Category: books
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Book Review – Constellations by Sinéad Gleeson
“I have come to think of all the metal in my body as artificial stars, glistening beneath the skin, a constellation of old and new metal. A map, a tracing of connections and a guide to looking at things from different angles.” Constellations: Reflections from Life (Picador, 2019) is the debut book by Sinéad Gleeson,…
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Book Review – A Quiet Tide by Marianne Lee
The fisherman sidled up to her on the quay. ‘You’re Miss Hutchins, the plant lady from Ballylickey.’ A Quiet Tide, the debut novel by Marianne Lee, takes us back in time to the early 1800s, immersing us in an intimate and compelling fictionalised account of the life of Ellen Hutchins, Ireland’s first female botanist. After…
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Book Review – Pure Gold by John Patrick McHugh
That summer we lit fires. Terry and I. (Bonfire) Although already a seasoned writer of short stories featured in literary journals and magazines, Pure Gold is John Patrick McHugh’s first published collection. The stories are all set on an imagined island off the west coast of Ireland. Referred to as ‘the Island’ throughout, this already…
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Book Review – A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa
‘This is a female text.’ A Ghost in the Throat, by Doireann Ní Ghríofa, is a work of profound beauty, and unlike anything I have ever read before. The book is billed as a blend of ‘essay and auto-fiction’; drawing from the author’s own story, but not bound by it. However, eschewing neat categorisation under…
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Book Review – Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
When we were new, Rosa and I were mid-store, on the magazines table side, and could see through more than half of the window. Kazuo Ishiguro’s latest novel, Klara and the Sun, offers up its first delight before we even open the book. A subtle detail in the cover design is a nod to all…
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Book Review – Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
It was a pleasure to burn. Back in school, I was lucky enough to have studied philosophy, where I was introduced to a number of profoundly impactful dystopian novels, such as 1984, Brave New World, and Animal Farm. In recent years, I often saw Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury mentioned alongside them. I finally got…
The Resting Willow 