Read Ireland Book Reviews
Issue 386 - 4 August 2007
Recent Reprints and New in Paperback
An Prionsa Beag (The Little Prince) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, translated into Irish by Breandán Ó Doibhlin
Paperback; 10 Euro / 13 USD / 7 UK; 100 pages
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry first published The Little Prince in 1943, only a year before his Lockheed P-38 vanished over the Mediterranean during a reconnaissance mission. More than a half century later, this fable of love and loneliness has lost none of its power. The narrator is a downed pilot in the Sahara Desert, frantically trying to repair his wrecked plane. His efforts are interrupted one day by the apparition of a little, well, prince, who asks him to draw a sheep. "In the face of an overpowering mystery, you don't dare disobey," the narrator recalls. "Absurd as it seemed, a thousand miles from all inhabited regions and in danger of death, I took a scrap of paper and a pen out of my pocket." And so begins their dialogue, which stretches the narrator's imagination in all sorts of surprising, childlike directions. This book is now available in an Irish language edition, translated by Breandán Ó Doibhlin, of St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth University, Ireland.
Connemara Listening to the Wind by Tim Robinson
Paperback; 13 Euro / 20 USD / 10 UK; 440 pages [Add To Basket]
In its landscape, history and folklore, Connemara is a singular region: ill-defined geographically, and yet unmistakably a place apart from the rest of Ireland. Tim Robinson, who established himself as Ireland's most brilliant living non-fiction writer with the two-volume "Stones of Aran", moved from Aran to Connemara nearly twenty years ago. This book is the result of his extraordinary engagement with the mountains, bogs and shorelines of the region, and with its folklore and its often terrible history: a work as beautiful and surprising as the place it attempts to describe.
Whitethorn Woods by Maeve Binchy
Paperback; 9 Euro / 14 USD / 7 UK; 450 pages
The town of Rossmore is a special place, full of character and charm. Nestled beside the Whitethorn Woods, the town has grown since the days when it was small and friendly and everyone knew everyone else; now it has chain stories and traffic problems and housing estates. But it still has the woods, with the well dedicated to St Ann, where generations have come to pray or make wishes or just to look back at the pretty little town. Which is why there is going to be such a fuss about the plans for the new road, cutting through Whitethorn Woods. The people of Rossmore are divided. No one is more concerned than the curate, Father Brian Flynn, who has no idea which faction to support. Surely Neddy Nolan's family should take the compensation being offered for their land? But wasn't Neddy's mother given a cure at the well many years ago? And what about the childless London woman who came to Whitethorn Woods begging the saint for help, with unexpected consequences? Full of Maeve Binchy's warmth, humour and compassion, WHITETHORN WOODS tells of the people of Rossmore, each with their own story, as they wait for the great road of progress...
Luke Kelly by Des Geraghty
Paperback; 12 Euro / 16 USD / 8 UK; 156 pages [Add To Basket]
Luke Kelly (1940-1984) was an Irish singer and folk musician from Dublin most famous as a member of the band The Dubliners. Kelly was one of the best-known figures of the Irish folk music movement of the 1960s and 1970s. A Dubliner from the north inner city. He emigrated to Britain in 1958. There he first became involved in the growing international folk music scene in which Ewan MacColl was a central figure. In 1962 Luke Kelly returned to Dublin and quickly became a central figure in the city's burgeoning folk music community. He formed a folk group with Drew, McKenna, Ciaran Bourke and John Sheahan, which he named The Dubliners. In 1965, Kelly married the actress Deirdre O'Connell, one of the founders of the Focus Theatre. In the mid-1960s, Luke moved to England and on returning, he rejoined the Dubliners. Luke remained a politically engaged musician, and many of the songs he recorded dealt with social issues, the arms race and war, workers' rights and Irish nationalism. Luke Kelly was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 1980, and died in 1984. He remains a Dublin icon and his music is widely regarded as one of the city's cultural treasures. The Ballybough Bridge in the north inner city of Dublin has been renamed the The Luke Kelly Bridge.
Matters of Life and Death by Bernard MacLaverty
Paperback; 11 Euro / 15 USD / 7 UK; 240 pages
A new book of stories from Bernard MacLaverty is a cause for celebration, but "Matters of Life and Death" is more than that, as it is - without question - the finest collection yet from a contemporary master of the form. Beginning with the sudden, nauseating terror of a family caught up in an explosion of shocking sectarian violence and ending with the white-out of an Iowa blizzard and a different kind of fear, "Matters of Life and Death" is a book about bonds and connections, made and broken, secret and known. Vivid, beautifully controlled and written with effortless skill and empathy, these stories are object lessons in the art of short fiction.
Mothers and Sons by Colm Toibin
Paperback; 11 Euro ; 15 USD / 7 UK; 310 pages
Colm Toibin's new and challenging collection of stories paint rich and textured portraits of individuals at different pivotal moments in their lives. In each case, Toibin shows how their relationship with either a mother or a son, or their relationship to their own role as mother or son, reveals something unique and important about them. The stories feature Ireland or Irish narrators, but they are also truly universal. In "Famous Blue Raincoat", unwelcome memories are stirred when a mother, once a singer in an Irish folk-rock band of some popular renown in the 60s, finds that her son has been listening to their old records - songs she hoped never to hear again. In "Water", a son buries his mother and goes out to a drug-fuelled rave on a remote beach outside Dublin. In the course of this one night, his grief and desire for raw feeling combine with exquisite and devastating intensity. At once beautifully playful, psychologically intricate, emotionally incisive, finely-wrought and fearless these stories tease out the delicate and difficult strands which are woven between mothers and sons. Sometimes shocking and always powerful, this masterful new collection confirms Toibin as great prose stylist of our time. Praise for "The Master" includes: 'An audacious, profound, and wonderfully intelligent book' - Hermione Lee, "Guardian". 'The Master is not short of a masterpiece.' - "Independent on Sunday".
