
But Parker is about to enter a living nightmare, a red dreamscape haunted by the murderous spectre of a hooded woman, by a black car waiting for a passenger that never comes, and by the complicity of both friends and enemies in the events surrounding Marianne Larousse's death. This is not a simple investigation. It is a descent into the abyss, a confrontation with dark forces that threaten all that Parker holds dear: his lover, his unborn child, even his soul.
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