Read Ireland Book Reviews
Issue 441
New Irish Fiction
14/15 February 2009
The Holy City by Patrick McCabe
Hardback; Publishers Recommended Price 18 Euro. Read Ireland Price: 15 Euro / 20 USD / 10 UK; 212 pages
In this hypnotic novel, Chris McCool, the dandyish, debonair playboy of a small and insulated community called the Happy Club, reflects on his two lives: the one he lives and the darker one he’s tried hard to forget. The illegitimate son of a rich Protestant landowner’s wife and a poor Catholic farmer, Chris wanted to be a sixties swinger—driving a Ford Cortina, owning a pair of purple velvet flares—but, despite his good intentions, could not overcome the mysteries and regrets of his own upbringing. With a series of deftly Freudian flourishes, McCabe gives us a narrator whose own insecurities, and most importantly his obsession with a young Catholic Nigerian boy named Marcus Otoyo, prevent him from seeing the truth about what he is capable of. Are Chris’s inner struggles with his parentage and religion merely personal quests—or do they mask an angrier, more dangerous person beneath? Tense, artful, and eerily compelling, The Holy City is a novel of faith, anxiety, and dark secrets, with a stunning and brilliant conclusion.
John The Revelator by Peter Murphy
Trade Paperback with Endflaps; 15 Euro / 20 USD / 10 UK; 250 pages [Add To Basket]
John Devine yearns for escape. Stuck in a small town, he's worried over by his chain-smoking, bible-quoting single mother Lily and the sinister Mrs Nagle. So when Jamey Corboy, a self-styled boy-wonder, arrives in town, John's life suddenly fills with possibilities. But as they dream and scheme is John simply hiding from the reality of his mother's ill health, and the terrible dilemma that awaits him? Brilliantly evoking all the frustrations and pent up energy of a parochial adolescence, "John the Revelator" also gradually becomes the story of Lily herself, and the secrets of her past. Suffused with eerie imagery, black humour and told in hypnotic prose, "John the Revelator" is a novel to fall in love with. 'Everything about John the Revelator excited me - i couldn't wait to turn the page and keep going. It was almost like reading for the first time...' --Roddy Doyle
Missing You Already by Pauline McLynn
Large Format Paperback; 15 Euro / 20 USD / 10 UK; 308 pages
People lose things all the time... For the man who looks after the lost property at a tiny railway station in the West Country, there's nothing more satisfying than to reunite lost goods with their rightful owners. So imagine his surprise when he sees an abandoned urn sitting on a bench on the station platform - an urn which contains someone's ashes. Who could possibly have forgotten to pick up this urn when boarding the train? Meanwhile, in another part of the country, a young woman is coming to terms with the fact that her beloved grandmother has alzheimers and is losing her mind. Can she do anything to help recapture what is rapidly being lost? The only hope she has is to journey to Ireland and find the missing pieces of her grandmother's precious memory...
Shooting the Moon by Robert Fannin
Large Format Paperback; 14 Euro / 19 USD / 10 UK; 309 pages [Add To Basket]
One autumn night in 1976, a young couple attempt to flee their respective lives to be together. Sean Farrell is a seventeen-year-old fisherman, recently expelled from school, who has been mistakenly linked by the State to IRA activity. Emma Balstead is a runaway border, and daughter of a British Military Attaché officer. Though they are madly in love, theirs is a doomed affair, the consequences of which play out for years to come.
Thirty-two years later, a young couple seek the help of a marriage guidance counsellor in Bristol, England. For counsellor Sean Farrell, himself struggling with personal problems, what unfolds is a journey of the heart, back to 1970s Dublin, and where it all began. Emma Balstead, it seems, is not as distant as he might have imagined. Soon, his family, career and future are all called into question, as he finds himself plunged into a crisis whose roots are seated in a distant past he thought he had long escaped. Shooting the Moon is an enchanting and utterly gripping story about the inescapable truths that define us, and about how ‘the one who got away’ never truly goes.
