Irish Literary Fiction

Here are 154 poems performed by by the wonderful Sir John Gielgud in this Shakepseare collection of the Sonnets.

Shakespeare's sonnets deal with such themes as the passage of time, love, beauty, and mortality. All but two of the poems were first published in a 1609 quarto entitled Shake-Speares Sonnets: Never before imprinted.

"The Irish R.M." refers to a series of books by the Anglo-Irish novelists Somerville and Ross. They are set in the turn-of-the-20th-century west of Ireland. The humor in the audiobook is greatly enhanced if the listener has a broad understanding of the history of Ireland's relationship with England, and how Ireland was governed, as well as the Irish country way of life. The show is, however, not political, although caricatures of Irish and British people are used for humorous purposes.

Eilis Lacey is Irish, married to Tony Fiorello, a plumber and one of four Italian American brothers, all of whom live in neighbouring houses on a cul-de-sac in Lindenhurst, Long Island, with their wives and children and Tony's parents. One day, an Irishman comes to the door asking for Eilis by name. He tells her that his wife is pregnant with Tony's child and that when the baby is born, he will not raise it but will leave it with her. Eilis has choices to make, and what she does in the wake of this shattering news is at the heart of one of Tóibín's most riveting and emotional novels to date.

A startling and tender portrait of one family’s struggle to make peace with their son’s death. An ingeniously layered narrative, told over the course of one week, Eddie Joyce’s debut novel masterfully depicts an Italian-Irish American family on Staten Island and their complicated emotional history. Ten years after the loss of Bobby - the Amendola family’s youngest son - everyone is still struggling to recover from the firefighter’s unexpected death.

Sean Francis Xavier Murphy, a retired Irish American detective, is urged back into service to solve a brutal murder on a New Hampshire Catholic college campus. The school, under the direction of Benedictine monks, reflects the panoply of issues dividing the Catholic people – including abortion, birth control, pedophilia, and homosexuality. Sean finds himself, to his surprise and chagrin, searching for his lost faith as he also looks to solve the crime.

A must-read for fans of Anna Jacobs, Dilly Court and Jennifer Donnelly Plans are nothing more than dust and life has a way of dangling happiness in front of you, only to snatch it away. Victoria Caldwell discovers it’s much easier to protect her children when decisions are made for them. Would her son, Sean, really have ended his life? Is her daughter, Bella, old enough to choose the right man? Will her stepdaughter, Kate, allow her insecurities to ruin her life? For Victoria, their pain is her torture. Sean’s life in America was a heady mix of work and pleasure until faced with ...

In the idyllic backdrop of Ballycross, County Cork, Seren once reveled in the bliss of marriage to Frenchman André while managing their quaint wine shop. A perfect world, it seemed, until an unforeseen tragedy shattered everything. Determined not to be a mere pawn in the game of fate, Seren takes charge of her destiny. In this journey, she discovers the stark difference between fate and faith—realizing that control is a powerful force. The revelation of an enigmatic email destined for her husband propels Seren into a harrowing mystery. Abandoning the comforts of Ballycross, she ventures ...

Eighteen-year-old Debbie was raised on her family’s rural dairy farm, 40 minutes and a world away from Dublin. She lives with her mother, Maeve, a skittish woman who takes to her bed for days on end, claims not to know who Debbie’s father is, and believes her dreams are prophecies. Rounding out their small family is Maeve’s brother, Billy, who lives in a caravan behind their house, drinks too much, and likes to impersonate famous dead writers online. Though they may have their quirks, the Whites’ fierce love for one another is never in doubt. But Debbie’s life is changing.

Glancing sideways, she was intrigued by his flawless profile. He had bronzed skin and a straight nose, with tousled blond hair that was effortlessly stylish. Lounging in his chair elegantly, he looked like the type of guy you could place anywhere and he would look at ease. He turned suddenly and caught her staring at him. Their eyes locked and suddenly she felt lost. They were the bluest eyes she had ever seen… Lydia Kelly is in a good place. Determined to pursue her dream of being a writer, she enrols to do a Master’s degree in English. It means being separated from her handsome ...

When Prince Oroonoko's passion for the virtuous Imoinda arouses the jealousy of his grandfather, the lovers are cast into slavery and transported from Africa to the colony of Surinam. Oroonoko's noble bearing soon wins the respect of his English captors, but his struggle for freedom brings about his destruction. Inspired by Aphra Behn's visit to Surinam, Oroonoko reflects the author's romantic view of native peoples as noble savages in 'the first state of innocence, before man knew how to sin'.

