FICTION

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Ali Smith
Book review: Strange future to navigate
Ali Smith is one of the UK’s leading novelists. Born in Inverness in 1962, she has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize four times and won several major prizes

Sat, 09 Nov, 2024

Book review: ‘Bodies’ tries to get into the minds of men
Book review: ‘Bodies’ tries to get into the minds of men
This clever and subversive novel tracks protagonist Charlotte as she navigates a series of toxic relationships with men 

Sat, 19 Oct, 2024

Book review: A tale of good and evil with some homespun philosophy served up too
Book review: A tale of good and evil with some homespun philosophy served up too
If a 'mom and apple-pie' story utilising Bible quotations and sentimental romance is your cuppa, 'Counting Miracles' is the book for you

Sat, 19 Oct, 2024

Booker Prize 2004 shortlisted author Ala
Book review: Sublime characterisation and empathy make a novel to savour
Alan Hollinghurst's 'Our Evenings' — a doorstopper at almost 500 pages — is a novel to read slowly and to savour

Sat, 12 Oct, 2024

Book review: From shell-shocked to thinking ‘War is easy’
Book review: From shell-shocked to thinking ‘War is easy’
'Hide Away' is an astute character study concerned with guilt, betrayal (personal and public), and the secret lives of those we love

Sat, 05 Oct, 2024

Five minutes with ... Richard Osman on making movies
Book review: Deep characters, humour and mystery outline an entertaining murder tale
'We Solve Murders' is an entertaining read, fast paced, bewildering so at times as the settings change so rapidly, and always great fun

Sat, 05 Oct, 2024

Book review: Themes crash together in sea playground
Book review: Themes crash together in sea playground
Richards Powers’ 'Playground' unfolds its themes via four principal characters and opens on the French Polynesian atoll of Makatea

Sat, 28 Sep, 2024

Book review: Sally Rooney's fourth novel a slow burn that unfolds into a satisfying read
Book review: Sally Rooney's fourth novel a slow burn that unfolds into a satisfying read
Intermezzo is being marked with late-night release parties from London to New York

Tue, 24 Sep, 2024

Book review: Munich air disaster occurred when football showcased community values
Book review: Munich air disaster occurred when football showcased community values
David Peace, who wrote 'The Damned United', has produced a dramatised account of the events before, during, and after the crash

Sat, 21 Sep, 2024

Book review: Living after a history of abuse
Book review: Living after a history of abuse
Roddy Doyle’s ‘The Women Behind The Door’ picks up from Paula Spencer’s last outing in 2006

Sat, 21 Sep, 2024

US Chess Championship
Intermezzo: How accurate is the chess play in Sally Rooney’s new book?
Mark Watkins of the Cork Chess Club appraise the novel's chess bona fides

Fri, 20 Sep, 2024

Is that... is that a visit to Cork in the latest Richard Osman book?
Is that... is that a visit to Cork in the latest Richard Osman book?
Yes, they're in Cork where 'the city’s charming streets hide dark secrets'

Mon, 16 Sep, 2024

Book review: Graham Norton’s novel will dominate the bestseller list for many months
Book review: Graham Norton’s novel will dominate the bestseller list for many months
'Frankie' is a triumph, popular fiction at its best, and is beautifully crafted and impeccably researched, taking the reader on a rollercoaster ride of emotional highs and lows

Sun, 15 Sep, 2024

Book review: Bronte sisters revisited in 'Charlotte'
Book review: Bronte sisters revisited in 'Charlotte'
Martina Devlin’s engaging historical novel is based on the bare biographical bones of the Brontes' Irish roots

Sat, 14 Sep, 2024

The Hay Festival 2019
Book review: Tribulations of men a Greek myth
In Pat Barker’s salty retelling, Homeric grandees like Odysseus, Paris, and Achilles are dismissed in passing as venal brutes

Sat, 07 Sep, 2024

Book review: Bob’s big heart shines through in 'Tell me Everything'
Book review: Bob’s big heart shines through in 'Tell me Everything'
Elizabeth Strout’s latest dispatch from Maine is another life-enhancing read and a beautiful testament to the power of love and friendship

Sat, 07 Sep, 2024

Book review: Dark horror story from king of Belfast noir is gutwrenching
Book review: Dark horror story from king of Belfast noir is gutwrenching
Stuart Neville ticks all the horror boxes in 'Blood Like Mine' — a terrible tale that has no neat ending

