Read Ireland Book Review
Issue 165
New Irish Fiction
The Pursuit of Happiness by Douglas Kennedy
Hardback; 13.50 IEP / 17.50 USD / 11.50 UK; 519 pages; Century Hutchinson [Add To Basket]This novel is set in Manhattan, Thanksgiving eve, 1945. The war was over, and Eric Smythe's party was in full swing. All his clever Greenwich Village friends were there. So too was his sister Sara - an independent, canny young woman, starting to make her way in the big city. And then in walked a gate crasher, Jack Malone - a U.S. Army journalist just back from a defeated Germany, and a man whose world-view did not tally with that of Eric and his friends. The chance meeting between Sara and Jack - and the choices they both made in the wake of it - would eventually have profound consequences, both for themselves and for those closest to them. And the effect of their actions would reverberate within their families for decades afterwards. Set amidst the dynamic optimism of postwar New York and the subsequent nightmare of the McCarthy witch-hunts, this novel is a great tragic love story; a tale of divided loyalties, decisive moral choices, and the random workings of destiny.
The Drawbridge by Marie McGann
Paperback; 9.99 IEP / 13.50 USD / 8.50 UK; 253 pages; Brandon [Add To Basket]This novel is set amongst the Polish community in Crouch End. Brid Finucane lives in a state of ordered chaos in both her head and her house. When her husband disappears, she is forced to confront her past and its sad consequence, together with lone motherhood, alcoholism and a Polish war hero as a suitor. Her swirls of emotion are compounded by her position as an expatriate Irishwoman living in a North London suburb. She involves herself with the charming Adam Barowski, and faces the terrifying possibility of falling in love for the first time. But when Brid's husband Stanley, after a long absence, sends a message from the Sudan, Brid is forced to work towards her most major life decision. This novel explores both Irish and Polish experiences of alienation, while at its core it is a story about the hard choices in a woman's life: choices about love and independence, loyalty and dependence.
Love in One Tradition by Peter Cunningham
Paperback; 9.99 IEP / 13.50 USD / 8.50 UK; 295 pages; Harvill [Add To Basket]This is the third volume of Peter Cunningham's acclaimed trilogy (after Tapes of the River Delta and Consequences of the Heart) set in the fictional Irish town of Monument. When Jasmine joins the staff of the Monument Gazette, she finds herself drawn to Kaiser, the lonely, partially-deaf maintenance man, who spent his childhood in an orphanage and knows nothing of how he came to grow up in the peaceful town of Monument. Jasmine decides that she will help Kaiser to find the truth about his origins. She keeps a journal in which she records her research and her feelings for him as their friendship deepens into love. But as she delves into the history of the town and the three generations of the Pender family who have owned and run the Gazette, she uncovers not only Kaiser's violent past, but also an appalling secret that if revealed will shatter the lives of many. Kaiser and Jasmine's love is strong enough to overturn the web of lies on which an empire is founded - but is it strong enough to withstand the outcome? This is a grand, lyrical novel of passion and betrayal told by a master Irish storyteller.
The Eggman's Apprentice by Maurice Lietch
Paperback; 11.50 IEP / 14.00 USD / 10.00 UK; 346 pages; Secker & Warburg [Add To Basket]Orphaned at a cruelly young age by the death of both parents, little Hugo Dinsmore is torn from his pampered life in the great heart of County Antrim, Northern Ireland and plunged into the world of brutish country relatives, a world where his refined ways and small stature are a constant source of mockery for them and torment for him. Survival means learning to stay sly and hidden, not only in the vast, rumbling ruin they call Larkhill, but in the fields and woods, and then later at school where he discovers a talent for retribution and petty thieving. A remarkably pure singing voice is something else he finds himself blessed with, drawing him to the attention of the Eggman, a feared local gangster who gets him to perform for him and his rich cronies at their parties of well-dressed mascot, travelling around with the Eggman and his enforcer friends in the back of a vast pink Cadillac. Gradually he breaks away from his old life in Larkhill, but when the Eggman's grip tightens and a criminal price must be paid for all the fine clothes and high living, Hugo decides to break free in his own spectacular but haphazard fashion.