Having had occasion to look around for “something to read,” with long and short pieces that would not prove too deeply engaging, Leonard Wibberley—author of The Mouse that Roared as well as over 100 other novels—curated a personal selection of such choices from his writings. They are both published and unpublished works by this thoughtful and humorous man. Read all at once if one is so inclined, or savored in smaller samples, they offer selections to fit almost any mood. There is Prevarication Jones for a bit of humor, Concerning the Divinity for some personal philosophy, The ...

In Heart, Be at Peace, which can be listened to independently, Donal picks up the twenty-one voices from The Spinning Heart ten years on, in 2019. Small-town Ireland is a different place, the economy having recovered from the economic crash that served as a backdrop to the events in that book. Now the work is back, the dramas have all seemingly died down, the dark days of recession and struggle are over. But a new menace is creeping around the lakeshore and the lanes of the town, old grudges are festering and new ones are rising, and the peace of the community is about to be shattered.

Pencraft Awards 2019 , First Place Winner- Hy Brasil: Island of Eternity is inspired by the mythical island of Hy Brasil, said to have existed off the west coast of Ireland. In this beautiful novel Kearns takes us on an adventure to the mythical island of Hy Brasil. There we discover an advanced society faced with an unexpected event that Olan is worried might destroy their civilization. The story begins in present-day Ireland then travels back in time to an ancient and mysterious country that is populated with a people of Irish extraction. The citizens of Hy Brasil have evolved to the ...

A Modern day suspense thriller based around the dangers of social media, what we share, and how we never really know who is watching. A single photo taken in college defined Eve Kelly’s entire life. The iconic image of the falling girl in a red dress brought her unintentional fame. Twenty years later, @beli’EVE, a successful model turned influencer, is a reluctant leader. Over a million people follow her every move but sharing images of a #perfectlife can be dangerous, especially when you have secrets. When someone begins to scratch beneath the glossy surface she presents to the world, ...

Ireland, 1959. Young Christopher Hurley is a tinker, a Pavee gypsy, who roams with his father and extended family from town to town, carrying all their worldly possessions in their wagons. Christy carries with him a burden of guilt as well: his mother's death in childbirth. The wandering life is the only one Christy has ever known, but when his grandfather dies, everything changes. His father decides to settle briefly, in a town, where Christy and his cousin can receive proper schooling. But still, always, they are treated as outsiders.

An enemies to lovers romance.Connor is in mourning for his deceased wife and two young daughters, and now he's been accused of murdering their killer. Laura is his court appointed attorney. She's struggling to justify a loveless marriage and a career filled with moral conflict. This is her first big murder case and the media is all over it - the Celtic Vigilante. Connor has become a local celebrity. Laura has to win him an acquittal but Connor isn't making that easy. He's resistant to all of her ideas, and he clearly dislikes everything about Laura, including her defense strategy. And yet ...

As Ballina prepares for its biggest weekend of the year, the simmering feud between small-time dealer, Cillian English, and County Mayo's fraternal enforcers, Gabe and Sketch Ferdia, spills over into violence and an ugly ultimatum. When the reclusive Dev answers his door on Friday night he finds Doll - Cillian's bruised, sullen, teenage brother - in the clutches of Gabe and Sketch. Jostled by his nefarious cousins, goaded by his dead mother's dog and struck by spinning lights, Dev is unwillingly drawn headlong into the Ferdias' revenge fantasy.

Nell - funny, brave and so much loved - is a young woman with adventure on her mind. As she sets out into the world, she finds her family history hard to escape. For her mother, Carmel, Nell's leaving home opens a space in her heart, where the turmoil of a lifetime begins to churn. And across the generations falls the long shadow of Carmel's famous father, an Irish poet of beautiful words and brutal actions.

The enormity of it weighed heavily on her shoulders. She had spent the last three days lying in bed, attempting to come to terms with the shocking diagnosis she had received at the doctor’s. She was pregnant. There was a little baby inside her.And not just any baby: Luca’s baby. Lydia Kelly’s life has been turned upside down. Leaving New York in the dead of night had been hard, but she had no choice, right? Now, in a cruel twist of fate, she’s pregnant with Luca’s baby. Luca Jacob: the guy whose heart she has broken once again. Alone and vulnerable, she turns to her family and ...

Welcome to Ballyrowan. This sleepy corner of rural Ireland may seem tranquil, but scratch the surface and you'll find a hotbed of gossip and intrigue - endless material for mouthing - and a town full of people only too happy to oblige in spreading the bad news. Narrated by several generations of villagers, Mouthing traces the fortunes of one small community from the mid-20th century to the early 21st, in a series of highly confessional and darkly hilarious monologues.