Sat, 24 Aug, 2024

What Tracy Beaker creator Dame Jacqueline Wilson really thinks about children's books written by celebrities
Book review: When adult life isn’t what you imagined it would be as a teenager
'Think Again' is an adult sequel to Jacqueline Wilson's 'Girls' series, and explores the theme of parenting as your children grow up

Sat, 17 Aug, 2024

Lecturer reading a book in the university library, looking exhausted and tired from studying. Sleeping on stacks of books.
S David O'Mahony: Embrace the messy nature of leaving books unfinished
You know that ever-growing pile of books that you keep meaning to get to and yet, for a myriad of good reasons, don’t? Although, let’s face it, if you’re a bibliophile at all it’s probably multiple piles.

Sat, 17 Aug, 2024

Book review: Convincing tale of dysfunction and abuse
Book review: Convincing tale of dysfunction and abuse
A university lecturer is confronted with her past after she gets an email 30 years after her attendance at an exclusive girls’ secondary school in Dublin, saying: 'I know what you did... If you testify, I’ll tell them everything.'

Sat, 17 Aug, 2024

Book review: Weaving together the singular and collective tales of North Tipperary
Book review: Weaving together the singular and collective tales of North Tipperary
Donal Ryan gives a voice to people seldom featured in contemporary fiction, including older men and women, the intellectually disabled, and eccentric outsiders

Sat, 03 Aug, 2024

Book review: A study in panic is quite a relaxed read
Book review: A study in panic is quite a relaxed read
'One Perfect Stranger' is guaranteed to keep your mind off work as you stretch out on the beach, settle into a long international train journey or relax into a warming spa bath

Sat, 03 Aug, 2024

Hay Festival 2022
Book review: Historical meets modern day
'There are Rivers in the Sky' is a sprawling, inventive novel that will amuse you no end, and is bound to make you think

Sat, 03 Aug, 2024

Book review: A look through the lens of reality TV
Book review: A look through the lens of reality TV
In the unexpected and shocking story of 'One Perfect Couple' Ruth Ware has something to say about reality games and invasive misogyny

Sat, 27 Jul, 2024

Book review: Compulsive read drawn from shadows
Book review: Compulsive read drawn from shadows
'First Wife’s Shadow' is such a compulsive read, it’s so full of plot twists, and it’s a clever exploration of love and desire, jealousy, deceit and obsession

Sat, 20 Jul, 2024

Book review: Murder most foul but innocent man named as guilty party by sociopath
Book review: Murder most foul but innocent man named as guilty party by sociopath
Steve Cavanagh's 'Witness 8' is a  psychological thriller, a gripping page-turner with many twists and turns

Sat, 20 Jul, 2024

Review: Kevin Barry and Colin Barrett light up Bantry
Review: Kevin Barry and Colin Barrett light up Bantry
West Cork Literary Festival event resplendent in sunshine as Maeve Higgins guides the chat for budding writers

Thu, 18 Jul, 2024

Book review: Dying days of men who kill
Book review: Dying days of men who kill
In his latest novel, 'Cross', Austin Duffy presents another gutful of fear

Sat, 13 Jul, 2024

Book review: A vision of a predatory and callow world
Book review: A vision of a predatory and callow world
Olivia Petter's 'Gold Rush' is set in 2017, just before #MeToo, and the fall of Harvey Weinstein — before, in other words, there was a strong new context for exposing sexual exploitation by powerful men

Sat, 13 Jul, 2024

Book review: Secrets and sex in Amsterdam
Book review: Secrets and sex in Amsterdam
The quiet opening section may deter readers impatient with the smallness of Isabel’s world, but it is worth persevering to enjoy a memorable, beautifully told story

Sat, 06 Jul, 2024

Book review: A jilted girl, her ex, a lover and his ex
Book review: A jilted girl, her ex, a lover and his ex
Sheila O'Flanagan's 'The Honeymoon Affair' is an entertaining novel and there are some humorous passages

Sat, 06 Jul, 2024

Book review: Odd couple are quite the sister act
Book review: Odd couple are quite the sister act
Lucy Dillon's 'Irresponsible Adult' begins as a light-hearted story and evolves into something else, revealing how life-changing some events may be

Sat, 29 Jun, 2024

Book review: Kaleidoscope of lives put on Parade
Book review: Kaleidoscope of lives put on Parade
Rachel Cusk's latest 'novel' takes a bigger step away from convention, having no plot, and very little character development or scene-setting

