Irish Literary Fiction

Raised by her mother and Maeve on Slanbeg, an island off the west coast of Ireland, Orpen has a childhood of love, rockpools and stories by the fireside. But the stories grow darker, and the training begins. Ireland has been devoured by a ravening menace known as the skrake, and though Slanbeg is safe for now, the women must always be ready to run, or to fight.

Old friends meet up on a summer's evening at a Dublin restaurant. Both are now married with grown-up children, and their lives have taken seemingly similar paths. But Joe has a secret he has to tell Davy, and Davy, a grief he wants to keep from Joe. Both are not the men they used to be. Neither Davy nor Joe know what the night has in store, but as two pints turns to three, then five, and the men set out to revisit the haunts of their youth, the ghosts of Dublin entwine around them.

Fifteen-year-old Esperance Darbois, the only daughter of philosophy professor François Darbois, is determined to become a woman of the stage. But becoming an actress will sully the respectability of the Darbois family, damage her marriage prospects, and harm her father’s distinguished reputation.

London, Burning is a novel about the end of the 1970s and the end of an era. It concerns a nation divided against itself, a government trembling on the verge of collapse, a city fearful of what is to come and a people bitterly suspicious of one another. In other words, it is also a novel about now. Vicky Tress is a young policewoman on the rise who becomes involved in a corruption imbroglio with CID. Hannah Strode is an ambitious young reporter with a speciality for skewering the rich and powerful.

At sixty-six, Paula Spencer – mother, grandmother, widow, addict, survivor – is finally living her life. A job at the dry cleaners she enjoys, a man – Joe – with whom she shares what she wants, friends who see her for who she is, and four grown children, now with families and petty dramas the likes of which Paula could only have hoped for. Despite its ghosts, Paula has started to push her past aside.

Constance Chatterley feels trapped in her sexless marriage to the invalid Sir Clifford. Unable to fulfil his wife emotionally or physically, Clifford encourages her to have a liaison with a man of their own class. But Connie is attracted instead to her husband's gamekeeper and embarks on a passionate affair that brings new life to her stifled existence. Can she find a true equality with Mellors, despite the vast gulf between their positions in society?

Looking for your next satisfying book discussion with friends or your reading group? This guide is written without spoilers. Read it as a warm-up for the actual text, or use it to refresh your memory and jump-start your discussions with your book group and book-loving friends. In this guide to Roz Morris's novel Ever Rest, you can: Explore the author’s own thoughts and intentions for the book - and decide how they match up with your own. Discover the themes that emerged for other readers - and decide whether you agree. Discover the books that inspired the author’s treatment of settings ...

Bestselling Irish author Michelle Jackson returns with a new name, Michelle Walsh Jackson and a fresh voice. After travel writing for the last eight years she has written a road trip book set in Oklahoma, Dublin and Oxford. This spiritual journey into America's Heartland brings the reader on "A thought provoking Odyssey to fill the soul and grip the reader," according to Niamh Greene, Irish Author. This is the story of the fragile love between Roz Waters and her visually impaired father, Patrick, a love that is revived on an extraordinary road trip through Oklahoma in America’s heartland....

In seventh-century Ireland, a scholar priest named Artt has a dream in which God tells him to leave the sinful world behind. With two monks—young Trian and old Cormac—he rows down the River Shannon in search of an isolated spot in which to found a monastery. Drifting out into the Atlantic, the three men find the impossibly steep, bare island known today as Skellig Michael. In such a place, what will survival mean?

This is a selection of works by three famous Irishmen: Oscar Wilde, W. B. Yeats and Bram Stoker. It includes: the short story by Bram Stoker, "Dracula's Guest"; Oscar Wilde's poem "Humanitad" and three versions of his "The Ballad of Reading Gaol"; and finally, an early collection of poetry called The Rose by W. B. Yeats. There is a general introduction by the writer and actor Tim Dalgleish and other additional material.

It’s been years since the three Ryan sisters were all home together at their family’s beloved house on Long Island. Two decades ago, their lives were upended by a tragic accident on their brother Topher’s boat that drove him to suicide. Now, the Ryan women are back for Thanksgiving, but each carries a heavy secret.

“Stories about real life told in an assured voice.” — William Wall author of No Paradiso ”Stories of raw truth ranging from buoyant comedy to harrowing loss written with consummate skill.” — Eoin Lynam, editor of Shorter Stories ”A blast of cold air blasting through a warm room. These stories will hit you hard and stay with you long after you’ve finished reading them.” — Paradoxical Magazine ”An eclectic collection which showcases McDermott’s subtle skill as a storyteller, tapping the depths of human emotion while providing the reader with a reflective journey into ...

Grace sees her boyfriend, Henry, everywhere. In the supermarket, on the street, at the graveyard. Only Henry is dead. He died two months earlier, leaving a huge hole in Grace's life and in her heart. But then, Henry turns up to fix the boiler one evening, and Grace can't decide if she's hallucinating or has suddenly developed psychic powers. Grace isn't going mad - the man in front of her is not Henry at all, but someone else who looks uncannily like him.

A Dublinesos, Jame Joyce reuneix quinze relats que recreen episodis de la seva ciutat. Les diverses històries s'encreuen i els personatges van i vénen, desapareixen i reapareixen, de manera que s'ha vist en aquest llibre una novel·la amb un únic personatge: Dublin.

Spanning a century and two continents, from the muddy fields of Ireland to a hotel room in Paris, a dingy bar in Segovia to an airplane bound for Taipei, The Boatman and Other Stories follows an unforgettable cast of characters. Three gunshots on the Irish border define the course of a young man’s life; a writer clings fast to a star-crossed affair with a woman who has never been fully in his reach; a fisherman accustomed to hard labor rolls up his sleeves to dig a grave for his child.

This collection of short stories serves as a sequel to Barred: Short Stories. It explores the intricate ironies of fate, the human condition, and the complexities of individuals and their sense of belonging. The narrative introduces a diverse cast of characters, each facing the challenges of everyday life or extraordinary circumstances. As readers delve into these stories, they witness the profound impact of these experiences on the characters’ hopes and aspirations. Prepare to be challenged and evoke a range of emotions, from laughter to tears. Most importantly, anticipate an escape and ...

Finn McCarthy is half Irish, half English, and fully fantastic. Raised in the pubs and educated at Oxford, he never did know which half to favor. His Irish half loves women and booze, while his English half is wicked smart and damned polite. And then there’s Regan, the one girl who never did succumb to his charms. When a world at war beckons, Finn answers the call, but there are some casualties even a soldier can’t prepare for.

John Mitchel, Irishman, lawyer, journalist, activist and politician, is a complex character. Charged with treason in Ireland and tried by an English judge, he was snuck off mainland Ireland on the day he was charged to avoid a breakout and rebellion. He was transported initially to Bermuda, then to South Africa and then to Van Diemen's Land where as an Irishman he was supported by many and given a ticket of leave. He soon became a farmer and activist and was eventually secreted out of Australia to the USA, where it was felt he could be more active for the Irish cause.

The Nun's Priest's Tale is one of The Canterbury Tales by the 14th century Middle English poet Geoffrey Chaucer. Read in Middle English by Robert Ross.

In these 10 beautifully moving short stories, mostly written over the last year, Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle paints a collective portrait of our strange times. A man abroad wanders the stag-and-hen-strewn streets of Newcastle, as news of the virus at home asks him to question his next move. An exhausted nurse struggles to let go, having lost a much-loved patient in isolation. A middle-aged son, barred from his mother's funeral, wakes to an oncoming hangover of regret.