Like Heaney, I too was catapulted back to the powerful impact of reading Wilde’s De Profundis, also penned in Reading Gaol, on me aged 20. Continue reading
Filed under Crime …
What we are reading at the moment
Poetry anthologies are always a favourite of mine, particularly those that don’t focus on a particular theme and allow all styles and colours to flow freely. Something new and exciting on every page, a book that can be dipped in and out of as you sit down for a cuppa, varied voices and styles that … Continue reading
Vale Nell McCafferty — ‘free at last’ (1944-2024)
They were recorded buying condoms in a Belfast chemist shop. These fearless women gave hope and courage to ordinary women who were only coming into awareness about how their reproductive rights had become the property of male dominated establishments, not just in Ireland. Continue reading
Three Irish Novels
For lovers of Tóibín’s Brooklyn, rediscover Eilis 20 years older… Continue reading
Should We Forget and Vote for Them?
Two new books about the IRA bombing campaigns of the 70s and 80s. Continue reading
This Happened in Ireland. Read and Weep
The Magdalen Laundries from someone who was in one from the age of 11. Continue reading
The Irishman who Shot the Duke of Edinburgh
The author, Simon Smith, is a filmmaker who has recorded stories from around the world, and that background is seen in the writing as he fills in little details and concentrates on the lives, likes and troubles of the main characters. Continue reading
Fraud in Ireland
Former footballer gives a riveting account of the workings of the fraud squad, from an insider’s perspective. Continue reading
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New Irish Fiction
Three new Irish or Irish Australian fictions reviewed by book-devourer, Frank O’Shea Continue reading
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From the Papers
Daniel Kinahan back in the news and so is Russia Continue reading
Tinteán 