Happy St. Patrick's Day! A safe way to celebrate Irish heritage this year would be to read one of these books set in Ireland.
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Snow
by John Banville Investigating the murder of a 1957 County Wexford priest, Detective Inspector St. John Strafford navigates harsh winter weather and the community’s culture of silence to expose an aristocratic family’s dangerous secrets. By the award-winning author of The Seas. |
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That old country music : stories
by Kevin Barry An anthology of 11 short modern stories inspired by the primal and enduring Irish landscape explores themes ranging from love and sex to melancholy and magic. By the award-winning author of Night Boat to Tangier. |
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The secret guests : a novel
by Benjamin Black The secret World War II relocation of the princesses Elizabeth and Margaret to an old estate in Ireland becomes subject to the devastations of the Blitz, the resentments of grieving townspeople and suspicions about the girls’ true identities. |
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The wonder : a novel
by Emma Donoghue Hired to care for a small Irish village girl said to have miraculously survived on nothing but "manna from heaven" for months, a journalist and nurse veteran of Florence Nightingale's Crimean campaign quickly finds herself fighting to save the child's life. |
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Love
by Roddy Doyle Attending his father’s deathbed in hospice, a man reconnects with a drinking buddy from his Dublin youth while reflecting on a long-ago love, his wife’s role in upending his life and the truth about his departure from Ireland. |
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The green road
by Anne Enright When Christmas day reunites the Madigan children, who all left their mother Rosaleen behind to follow their dreams, under one roof in County Clare, Ireland, they each must confront the terrible weight of family ties and the journey that brought them home. |
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The guest list : a novel
by Lucy Foley An expertly planned celebrity wedding between a rising television star and an ambitious magazine publisher is thrown into turmoil by petty jealousies, a college drinking game, the bride's ruined dress and an untimely murder. |
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In the woods
by Tana French Twenty years after witnessing the violent disappearances of two companions from their small Dublin suburb, detective Rob Ryan investigates a chillingly similar murder that takes place in the same wooded area, a case that forces him to piece together his traumatic memories. |
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Big girl, small town : a novel
by Michelle Gallen A U.S. debut by an award-winning writer from Ireland follows the experiences of a plucky chip-shop worker whose coming-of-age in the post-Troubles years is upended by abandonment and growing tensions between local Catholics and Protestants. |
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Good Eggs
by Rebecca Hardiman Three generations of a boisterous Irish family are upended by a matriarch’s shoplifting activities and an upbeat American home aide whose initial support catapults the family into the worst crisis they have ever faced. |
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The art of falling : a novel
by Danielle McLaughlin A woman finds her precarious marriage and career thrown into turmoil by a reckoning with an old friend and an enigmatic woman’s claim that she is the true creator of a famous work of art. |
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Little cruelties
by Liz Nugent Conditioned by a cruel mother to compete for attention, three brothers endure and perpetuate dangerous emotional trauma that escalates until one of them loses his life. By the award-winning author of Unraveling Oliver. |
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The awakening
by Nora Roberts An anxious young woman mired in student debt and working a hated job uses hidden funds to visit Ireland, where she uncovers truths about vivid dreams compelling her to embrace her destiny in a fantastical alternate world. |
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Normal people : a novel
by Sally Rooney The unconventional secret childhood bond between a popular boy and a lonely, intensely private girl is tested by character reversals in their first year at a Dublin college that render one introspective and the other social, but self-destructive. |
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An Irish country welcome
by Patrick Taylor In Ballybucklebo, Ireland, young doctor Barry, eagerly awaiting the arrival of his first child, and his fellow physicians, including a fledgling doctor, deal with a range of medical issues while still finding time to share the comforting joys and pleasures of this very special place. |