Booker season continues with Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting Western Lane (Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2023 – thanks for the advanced copy!) – a chunky tragicomic family saga set in post-crash Ireland that boosts a unique approach to storytelling. The first section of the novel is divided into four parts – one for each family memberContinue reading “THE BEE STING – Paul Murray”
Tag Archives: Ireland
OLD GOD’S TIME – Sebastian Barry
Booker season continues with Sebastian Barry’s Old God’s Time (Viking 2023). Barry is no stranger to the longlist – out of 9 novels, he’s been longlisted for 5 (2 of which made it to the shortlist – we’ll see what the fates hold for this one). It’s a very prettily told story with – aContinue reading “OLD GOD’S TIME – Sebastian Barry”
TRESPASSES – Louise Kennedy
“They were like a tag team, taking turns to fall apart.” Set in Ireland during “The Troubles,” Louise Kennedy’s Trespasses (Riverhead 2022) is a weeping wound of a novel about womanhood, love, and family with a violent backdrop of the politics that defined Northern Ireland in the early 1970s. Admittedly, it wasn’t on my radarContinue reading “TRESPASSES – Louise Kennedy”
SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE – Claire Keegan
My sixth read of the 2022 Booker Prize longlist was Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These (Grove Press 2021). This slim novella is the shortest entry in Booker history (I think), and it’s easily read in one sitting. Set at Christmas in 1985 Ireland, it’s best read during the winter months, ideally with snow onContinue reading “SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE – Claire Keegan”
THE COLONY – Audrey Magee
My second read of the 2022 Booker Prize longlist was Audrey Magee’s The Colony (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022). While it clearly drips with Booker-type, it didn’t work for me because of an intense hatred or general indifference for the characters (excluding James and his mother). During the summer of 1979, while Ireland is rockedContinue reading “THE COLONY – Audrey Magee”
A Girl Named Tommi 