Sat, 29 Jun, 2024

Book review: Historian’s debut novel set in Dublin of 1866 centres on infanticide case
Book review: Historian’s debut novel set in Dublin of 1866 centres on infanticide case
Juliana Adelman’s ‘The Grateful Water’ is a promising debut, and there’s enough here to keep you guessing

Sat, 29 Jun, 2024

Book review: Poking fun at Northern Ireland’s preoccupation with symbols and identity
Book review: Poking fun at Northern Ireland’s preoccupation with symbols and identity
Humour is in the foreground of most of these deftly-written stories, but occasionally heartbreak becomes the drumbeat

Sat, 22 Jun, 2024

Book review: Portrait of Bacon in a different light
Book review: Portrait of Bacon in a different light
An absorbing and engaging read

Sat, 22 Jun, 2024

Beginner’s Pluck: Oisín McKenna
Beginner’s Pluck: Oisín McKenna
An addictive book and a name to watch

Sat, 22 Jun, 2024

Book review: ‘One of the best writers of short stories’
Book review: ‘One of the best writers of short stories’
The stories in Lucy Caldwell's third collection, 'Openings', are thoughtful, compassionate, and often spiked with dry humour

Sat, 15 Jun, 2024

FRANCE-US-LITERATURE-STEPHEN-KING
Book review: Stephen King's latest offering will delight both long-term fans and newcomers
'You Like It Darker' is 76-year-old author's 13th story collection

Sun, 09 Jun, 2024

Book review: Entranced in the mountain
Book review: Entranced in the mountain
In Rónán Hession's 'Ghost Mountain' the reader is taken on a life journey, experiencing loss of drive and love and direction

Sat, 01 Jun, 2024

Book review: Lives of eccentric characters in small village brilliantly captured
Book review: Lives of eccentric characters in small village brilliantly captured
Orla Mackey's 'Mouthing' is a compelling and highly entertaining read; it is a brilliant debut

Sat, 01 Jun, 2024

Book review: The best of Kevin Barry’s novels to date
Book review: The best of Kevin Barry’s novels to date
'The Heart in Winter' is a realistic take on the Western, avoiding cliches and emphasising the dangers and discomforts of outlaw life

Sat, 01 Jun, 2024

Book review: A novel of ideas that engages the reader on many levels
Book review: A novel of ideas that engages the reader on many levels
The Alternatives  Caoilinn Hughes  Oneworld, £18. 99  The Alternatives exudes confidence.

Sat, 18 May, 2024

Book review: Spain’s latest has college backdrop and is a lesson in thriller writing
Book review: Spain’s latest has college backdrop and is a lesson in thriller writing
Twisting plot of 'The Trial' forces us to keep shifting our sympathies and questioning who we can trust until the novel’s final, startling reveal

Sat, 11 May, 2024

Book review: A Dickensian portrait of Britain
Book review: A Dickensian portrait of Britain
In 'Caledonian Road' London emerges as a gleaming cityscape transformed by Russian money, where gaping inequalities fester pronounced resentments

Sat, 11 May, 2024

Book review: ‘Brooklyn’ again, and just as good
Book review: ‘Brooklyn’ again, and just as good
Colm Tóibín's 'Long Island' is compellingly readable, carefully constructed, and beautifully written; once you start, you’ll be hooked

Sat, 11 May, 2024

Irish Novelist John Connolly Participates In Vlc Negra Festival
Book review: Charlie Parker returns in a dark, violent case that is more than it seems
John Connolly's 'The Instruments of Darkness' is definitely a book to read this summer

Sat, 04 May, 2024

NEWS
Book review: Finding the truth and herself in a thumping good yarn
Claire Coughlan writes evocatively, conjuring up sixties Dublin’s dark, sometimes mean, night streets and the smoky pubs in 'Where They Lie'

Sat, 04 May, 2024

Book review: John Boyne's 'Earth' is a psychological study of fame
Book review: John Boyne's 'Earth' is a psychological study of fame
The author uses a spare style to craft an unsettling atmosphere and injects the narrative with absorbing twists

Sat, 27 Apr, 2024

Book review: Distinctive new voice in riveting stories
Book review: Distinctive new voice in riveting stories
Maggie Armstrong’s debut collection of linked stories follows Margaret, an aspiring writer, from her loss of virginity to her life as a mother in a distant Dublin suburb

Sat, 27 Apr, 2024

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