Read Ireland Book Reviews
Issue 460
3/4 October 2009
Irish Fiction
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
Large Format Paperback; 14 Euro / 19 USD / 10 UK; 368 pages
'With Phillipe Petit's breathless 1974 tightrope walk between the uncompleted World Trade Centre towers at its axis, Colum McCann offers us a lyrical cycloramic high-low portrait of New York City in its days of burning; Park Avenue matrons, Bronx junkies, Center Street judges, downtown artists and their uptown subway-tagging brethren, street priests, weary cops, wearier hookers, grieving mothers of an Asian war freshly put to bed; a masterful chorus of voices all obliviously connected by the most ephemeral vision; a pin-dot of a man walking on air 110 storeys above their heads' Richard Price A blockbuster, groundbreaking, heartbreaking, symphony of a novel No novelist writing of New York has climbed higher, dived deeper' Frank McCourt 'A giant amongst us - fearless, huge-hearted, a poet with every living breathe' Peter Carey 'An audacious and wonderfully skilled writer' Joseph O'Connor
The Best of Frank O’Connor
Hardback; 15 Euro / 20 USD / 11 UK; 675 pages [Add To Basket]
The contents have been intriguingly divided into eight narrative threads that influenced and informed O'Connor's oeuvre. "War" includes the famous 'Guests of the Nation', set during the Irish War of Independence; "Childhood" draws on autobiographical writings to present a revealing picture of the author as a boy, the only child of an alcoholic father and doting mother; "Writers" bears witness to his literary debt to Yeats and Joyce. The stories in "Lonely Voices" movingly demonstrate O'Connor's theory that in this genre can be achieved 'something we do not often find in the novel - an intense awareness of human loneliness'; yet they are counter parted by his wonderfully polyphonic tales of family, friendship and rivalry in "Better Quarrelling". In "Ireland" come poems, stories and articles inspired by the native land he loved but never sentimentalized, while from "Abroad" the writer in exile discourses upon universally relevant themes of emigration, hardship, absence and return. Finally, "Last Things" contains O'Connor's thoughts on religion, the church, the soul and its destiny, but remains above all a celebration of humanity 'who for me represented all I should ever know of God'.
Oscar Wilde & the Dead Man’s Smile by Gyles Brandreth
Hardback; 20 Euro / 28 USD / 15 UK; 360 pages
The latest in Gyles Brandreth’s acclaimed series of Victorian murder mysteries featuring Oscar Wilde and Arthur Conan Doyle. Paris, 1883. Oscar Wilde, aged twenty-seven, has come to the city of decadence to discover its charms, to rekindle his friendship with the divine Sarah Bernhardt and to collaborate with France’s most celebrated actor-manager, Edmond La Grange. Oscar discovers dark secrets lying at the heart of the La Grange company, and is confronted by murders both foul and bizarre. To solve the crimes, to unravel the mystery, Oscar risks his life – and his reputation – embarking on a dangerous adventure that takes him from bohemian night clubs to an asylum for the insane, from a duel in the Buttes de Chaumont to the gates of Reading Gaol.
The Last Train to Liguria by Christine Dwyer Hickey
Large Format Paperback; 15 Euro / 20 USD / 11 UK; 392 pages [Add To Basket]
From the bestselling Irish novelist comes a sweeping historical novel, a tale of consequences that spans from the 1930s to the 1990s. "Last Train from Liguria" takes us on a journey from claustrophobic Dublin and the tense formality of London, to the heat and bustle of the Italian Riviera. Bella lives a cosseted life with her father in London. So when he announces that he has arranged for work for her as a governess in Italy, she is shocked, angry, and terribly scared of what lies in store...But as she boards a train for the northern Italian port of Bordighera, her fear soon gives way to her burgeoning sense of adventure. Bella eventually finds her young charge, Alec, at the Villa Lami, where he lives with his music teacher Edward. She delights in her relationship with the young boy, and discovers unexpected comfort in Edward who, like Bella, seems to be hiding a secret. But the atmosphere in Italy is changing quickly. As fascist laws take effect, Bella, Edward and Alec must escape the mounting threats around them, and face a rapidly changing world.
