Tag: Irish book blogger
-
Book Review – The Language of Remembering by Patrick Holloway
When Oisin’s mother Brigid’s health begins to decline, he is drawn from Brazil back to Ireland with his wife and young daughter. As they work at building a new life, and he seeks to reconnect with his mother who has early onset Alzheimer’s, the faces and places around him begin to stir up echoes from…
-
Book Review – May All Your Skies Be Blue by Fíona Scarlett
When Shauna leaves Dublin City for the suburbs with her mother, Dean enters her life as part of a soon-to-be-inseparable foursome of friends navigating the trials and tribulations of adolescence. The spark of friendship quickly blossoms towards something more for Shauna and Dean but, with their own struggles and ties pulling them separate ways, they…
-
Book Review – Mouthing by Orla Mackey
Mouthing is a series of confessional monologues, deftly sewn together, from voices hailing from one village in rural Ireland, which is ‘just about as good and as bad as you’ll get anywhere’. Divided into sections, illuminating different generations and points in time, each section explores a different story or situation from several different perspectives, inching…
-
Book Review – On the Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniel
We’re like the women before us, Arc. We carry great terrors on our backs. We take them to bed with us the same demons. Twins Arc and Daffy live in the industrial town of Chillicothe, Ohio. Living with their mother and aunt in the shadow of addiction, poverty and prostitution, the girls cling to each…
-
Book Review – Jaded by Ela Lee
On paper, Jade has it all: a successful law career, the daughter who has made her parents proud, a great boyfriend from an affluent family, and a small but solid circle of girlfriends. Then one work night out throws everything into a downward spiral as she wakes up with no idea how she got home,…
-
Book Review – Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Shaker Heights, Ohio, is an idyllic, affluent suburban estate, where everything is planned and everyone lives in sync. Mrs. Richardson is a force at the centre of this golden community but when bohemian artist Mia and her daughter Pearl arrive in town, and move into a house owned by the Richardsons, the two families, who…
-
Book Review – My Father the Whale by Gina Perry
Families we have, families we choose and families we long for. The only family 9-year-old Ruby has ever known is her father; nomadic, free-spirited, self-absorbed Mitch. Since the death of her mother soon after her birth, Ruby and Mitch have lived an unconventional life, moving across Australia from town to town, busking, entertaining the locals…
-
Book Review – The Island of Longing by Anne Griffin
One afternoon, Rosie looks out from an upstairs window as her teenage daughter Saoirse approaches home on her bike. Stepping away to finish up a few tasks before making her way down to greet her, Rosie is met only by her son when she gets downstairs. Saoirse’s bike is lying outside at the side of…
-
Book Review – Kala by Colin Walsh
We’re perched on our bikes at the top of the hill. There’s a turning melt of sky above us. The town’s glittering below. We’re fifteen and it’s the summer of our lives so Kinlough is gathering itself up into the moment with us – the whole town’s pure responsive to our energies. The year is…
-
Book Review – Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood
Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood is the story of Elaine, a painter who, on returning to her childhood city of Toronto for her grand retrospective exhibition, finds memories of her past flooding back to her – but happy memories they are not. The novel opens in a really clever and intriguing way – Elaine is…
The Resting Willow 