A first-person narrative told by Scott McAuley, the novel deals with father/son issues and the consequences of violence and hatred, not just on the generation that lived through the Troubles, but on the generation that followed after. As the frustrated PJ struggles to solve a genuine case for the first time in his life, he unearths a community’s worth of anger and resentments, secrets and regret. Told through diaries written by Scott, The Bones of It is a bit of a hall of mirrors, offering all sorts of skewed perspectives, broken shards from our protagonist’s mind. Please note: Moderation is enabled and may delay your comment being posted. The Defence is fast-paced and compulsively readable while Flynn is a likable, quick-thinking hero. The story of an un-named teenager dealing with the advances (sexual harassment) of an older, predatory paramilitary figure, its triumph has seen literary bibliophiles turning their eyes to Northern Ireland. Duke is now reformed and a counsellor, but what has he passed on to Scott? Lying in Wait by Liz Nugent – Dublin. Featuring the same intricate plotting and underlying sense of humanity that one would expect from Charles, the books exploited the border region setting, focusing on the consequences of discord within families and communities and the personal cost of crime. This is crime of the laugh-out-loud variety, with a Monk-esque central character who could delight or irritate readers, depending on their preferences. His third Benedict Devlin novel, Bleed a River Deep, has just been published by Macmillan. McGowan has that magic touch for putting a fresh spin on things, making the sum even greater than its excellent component parts. Required fields are marked *. His first novel, Borderlands, was shortlisted for the CWA New Blood Dagger, and was followed in 2008 by Gallows Lane. Irish contemporary literature. In the absence of a Truth Commission in Northern Ireland, fiction is the closest we will come to an understanding of the past even as we chart our way forward.
Róisín Burns has spent over twenty-five years living a lie. Though this 1996 book is technically a memoir, it reads just like a novel. The first in the Michael Forsythe series also boasts one of my favourite book titles, taken from the song, Danny Boy. Eilis Lacey returns home to Ireland in the 1950s and her married life in New York becomes obscured in a haze across the ocean. For writers who are very good at creating a sense of place, and set their stories in Ireland, I would also recommend Brian McGilloway, Andrea Carter, Anthony Quinn and Claire McGowan. When the body excavated turns out to be a baby, there’s initially no cause for alarm as the islet had been historically used as a burial ground for the stillborn. Following the death of his father, Jack finds himself disgraced, unemployed, and drinking himself into oblivion when he is asked to privately investigate a teenage suicide. Navigating the story of Eilis Lacey’s migration from Ireland to the United States in the 1950s, the book has recently been adapted into a blockbuster starring Saoirse Ronan. Missing babies, sectarian violence, the uneasy peace following war, ghost estates standing as graveyards for the Celtic Tiger boom; McGilloway layers plenty of issues and interest into this cracking tale. Police collusion with paramilitaries. Despite a loveless marriage and unwanted pregnancy in 1930s Ireland – when most unmarried mothers were shipped to the Magdalene Laundries – happiness is discovered in the mucky paddocks beneath the shadow of a mountain.
Róisín Burns has spent over twenty-five years living a lie. Though this 1996 book is technically a memoir, it reads just like a novel. The first in the Michael Forsythe series also boasts one of my favourite book titles, taken from the song, Danny Boy. Eilis Lacey returns home to Ireland in the 1950s and her married life in New York becomes obscured in a haze across the ocean. For writers who are very good at creating a sense of place, and set their stories in Ireland, I would also recommend Brian McGilloway, Andrea Carter, Anthony Quinn and Claire McGowan. When the body excavated turns out to be a baby, there’s initially no cause for alarm as the islet had been historically used as a burial ground for the stillborn. Following the death of his father, Jack finds himself disgraced, unemployed, and drinking himself into oblivion when he is asked to privately investigate a teenage suicide. Navigating the story of Eilis Lacey’s migration from Ireland to the United States in the 1950s, the book has recently been adapted into a blockbuster starring Saoirse Ronan. Missing babies, sectarian violence, the uneasy peace following war, ghost estates standing as graveyards for the Celtic Tiger boom; McGilloway layers plenty of issues and interest into this cracking tale. Police collusion with paramilitaries. Despite a loveless marriage and unwanted pregnancy in 1930s Ireland – when most unmarried mothers were shipped to the Magdalene Laundries – happiness is discovered in the mucky paddocks beneath the shadow of a mountain.