The House of Special Purpose by John Boyne
Large Format Paperback; 15 Euro / 20 USD / 11 UK; 426 pages [Add To Basket]
In Russia during the year 1915, at the age of 16, Georgy Jachmenev steps in front of an assassin's bullet intended for the heart of a senior member of the Russian Imperial Family. He is instantly proclaimed a hero. Before the week is out, his life as the son of a peasant farmer is changed forever when he is escorted to St Petersburg to take up his new position - as bodyguard to Alexei Romanov, the only son of Tsar Nicholas II. Sixty five years later, visiting his wife Zoya as she lies dying in a London hospital, memories of the life they have lived together flood his mind. Their marriage, while tender, has been marked by tragedy, the loss of loved ones, and experiences of exile that neither can forget. "The House of Special Purpose" is a novel about a young man ripped from a loving home and thrust into the heart of a dying empire. Privy to the secrets of Nicholas and Alexandra, the machinations of Rasputin and the events which led to the final collapse of the autocracy, Georgy is a witness and participant in a drama which will echo down the century. His is also a story of a marriage in which a husband finds it impossible to live in the present and a wife unable to reconcile herself with the past. Part love story, part historical epic, part tragedy, the novel moves from revolutionary St Petersburg to Paris after the First World War, and from London during the Blitz to the eastern coast of Finland during the 1980s, before returning to a quiet hospital bed where Georgy and Zoya's story must finally be resolved.
The Lovers by John Connolly
Large Format Paperback; 14 Euro / 19 USD / 10 UK; 390 pages [Add To Basket]
When Charlie Parker was still a boy, his father, a NYPD cop, killed a young couple, a boy and a girl barely older than his son, then took his own life. There was no explanation for his actions. Now Parker is working on his most personal case yet: an investigation into his own origins and the circumstances surrounding the death of his father. The investigation will reveal a life haunted by lies, by secrets kept and loyalties compromised. And by two figures in the shadows, a man and a woman, with only one purpose: to bring an end to Charlie Parker’s existence . . .
Adam Gould by Julia O’Faolain
Large Format Paperback; 10 Euro / 14 USD / 8 UK; 377 pages [Add To Basket]
Paris in the 1890s. Adam Gould, whose Anglo-Irish father has disowned him, works in a lunatic asylum run by the celebrated Dr Blanche, some of whose patients once starred in France's social firmament and still, when sane, sit at table with distinguished guests. One such patient is Guy de Maupassant. Another is Belcastel, who has taken the blame for a monarchist plot against the Third Republic, then feigned insanity. Madness and uncertain identity drive Adam's story, fuelled by Maupassant's sparkling insights on the matter. Gould falls in love with a married connection of Belcastel's. And things are made no simpler on his return home, when he becomes entangled with a cousin who looks hauntingly like his dead mother...
The Lacemakers of Glenmara by Heather Barbieri
Large Format Paperback; 13 Euro / 18 USD / 10 UK; 272 pages
Large Format Paperback with 8 page full colour photo insert; 12 Euro / 16 USD / 10 UK; 300 pages [Add To Basket]
A heartwarming and moving debut of friendship, love and lace...The lace could be anything they wanted it to be...the threads connecting each woman to the one beside her, and out into the wider world. When Kate Robinson leaves her Seattle home to travel across Ireland, she is looking to escape; fleeing a broken relationship, a failing career in fashion and the crushing grief over her mother's death. Her strict itinerary keeps her busy, moving from place to place with little time to dwell on the past. Until a chance meeting with a traveller leads her to Glenmara, a beautiful coastal village in the far west of the country. Bernie Cullen and her friends have lived in Glenmara all their lives, their blood and that of their ancestors tied to the landscape, to the raging sea. Their village has survived the toils and tragedies of countless years; but Glenmara is now facing a new threat, one that may extinguish it forever. The work is becoming increasingly scarce, the children moving away. And the women themselves face their own daily fights for happiness, for survival - the hardships in their lives only put aside once a week, when they meet to lay the world to rights and to create exquisite pieces of lace. When Kate arrives in Glenmara, nothing will ever be the same again. And in altering the lives of these women and the fate of the village itself, Kate may also find herself saved.