Confessions of an Angel by Ronan O’Brien
Paperback; 9 Euro / 13 USD / 6.50 UK; 324 pages
Following a near-death experience as a child, the narrator becomes cursed with the ability to foresee the deaths of the people closest to him. These visions come to him in his dreams and, following a disastrous attempt to save a childhood friend from drowning, a set of terrifying events begins to unfold. As a young man, he finds redemption in the arms of Ashling, his beautiful wife. But then the visions return... This is a story about one mans struggle to live an ordinary life in extraordinary circumstances; about love lost and found and the vast range of emotions that can be weathered by the human heart. This is a story where dreams come true but where dreams can turn into nightmares; a place where true love will prevail and where death is only the beginning. Set in the fictional Dublin suburb of Rathgorman CONFESSIONS OF A FALLEN ANGEL is a truly remarkable debut novel that will grip you from the first line and surprise you to the last.
Cardigan Bay by John Kerr
Hardback; 25 Euro / 36 USD / 18 UK; 344 pages [Add To Basket]
1942. In a hospital south of London, Major Charles Davenport recovers from wounds received at Tobruk. In Whitehall, a top secret operation is underway. Britain's War Office is hard at work on a plan for the future invasion of the Continent - a plan destined to include Davenport. Across the Irish Sea, a young American widow seeks refuge on Ireland's eastern shore. Mary Katryn Kennedy has suffered her own wounds - the recent death of her husband and young child. Ireland remains steadfastly neutral in the War, but the island is a battleground nevertheless, home to desperate IRA plotters and German provocateurs. Two separate lives, swept up in a year of crisis, and brought together in Cardigan Bay.
Silverfish: A Collection of Short Stories edited by Brendan Maher
Hardback; 25 Euro / 32 USD / 16 UK [Add To Basket]
'Silverfish' includes seven short stories by new writers from Tipperary. The stories are inspired by the Nuremberg Chronicle, a copy of which was viewed by the writers in the Bolton Library in Cashel. The Chronicle is one of the most famous early printed books. Completed in 1493, it's essentially a history of the world, an encyclopaedia of sorts. It was innovative for its time and features over one thousand woodcut illustrations in the midst of more than four hundred pages of printed text.
For 'Silverfish' each author chose a specific section of the Chronicle, hence the seven stories in the collection. The 'Silverfish' book doesn't contain any literal re-workings of the Chronicle, rather the seven fictional stories are inspired by the book. The stories in Silverfish then, tend to be about books, writing and history. The authors featured in the book are: Brigid Browne, Shane Egan, Hollie Kearns, Jimmy Kearns, Brendan Maher, Jim O’Neill and Aine Tierney. The publication was commissioned as part of South Tipperary County Council's Art Engagement - Public Art Project with funding from The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government under the Percent for Art Scheme.
Canary Wharf by Orna Ni Choileain
Trade Paperback with End flaps; 15 Euro / 22 USD / 11 UK; 168 pages [Add To Basket]
Tá casadh sin an fhíorscéalaí, cor a bhaineann geit agus a thugann sásamh, mar bhua ag Orna Ní Choileáin ina cuid scéalta. Lonnaíonn sí a cuid eachtraí i gceartlár shaol na stocbhrócaerachta, an airgeadais agus na teicneolaíochta, agus nochtann sí an nádúr daonna i stiúideo teilifíse na réaltachta beo. Greann dorcha bearrtha ag baint le mórán díobh, d'fhéadfadh na scéalta fuinte a bheith scríofa i dteanga ar bith ar domhan, in áit ar bith sa domhan forbartha nó i mbéal a fhorbartha. Stíl éasca sholéite aici, scéalta comhaimseartha, súil seabhaic an tráchtaire ar foluain thart ar an IFSC agus Canary Wharf.