This is Charlie Bird by Charlie Bird
Paperback; 13 Euro / 18 USD / 9 UK; 295 pages [Add To Basket]
Charlie Bird has been at the heart of every big news event over the last twenty-five years, breaking exclusive stories and interviewing presidents and prime ministers. In his autobiography, he tells his own story and reveals how he has become one of Ireland's best-known journalists. Charlie Bird has made his name as a front-of-camera reporter covering the news as it happens, from wherever it happens. During his career as a news journalist, he reported on the upheavals of the Haughey/FitzGerald years through to the governments of Albert Reynolds, John Bruton and Bertie Ahern. Charlie Bird was RTE's contact with the IRA and now for the first time, he reveals the background to his meetings with leading republicans in the lead-up to the 1994 and 1997 ceasefire declarations. He also recalls the investigation which exposed wrong-doing at National Irish Bank and the resulting stress of being involved in Ireland's longest libel case. He gives an insight into his foreign travels including the trial of Father Niall O'Brien in the Philippines, the release of Brian Keenan, meeting Nelson Mandela when he voted in the first post-apartheid elections in South Africa, and the Asian tsunami in 2004. Today Charlie is one of the best-known faces on Irish TV. In telling his story, he goes beyond the news agenda to tell his own personal story, his family background and Dublin childhood as well as the difficulties that have arisen when he became part of the media story himself. "It's well worth a read." - "Irish Times". "Real contemporary history, told from the man who articulated and therefore shaped the history as it happened" - "Irish Examiner" - "RTE Guide".
Round Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawks
Paperback; 12 Euro / 16 USD / 8 UK; 264 pages [Add To Basket]
'I hereby bet Tony Hawks the sum of One Hundred Pounds that he cannot hitchhike round the circumference of Ireland, with a fridge, within one calendar month.' A foolhardy attempt to win a drunken bet led to Tony Hawks having one of the most unforgettable experiences of his life. Joined by his trusty travelling-companion-cum-domestic-appliance, he found himself in the midst of a remarkable, inspirational and, at times, downright silly adventure. In their month of madness, Tony and his fridge surfed together; entered a bachelor festival; and one of them had sex without the other knowing. The fridge got christened and they even met the poorest king on Earth. An absurd story of an extraordinary adventure, "Round Ireland with a Fridge" follows the fearless pair as they battle towards Dublin and a breathtaking finale that is moving, uplifting, and a fitting conclusion to the whole ridiculous affair.
The Vanishing Acts of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell
Paperback; 11 Euro / 15 USD / 8 UK; 277 pages [Add To Basket]
A significant departure for Maggie O'Farrell in terms of maturity and style, the paperback publication of THE VANISHING ACT OF ESME LENNOX will be an unmissable event. Set between the 1930s,and the present, Maggie O'Farrell's new novel is the story of Esme, a woman edited out of her family's history, and of the secrets that come to light when, sixty years later, she is released from care, and a young woman, Iris, discovers the great aunt she never knew she had. The mystery that unfolds is the heartbreaking tale of two sisters in colonial India and 1930s Edinburgh - of the loneliness that binds them together and the rivalries that drive them apart, and lead one of them to a shocking betrayal - but above all it is the story of Esme, a fiercely intelligent, unconventional young woman, and of the terrible price she is made to pay for her family's unhappiness. This is vintage Maggie O'Farrell: an impassioned, intense, haunting family drama - a stunning imagining of a life stolen, and reclaimed.
The Singer and the Song: Sixty Irish Songwriters and their Favourite Songs by Audrey Healy
Paperback; 10 Euro / 14 USD / 7 UK; 282 pages [Add To Basket]
Have you ever wondered what motivates an artist to write a song? What exactly was the inspiration behind classics such as "Rare Auld Times" or Christy Moore's "The Two Conneelys". Or why certain songs like "The Hucklebuck" captured the hearts and minds of Ireland at a certain period in time? Here, in this unusual and thought-provoking collection, fifty of Ireland's celebrated musicians take the lyrics of their favourite song, explains what that song means to them and invites readers to listen to the song in a whole new light. From folk to rock, traditional songs to showband classics, it includes contributions from artists such Luka Bloom, Mary Black, Leslie Dowall, Johnny Logan, Maria Butterly, Charlie McGettigan, The Stunning, Roesy, Mundy, Liam Lawton, Don Baker, John Spillane and many many more. This unique compilation brings together the very old and the very new of Irish talent, and is a must for music lovers.
Against the Tide by Noel Browne
Paperback; 15 Euro / 20 USD / 10 UK; 282 pages [Add To Basket]
The widely acclaimed autobiography of an iconic figure of twentieth century politics, who was synonymous with controversty and reform but is remembered with affection and honour.
Please note: Prices were correct at time of original posting but are subject to subsequent change without notice.
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