In Too Deep and other short stories by Billy O’Callaghan
Paperback; 15 Euro / 20 USD / 11 UK; 250 pages [Add To Basket]
This is a new collection of short stories from the pen of one of Ireland's most-talented emerging writers, Billy O'Callaghan. I read and re-read, on and on until the darkness settled thick enough around me that I could no longer see the large-printed words on the gaudily illustrated pages, and then I clambered from the attic and threw myself into the story again while seated beside the fire. The wind carved elegiac plunder in the chimney and every banshee wail exploded awake a freshly forgotten colour in my mind. Children see the world in different lights, the brilliance of which is far too easily given up. This time, discovering them anew, I held fast and determined that I'd never again let go. With its stories of lost love and shared secrets, tender moments and little victories, "In Too Deep" is a wonderful follow-up to Billy's collection "In Exile".
Secrets We Keep by Colette Caddle
Large Format Paperback; 13 Euro / 18 USD / 9 UK; 480 pages [Add To Basket]
Four years ago Erin Joyce left Dublin under a cloud and bought a guesthouse in the remote, beautiful village of Dunbarra. The Gatehouse attracts a strange clutch of guests who, once ensconced, never want to leave. There's Hazel, a shy artist, and her sweet, silent daughter Gracie. Sandra, a brash American, wants to know everything about everyone. Then there's wise old easy-going PJ, who's seemingly part of the furniture. But Erin's fragile happiness is thrown off-balance by the arrival of A-list Hollywood actor Sebastian Grey. Erin finds herself drawn to this handsome enigmatic man, who used to walk with a swagger but now prowls the country lanes with haunted eyes. What trauma could have brought about this devastating change? Sebastian isn't the only one in the Gatehouse with a secret. Why is Hazel cast so adrift? Where does PJ go each week without fail, and what really brought Sandra to Dunbarra? As Erin finds herself embroiled in her guests' secrets she starts to ask herself: will she be ready to reveal her own?
Hello Heartbreak by Amy Huberman
Large Format Paperback; 14 Euro / 18 USD / 10 UK; 400 pages [Add To Basket]
You'd think twenty-seven years would be enough time to wise up to the rules of love and loss, especially Rule Number 1: Do not, at any time, let him see how much he has hurt you. But no, Izzy Keegan was probably off doing sambuca shots when that lesson was taught. So, starting with public humiliation (that infamous blow-up with her Ex and his new woman ... huge mistake), and taking in temporary insanity, rebound sex, and a night in a police cell along the way, Izzy has to make up her own rules for coping with heartbreak. Luckily she has friends who are there for her through thick and thin (even if 'doing an Izzy' is their new shorthand for completely losing it). And she's got her foot in the door of the film business (though dogsbody wasn't exactly the job she dreamt of doing). Now, all she has to do is put the dirty cheating love-rat behind her. You'd think twenty-seven years would be enough time to wise up to the rules of love and loss. Make that twenty-seven and a bit ...
The Wish List by Martina Reilly
Large Format Paperback; 14 Euro / 18 USD / 10 UK; 384 pages [Add To Basket]
Like any married couple, Allie and Tony have had their fair share of heartache. But when Tony's actions force Allie and her young sons out of their home, things take a turn for the worse. Without her husband around, Allie must cope with two inquisitive children - as well as the reappearance of her estranged father. So when her eldest Mark befriends next-door neighbour Jeremy, Allie's glad he's found a distraction. The trouble is that Mark believes Jeremy is Santa Claus and that he can put the family back together. While Jeremy is increasingly mortified at the mix-up, a little magic never did anyone any harm - did it?
