I first noticed Eggshells when it arrived at work, with those hints about changelings and fairy tale echoes. But I didn’t pick it up at the time. It was only more recently when the author was named as winner of the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature 2018 that I decided I’d give it a go. […]
This is a short but fascinating book. Written in 1992 it details the growth of hard-line right-wing religious individuals and organisations and their efforts to keep Ireland Catholic. I’ll admit that the blurb sounds fairly conspiracy theory “Probes the shadowy world of the right-wing forces that plotted the 1983 referendum on abortion and the 1992 […]
Mollie Carberry ; book 2 I quite enjoyed the first book in this series, The Making of Mollie, and this second book picks up pretty much where that one left off. Mollie is learning more about the suffragette movement and getting more involved, she also learns more about the dangers involved. If you enjoyed the […]
Mollie Carberry ; book 1 Mollie Carberry’s life seems pretty dull until she discovers her older sister Phyllis is a suffragette! When she and her friend Nora get involved they must face the question of how far a girl should go for her beliefs. Anna Carey’s Rebecca series of books are popular ones in the […]
I requested this from the library because I came across it on @Justaddbooks’ twitter feed and it looked interesting. I think that I should have read the full blurb before I started the book though, because I thought it was about the ancient Irish ways. And it is, but, well I’ll copy & paste the […]
A collection of thirteen short stories, retellings of various fairy tales, with a feminist slant. Deirdre Sullivan is one of those authors I’ve been meaning to get to for a while. She got a lot of praise for her book Needlework and I really want to read that. But I’m a sucker for fairy tales […]
Using Ireland as a case study, this book provides an account of the decline of matriarchal power in Western civilizations and analyzes its implications for today’s women and today’s Catholic Church. From the age of Eve to the age of Brigit to the age of Mary, the author traces the rise of patriarchial consciousness. Mary […]
Detective Lottie Parker Book 1 When a woman’s body is discovered in a cathedral and hours later a young man is found hanging from a tree outside his home, Detective Lottie Parker is called in to lead the investigation. Both bodies have the same distinctive tattoo clumsily inscribed on their legs. It’s clear the pair […]
There are nine breeds of dog that are native to Ireland: four terriers, three gun dogs, and two hounds. In The Curious History of Irish Dogs, David Blake Knox tells the remarkable stories of each of the nine breeds, and reveals how they have become inextricably linked with the people of Ireland. Irish Wolfhounds stalked […]
Imagine a room. Eleven feet by eleven. Bed. Bath. Wardrobe. Table. Chair. Rocker. Stove. Television. No windows. Only Skylight. Door is locked. Always. Imagine this is your home. The only home you’ve ever known. Meet Jack. It’s his birthday. He’s five. Jack lives in Room with Ma. Jack has never been Outside. I’ve been meaning […]
The remote Irish village of Duneen has known little drama; and yet its inhabitants are troubled. Sergeant PJ Collins hasn’t always been this overweight; mother of two Brid Riordan hasn’t always been an alcoholic; and elegant Evelyn Ross hasn’t always felt that her life was a total waste. So when human remains are discovered on […]
Melody Shee is alone and in trouble. Her husband doesn’t take her news too well. She doesn’t want to tell her father yet because he’s a good man and this could break him. She’s trying to stay in the moment, but the future is looming – larger by the day – while the past won’t […]