Anything for Love by Sarah Webb
Large Format Paperback; 13 Euro / 18 USD / 9 UK; 304 pages [Add To Basket]
Life isn't looking too rosy for Alice Devine. She's a single mum, and needs a well-paid job fast, because as much as she loves her sister, Hilda, she hadn't planned on living with her. Added to that, her love life has been a disaster and she's beginning to wonder if she'll ever find the man of her dreams. Things suddenly start to look up when she lands the job as assistant fund raiser for St Jude's Maternity Hospital - particularly when she meets her new boss, the gorgeous but enigmatic Jack Wiseheart. What she hadn't bargained for was also acting as general dogsbody to the terrifying and wealthy Maud Hamilton-O'Connor, Chair of the Fundraising Committee and her side-kick, Koo. Nothing is ever as it seems, however, and it's not only the women who have their secrets. When the cracks start to appear, they all realize in their different ways that they have to face the truth before they can get on with their lives. 'Chicklit at its best ...this is one to savour' - "Irish Independent".
Forgive & Forget by Patricia Scanlan
Trade Paperback; 8 Euro / 11 USD / 6 UK; 550 pages [Add To Basket]
There's nothing like a good wedding...to start world war three! And that's exactly what's going to happen if Connie Adams, the mother of the bride, can't smooth things over between Debbie and her dad. He's hell bent on bringing his stuck-up second wife and their sulky teenage daughter to the big day, but Debbie would rather walk up the aisle of a supermarket than have them at her wedding. It's the last thing Debbie needs right now - her boss is making her life hell and she's starting to suspect that her fiance's getting cold feet...So will they all live happily ever after, or are the whole family heading for divorce?
Trauma by Patrick McGrath
Trade Paperback; 9 Euro / 13 USD / 7 UK; 210 pages [Add To Basket]
Few writers are capable of taking their readers to such dark places with such evident relish. Among McGrath's greatest skills lies the ease with which he compels us to read on as his tales of madness, murder, abuse and incest unfold this masterly specimen of modern gothic delivers the unsettling sting in its tail' Financial Times 'A gripping expose of life on the hinterland of sanity McGrath is that rare yet essential thing, a writer who can expose our darkest fears without making us run away from them' New Statesman 'A bolt of queasily inspiring brilliance' Eileen Battersby, Irish Times 'McGrath has the gift, the storyteller's gift, to compel attention, so that you gaze rapt into the fire and listen to the tale unfold' Sunday Times
As a psychiatrist Charlie Weir has seen every kind of trauma New York has to offer. Yet he has never managed to overcome the tragic mistake, seven years earlier, that lost him his wife and his daughter, leaving him prone to corrosive loneliness and restless anger. Then into his life walks the alluring Nora Chiara, with her inescapable air of sadness and mystery, and Charlie falls for her quickly, hungrily. But he is increasingly haunted by ghastly half-memories from his childhood and as he retreats further and further into the recesses of his mind the delicate fabric of his life ruptures - with horrifying consequences.
Blood Runs Cold by Alex Barclay
Paperback; 8 Euro / 11 USD / 6 UK; 484 pages [Add To Basket]
Praise for Blood Runs Cold 'Right now, she's the rising star of the hard-boiled crime fiction world, combining wild characters, surprising plots and massive backdrops with a touch of dry humour.' Mirror Dark, disturbing and absolutely thrilling' RTE Guide 'Explosive ***' Company Magazine Praise for The Caller: 'Compelling' Glamour 'The Thriller of the summer' Irish Independent Praise for Darkhouse: 'Darkhouse is a terrific debut by an exciting new writer' The Independent on Sunday 'Excellent summer reading!Barclay has the confidence to move her story along slowly, and deftly explores the relationships between her characters!' Sunday Telegraph 'Darkhouse will guarantee you a few sleepless nights' Irish Evening Echo 'A great thriller' B Magazine 'Slices of personal life, descriptive locations, local colour and so on, Blood Runs Cold has all of this and more...' Tony Galvin
Please note: Prices were correct at time of original posting but are subject to subsequent change without notice.
Gregory Carr, Independent Bookseller
Read Ireland
392 Clontarf Road
Dublin 3
Ireland
Tel + Fax: +353-1-853-2063
Customer Services Comments, Criticism and Questions
Subscribe to Read Ireland Book News - Our Free Weekly Email Newsletter