Humans came late to Ireland, 12,500 years ago, after the retreat of the ice. By then, the dinosaurs and marine reptiles had gone and the mammals which had flourished alongside the dinosaurs, came into their own Continue reading
Filed under Book review …
The Young Naturalist
Book Review by James King Dara McAnulty: Diary of a Young Naturalist, The Text Publishing Company, 2020. RRP: $29.99 ISBN: 9781922330000 I was given this book for Christmas, and having no prior knowledge of it, or its author, I raised a sceptical eyebrow. My experience with books as Christmas gifts is not an entirely happy … Continue reading
New Irish Fiction
Malachi O’Doherty uses Ulster, while John Connolly uses Arkansas for their murder stories. Graham Norton’s gentler story is set in West Cork. Continue reading
New Irish Fiction
Three more novels from Irish women writers, the first one set in Sydney Continue reading
Learning about Australia from John O’Brien
For many in Ireland, ‘Around the Boree Log’ was our introduction to Australia. Continue reading
Women and the Irish Revolution
If ever there was a case of a favourite chapter in this book, I would choose chapter 2, Lucy McDiarmid’s ‘Comradeship’ on the imprisonment in Holloway prison of Kathleen Clarke and her two ‘tall’ comrades, Constance Markievicz and Maud Gonne, who at times tended to dispute ‘as to which of them had the highest social status’. Continue reading
New Irish Fiction
Two new women writers and a story from early New York with an Irish background Continue reading
Mary McAleese, by herself
Born and raised, in a large Catholic family in the much-troubled Ardoyne district, violence surrounded Mary McAleese’s life from the beginning. Continue reading
New Irish Fiction
The Fenians were an oathbound and highly secret group of ruthless killers, who were much more adept than those presented here. Continue reading
The Pull of the Stars
Book review by James King. EMMA DONOGHUE. The Pull of the Stars, 2020 256 pp. ISBN: 978 1 52904 6168 RRP: $32.99 Since the publication of this novel in July this year, at the height of our first wave of the Australian COVID-19 epidemic, there have been many reviews, mostly very flattering, including one written by Frank … Continue reading