Doubletime by Micky Donnelly
Paperback; 12.50 IEP / 15.00 USD / 10.50 UK; 202 pages; Blackstaff Press [Add To Basket]As if he didn't have enough trouble, Myles has just met Matt, his younger, thinner and more stylish doppleganger. Just what he needs, on top of keeping up with sexy Mex, dodging the gruesome twins sent by a very, very cross landlord and - oh yes, the Wife, who is pissed off with him yet again. We're in the dislocated world of doubletime, a hall of mirrors where mistaken identity is the norm and where appearances are never, ever, to be trusted. Playful, fast and clever, this debut novel from the acclaimed Irish artist tests language, literature and perception to the limit on its way to a dramatic, last-ditch climax.
Juno & Juliet by Julian Gough
Paperback; 13.50 IEP / 16.50 USD / 11.50 UK; 293 pages; Flamingo [Add To Basket]Galway: it's a long way from Tipperary, if you are eighteen, reluctantly beautiful and one of a pair of twins eager to learn about everything that life, especially college life in Galway, has to offer. So, when Juno and Juliet Taylor start their first year at university together, disappointment reaches up and tugs them down as all around they encounter a failure of enthusiasm. Yet, soon, they're inching their way back up again - there's the drunken antics of the theatre; there's cute, shy, kind Michael; and there's the pure passion, pure helium inspiration of the most wonderful of teachers, David Hennessey. And then again, there's also the stalker, with his poison-pen letters; there's trips home and trips into inner space; there's unrequited and mis-consummated love; and there's easy death. There's almost too much of everything, too much for these twins to handle. But then perhaps the incomparable Mr. Hennessey can help bear the load? This is a happy book, and a very funny one.
The Simurgh and the Nightingale by Roger Derham
Paperback; 8.99 IEP / 12.50 USD / 7.50 UK; 299 pages; Collins Press [Add To Basket]Simurgh is, in Persian mythology, a large mythical bird of great age believed to have the power of reasoning and speech. This novel is set in 1631. Catherine Cullen, a barber-surgeon and free woman of Dublin, visits Baltimore in south-west Ireland. During a raid she is taken prisoner by Algerian pirates and taken to North Africa. Her surgical skills gain her respect and the means to freedom. This comes at a great price involving passion, death and betrayal. She falls in love with a Ragusan knight and their destinies seem intertwined, as his quest and her fate lead to Constantinople and vicious rival forces. Their story ends in Ragusa in 1667. This is a novel of power and imagination.
Swan Song by William King
Paperback; 7.99 IEP / 11.50 USD / 7.00 UK; 206 pages; Marino [Add To Basket]A way of life is dying; convents are up for sale. Only a handful of nuns, like Deirdre Logan, are still teaching. Nevertheless, Sister Deirdre is content with her life - that is, until the death of her friend releases a tidal wave of questions about her future in the Precious Blood congregation. Her inner search leads her to the brink. She is now caught between loyalty to her vows and her desire as a woman. This is a multi-layered tale of the joys and trials of the religious life, and a gripping examination of the personal pressures with which we all have to deal.
My Favourite Goodbye by Sheila O'Flanagan
Paperback; 11.50 IEP / 14.00 USD / 10.00 UK; 406 pages; Headline [Add To Basket]Ash O'Halloran knows she should be having the time of her life. She's blonde, 29, single and self-supporting. So shouldn't she be out there every night, swilling Chardonnay and falling in love? Or is she isn't, at least having a great time moaning about it with her best friends? Doesn't she know how to be a single woman? The trouble is, Ash likes things the way they are. And she doesn't do impulsive. Relationships scare her to death - at the first hint of commitment, it is goodbye. There's no way she'll ever put herself in a position where she might be hurt. But she knows not everyone is the same - Dan Morland for instance, who employed her to cook the ultimate dinner the night he proposed to his ambitious girlfriend. And, as she watches Dan trying to sort out his life with the woman he loves, Ash begins to wonder if being Miss Self-Contained and -Secure might also mean missing out …
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