Letters to a Love Rat by Niamh Greene
Large Format Paperback; 14 Euro / 18 USD / 10 UK; 360 pages [Add To Basket]
What do you do when the love of your life turns out to be a good-for-nothing love rat? a) Pour your heart out to him in private letters that he’ll never see. (Secretly you think it’s a big fat waste of time but your therapist says it’s the prefect way to express your inner rage and who are you to argue with science?) b) Pretend it’s not happening and carry on? (The pressure to act normally will almost kill you of course – but it would be much worse if anyone ever suspected that your life was less than perfect.) c) Create a blog and tell the whole world about your problems? (You need advice and, if he won’t listen to you, there are plenty of people out there who will. What harm can it do? Especially if you keep your identity top-secret.) Three very different women have one thing in common – a good-for-nothing Casanova called Charlie. When he betrays them, they choose three very different ways to cope. But can they ever get over him? And will the love rat ever learn his lesson?
The Likeness by Tana French
Paperback; 10 Euro / 14 USD / 8 UK; 692 pages [Add To Basket]
Detective Cassie Maddox is still trying to deal with the events of In the Woods. She is out of the Murder Squad and has started a relationship with fellow detective Sam ONeill but is too badly shaken to commit to Sam or to her career. Then Sam is allocated a new case, that of a young woman stabbed to death just outside Dublin. He calls Cassie to the murder scene and she finds the victim is strangely familiar. In fact, she is Cassies double. Not only that, but her ID says she is Lexie Madison the identity Cassie used, years ago, as an undercover detective. With no leads, no suspects and no clues, Cassies old undercover boss spots the opportunity of a lifetime: to send Cassie undercover in the dead girls place. She could pick up information the police would never hear and tempt the killer to finish the job. So Cassie moves into Whitethorn House, poses as a post-grad student, and prepares to enter Lexies world.
Fifty Grand by Adrian McKinty
Large Format Paperback; 15 Euro / 20 USD / 11 UK; 308 pages [Add To Basket]
Cuban cop Hernandez has a score to settle, on behalf of a deadbeat dad, a 'traitor' who skipped free from Castro's control to set up a new life working illegally in Colorado. He settled in a ski resort popular with the Hollywood set, where the facade is maintained by the immigrant cleaners and labourers who work for below minimum wage while the local sheriff is bribed to turn a blind eye. Hernandez Sr's dreams of fortune and freedom came to a swift end when he was killed in a hit-and-run accident. Sworn to avenge his death, Hernandez has some obstacles to overcome - not least getting out of Cuba, where visas are as elusive as constant electricity. Segueing back and forth between heat-soaked Havana and the icy luxury of the mountainside resort, Fifty Grand is an audacious thriller from an acknowledged talent - and an incendiary debut for a new hero.
The Bloomsday Dead by Adrian McKinty
Paperback; 10 Euro / 14 USD / 8 UK; 288 pages [Add To Basket]
Michael Forsythe might be, as one of his assailants puts it, ‘un-fucking-killable’, but that doesn’t seem to deter people from trying. He’s living in Lima, reasonably well-hidden by the FBI’s Witness Protection Program, but Bridget Callaghan, whose fiancé he murdered twelve years ago, has an enduring wish to see him dead. So when her two assassins pass him the phone to speak to her before they kill him, Michael thinks she just wants to relish the moment. In fact, out of desperation, she is giving him a chance to redeem himself. All he has to do is return to Ireland and find her missing daughter. Before midnight. Tenacious and brutal, with the hunted man’s instinct for trouble, Forsythe leaves a trail of mayhem as he tries to end the bloody feud once and for all. The Bloomsday Dead pulsates with break-neck action and wry literary references; McKinty’s distinctly Irish voice packs a ferocious punch.
Please note: Prices were correct at time of original posting but are subject to subsequent change without notice.
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