Read Ireland Book Review
Issue 275
New Irish Fiction and Poetry
Swallowing the Sun by David Park
Hardback; 25.00 Euro / 30.00 USD / 18.00 UK; 250 pages
In the museum Martin stands watch over the past. He has travelled a long way from his brutal childhood in the Loyalist heartlands of Belfast and built a life he never imagined he would have - a devoted wife, Alison, two children, Rachel and Tom, a respectable job. But the happiness he has found feels tentative, brittle. Rachel's academic success threatens to launch her out of her proud father's orbit. Tom, eclipsed by his sister's achievements, has withdrawn into his own private fantasy world. Martin's gratitude to Alison is a gulf between them. He feels unworthy of his wife, his life, his luck. Returning home one night to find police cars waiting, Martin feels his sins must have finally caught up with him. But their news is whole unexpected, a senseless tragedy. And in the face of this new and devastating trauma that tears his fragile family apart, Martin finds the violence of the past is not gone but merely dormant, its call must be answered at last. This novel is a gripping and unforgettable portrait of a man for whom, like the city in which he lives, peace can only be uneasy and imperfect. With the same insight and lyricism that gained his previous novels such acclaim, this novel is deeply moving, humane and full of sombre beauty.
People Like Us by Chris Binchy
Trade Paperback; 15.00 Euro / 18.00 USD / 10.00 UK; 244 pages [Add To Basket]
Paul Walsh is suffocating. His children are pushing him to the limit. His job is going nowhere. His wife is becoming a stranger to him. So when they move to a bigger house on the outskirts of Dublin, Paul hopes that it will give his family the room they need to relieve these tensions. But as his family starts to settle in, doubts begin to grow in Paul's mind. Who are the people that they now live among? Who is Joe Mitchell and why is he so afraid? Who are the gang that hang around the front of his house? And why has his eldest daughter grown so secretive? As Paul begins to discover the answers, he is dragged into a situation that escalates beyond his control. This novel is a story of a father's ambitions for his family. When he is confronted by real and perceived dangers, he is forced to question who he can trust and who he can believe.
The Other Side of the Story by Marian Keyes
Hardback; 25.00 Euro / 30.00 USD / 20.00 UK; 647 pages
For events organizer Gemma, the departure of her father in to the arms of a younger woman is the biggest show in town. Suddenly she's doling out tranquillizers to her mother and cleaning up after her when she breaks every plate in the house. Being from a broken home is no fun when you are 32 years old! Meanwhile, first-time novelist Lily is enjoying overnight success with her debut novel. But the person she is celebrating with is Anton - her best friend Gemma's ex - and the guilt is kind of getting to her. And then there's Jojo, a literary agent whose star is on the rise. In love with Mark, her very married boss, and with her burgeoning career, not much distracts her. Until she finds herself representing two women who used to be best friends. What goes around comes around and, in the world of million-dollar book deals and the race for a shot on the bestseller lists, Lily, Gemma and Jojo's lives intersect in a collision of love, loyalty and revenge.
All Summer by Claire Kilroy
Paperback; 13.00 Euro / 15.50 USD / 10.00 UK; 236 pages [Add To Basket]
Anna Hunt has lost her memory and is on the run. From who and what she is unsure, but trapped in the present she seems certain of only one thing - she is somehow linked to the stolen painting currently being restored in the National Gallery. In a wonderfully unsettling first novel, the author manages to combine beautiful people, poetic prose with the menacing atmosphere of a thriller as she explores themes of memory, violence, art and escape.
Port Mungo by Patrick McGrath
Trade Paperback; 15.00 Euro / 18.00 USD / 10.00 UK; 241 pages
From the days of their privileged, eccentric childhood, Jack Rathbone has enjoyed the adoration of his sister, Gin. When both attend St. Martin's School of Art in London, it is a painful wrench for Gin to watch Jack fall under the spell of Vera Savage, a flamboyant, not entirely clean nor sober artist from Glasgow. Jack and Vera run off to New York within seven weeks of meeting and, from a bruised and bereft distance, sister Gin follows the couple's progress south, via Havana to Port Mungo, a seedy river town in the mangrove swamps of the Gulf of Honduras. There, in an old banana warehouse, Jack single-mindedly devotes himself to his art, while Vera succumbs to infidelity and a rackety, chronic restlessness, which even the birth of two daughters cannot subdue.
In this spell-binding narrative, the author tracks these individuals across decades and continents: the latter-day Gauguin figure Jack, his buccaneering mate Vera and their two girls Peg and Anna, cast adrift in their parents' chaos - as observed by Gin, their far from detached chronicler. It is ultimately a world of dark tropical impulses and Manhattan art-market forces, where a mysterious death is swarthed in tight complicit secrecy, and the imperatives of narcissism and art hold human beings in outlandish thrall.
Green Poppies by Patricia Hickey
Trade Paperback; 12.00 Euro / 15.00 USD / 8.00 UK; 305 pages [Add To Basket]
This novel is a moving and powerful story of World War I and its legacies from three generations of Irish women. The author's own grandfather died at the Somme in 1917, and so her fictional treatment of the subject is a poignant reminder of the impact of the war on Irish families and the conflicting political allegiances that it brought to the surface in Ireland. The author eloquently brings to life the disturbing reality of war not only for those fighting it but also for those waiting for their loved ones at home.
Dublin Review 15 Summer 2004 edited by Brendan Barrington
Paperback; 7.50 Euro / 9.00 USD / 5.00 UK; 110 pages [Add To Basket]
This issue contains: The Joyce Problem by George O’Brien, Susan McKay on the DUP’s double act, Enemies of Spain: Bernard Loughlin, Michael Faber: Q, X, Harry Clifton remembers Thailand, 1981, Hollywood and the Abbey by Adrian Frazier, David Wheatley: Aliquots of Fatigue and Ebriety, and stories by Greg Baxter and Judy Kravis
Lemon Soap
Trade Paperback; 12.50 Euro / 15.00 USD / 8.00 UK; 138 pages [Add To Basket]
This book is a collection of fiction and poetry from 14 writers from the M. Phil in Creative Writing at the Oscar Wilde Centre, School of English, Trinity College, Dublin.
New Island Open Door Series: Three New Novellas:
Fair-Weather Friend by Patricia Scanlan
Paperback; 6.50 Euro / 8.00 USD / 5.00 UK; 76 pages [Add To Basket]
Melissa and Sophie have been life-long friends. Or that’s what Sophie likes to think. Sophie is a giver; Melissa is a taker. But their friendship is put to the test on holiday in Spain.
The Story of Joe Brown by Rose Doyle
Paperback; 6.50 Euro / 8.00 USD / 5.00 UK; 76 pages [Add To Basket]
There is nothing remarkable about Joe Brown. He is of average height. His average looks are hidden behind a beard. He wears average clothes. But Joe Brown has a secret, and a past, that he wants to forget.
The Smoking Room by Julie Parsons
Paperback; 6.50 Euro / 8.00 USD / 5.00 UK; 76 pages [Add To Basket]
It all began one morning in the smoking room of the Department of Health and Welfare. That was where happily married Jack met the lovely Grace. At first smoking was all they had in common. But soon they were sharing a lot more. Love, as well as smoke, was in the air.
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