Where They Lie
By Claire Coughlan
This atmospheric thriller is slightly reminiscent of John Banville’s Quirke series, but with a junior reporter at the center of events rather than a pathologist. Nicoletta Sarto might be young, but she’s fiercely ambitious. When she happens to be on duty around Christmas 1968, just as the discovery of bones in a Dublin garden is reported to Gardaí, she is quick to realize the significance of the story. Particularly as the skeleton would seem to be that of Julia Bridges, who disappeared some 25 years earlier. Disgraced midwife Gloria Fitzpatrick was subsequently convicted of Julia’s murder. The anticipation as Nicoletta uncovers more truths, and the flashbacks to the 1940s and various relationships then, are both well handled by the author in this very accomplished debut, but there is perhaps just one or two coincidences too far towards the end.
The Playdate
By Clara Dillon
First-time author Clara Dillon brings us deep into the world of bullying and exclusion in a well-to-do Dublin suburb. Sara and her family have just moved back from London – she’s English but agrees to give Ireland a go at the request of her husband. His parents are nearby, and he’d love their daughter Lexie to have the same childhood freedoms he enjoyed. But the school gate is dominated by a circle of mums, and one in particular, who show no interest in widening their group to welcome Sara or Lexie. And when a social gathering leads to a misunderstanding between the two women, they are frozen out even more. Desperate to rescue the situation for Lexie, who is starting to struggle with anxiety, Sara offers to mind Vanessa’s daughter one afternoon when she is stuck. If the playdate goes well, she reasons, everything will be back on track again. Dillon’s characters are insightfully drawn and the story is a complete page-turner from start to finish.
Sisterhood
By Cathy Kelly
Lou has spent years of her life putting other people first, and if she’s ever had doubts, she’s managed to talk herself out of them. But when the night of her fiftieth birthday rolls around, she is devastated by the behavior of her mother, her husband, and her bosses. In a fury, she leaves the party and resolves to do something for herself for a change. Her sister Toni, who lives a very different life, and who is going through her own trauma, makes an off-the-cuff suggestion: why don’t the two of them take themselves off somewhere, and just leave everyone else to it. Lou protests at first, but then sees the wisdom in putting herself first. A trip to sunnier climes follows, and there are some family revelations on quite a few fronts that give the sisters much food for thought. It’s not Kelly’s best offering, but it is still a must-read for her legions of fans, as much for the poignant acknowledgments as for the book itself.
The Hunter
By Tana French
This is a follow-up to French’s The Searcher, and while I didn’t massively enjoy that first installment – this newer book is a page-turner of the highest order. We’re back with Cal Hooper, the former Chicago police detective, and his new life in a fictional village in the west of Ireland. Teenager Trey, still trying to escape her troubled background, has honed her woodwork skills under his tuition. When her troublemaker father turns up out of the blue with some harebrained buried gold recovery scheme, Trey wants him gone. Her older brother, whom she adored, has been missing for years and she blames her father for the village’s antipathy towards the family. French’s descriptions of the locale are sublime, and she manages to draw out the relationship between the stubborn teenager and the older man in an utterly captivating way. As the author has alluded to, she has basically written a Western and set it in Ireland. Fans of Westerns, thrillers, and whatever you’re having yourself will thoroughly enjoy.
Whatever Happened to Birdy Troy?
By Rachael English
Stacey Nash’s relationship didn’t work out, and now it looks as though she will have to leave her rented home. Unwilling to think about either of those things too deeply she throws herself into her podcast instead – “Whatever Happened To …?” After a bit of guidance, she decides to focus on an Irish band of the 1980s – a group of young women who seemed poised on the brink of greatness before quietly disappearing, never to be heard of again. Their songwriter, Birdy Troy, seemed to be guaranteed a successful life in the music business she adored so why is she proving so difficult to track down? This is another great read from novelist and radio presenter Rachael English. Fans of Daisy Jones and the Six will enjoy.
He Used to Be Me
By Anne Walsh Donnelly
There isn’t a town in Ireland that doesn’t have a Daft Matt of its own, whatever name he or she happens to go by. And this beautifully written debut novel by Anne Walsh Donnelly offers plenty of food for thought – who is that instantly recognizable marginalized character seen so often around the town and what is their back story? In the case of Matt, who wanders the streets of a Castlebar (Co. Mayo) that will be very familiar to the reader, his personal story is a resounding tale of loss and tragedy, and the reader can’t help but be drawn into his confidence as he shares his memories. Worse again, he knows he’s a figure of fun – “Sometimes I lie on the grass in the Mall and the school kids laugh at me and their parents pretend not to hear.” The beauty of Walsh Donnelly’s writing is no doubt due in part to her well-established reputation as a poet, but this slender volume is proof that she has a lot more than poetry to offer.
A Portrait of the Piss Artist as a Young Man
By Tadhg Hickey
Anyone familiar with Tadhg Hickey’s amusing videos on social media over the past couple of years will have him pegged as a funny lad, full of craic and devilment. In his recently published memoir, he lays himself bare on the altar of self-revelation – describing with searing honesty the difficulties he had with his unwell mother, and his own struggles with alcohol and drugs. He doesn’t spare the horses in his graphic description of all-nighters, and the resulting fallout for relationships, particularly the one with his young daughter. It’s a salutary read, but a very generous gesture from Hickey to share it all so openly.
Day
By Michael Cunningham
There is something so, so satisfying about a book that has you plotting how quickly you can get back to it, so deeply has it hooked you. Michael Cunningham’s Day is just gorgeous. It’s really three days, the same day in three consecutive years. If we tell you the middle year is 2020, you’ll immediately get the significance – it’s a lockdown novel of a sort. But the lockdown in question isn’t just linked to the Covid pandemic, it’s related to a complete emotional lockdown festering in some of the main players. There’s husband and wife Dan and Isabel, their two kids, and Isabel’s younger brother Robbie who lives on the top floor of their Brooklyn brownstone. The five occupants of the house are codependent to varying degrees, and Cunningham’s masterful unfolding of the bare bones of family dysfunction is a thing of beauty.
The 4-7 Zone: An Easy and Effective Way to Live a Balanced Life – and Become Your Own Therapist
By Dr. Colman Noctor
There’s lots to nod about in this eminently readable new book. It’s self-help but with not a woo-woo or airy-fairy notion in sight. The idea is simple. Noctor explains that too often we buy into the premise that we have to be remarkable or extraordinary, or that true happiness only comes when we are achieving and thriving – living life in the top percentile. The 4-7 zone is where life is average. But contentment in that mid-zone is not only possible, it comes highly recommended, according to Noctor. And we should be more focused on modelling this for our children, too – particularly given the stratospheric rise in childhood anxieties over recent years. It’s a very thought-provoking read and is delivered in Noctor’s trademark straightforwardly accessible way.
Finucane & Me: My Life with Marian
By John Clarke
When Marian Finucane died suddenly in early 2020, her loss was felt by a generation of Irish radio listeners who felt like they knew her very well. But as this book makes clear, there were large parts of the broadcaster that she kept very hidden – even from her life partner and husband, John Clarke. He goes back through their years together – from their first chance meeting, through the life they built together, the devastating loss of their young daughter Sinéad, and Marian’s ability to cut through the chaff and ask all of the right questions in some of the standout interviews in Irish broadcasting. There’s also the charity work she did quietly, only seeking publicity when it was needed to raise much-needed funds. It’s an engrossing read, although at times it feels as though Clarke is recounting from a slight remove, as an observer rather than a participant.
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