Looking for a touch of Irish magic in your next read? Here’s a bevy of books that celebrate the Emerald Isle. You’ll find classic works of fiction that delve into Irish identity and culture. In addition, you will discover nonfiction tales that explore the island’s rich history and highlights its sense of humor. From heartfelt family sagas to gripping historical accounts, these stories are perfect for celebrating Irish culture and heritage. Grab a cup of tea (or a pint of Guinness) and let these tales whisk you away to Ireland.
A charming ne’er-do-well returns to his haunted Irish hometown to uncover the truth about his mother in this “supernaturally skilled debut” (Vanity Fair) and turns the town—and his life—upside down.
Abandoned at an orphanage as a baby, Mahony assumed his mother wanted nothing to do with him. That is, until one night in 1976 while drinking a pint at a Dublin pub. An anonymous note implies that she may have been forced to give him up. Determined to find out what really happened, Mahony embarks on a pilgrimage back to his birthplace of Mulderrig. Neither he nor Mulderrig can possibly prepare for what’s in store…
From the moment he arrives, Mahony’s presence completely transforms the village. Consequently, women find themselves falling all over themselves in his presence. As the story unfolds, it blurs the lines between the real and the fantastic. In this enchanting narrative, chatty ghosts rise from their graves, eager to share their secrets. Moreover, the local preacher, Father Quinn, will go to great lengths to rid himself of the slippery young man who poses a threat to the moral purity of his parish.
A spectacular new addition to the grand Irish storytelling tradition, Himself “is a darkly comic tale of murder, intrigue, haunting and illegitimacy…wickedly funny” (Daily Express).
Ulysses: With Original Illustrations is a special edition of James Joyce’s iconic modernist novel. It features the original illustrations that accompanied its first publication. This edition retains the groundbreaking narrative that unfolds over the course of a single day in Dublin, mirroring the epic journey of Odysseus in Homer’s Odyssey.
The story centers on Leopold Bloom, whose ordinary experiences reveal profound insights into human existence, identity, and relationships. The inclusion of original illustrations enhances the reading experience. It provides a visual dimension to Joyce’s intricate prose and the richly depicted world of early 20th-century Dublin.
This “old-school page turner” (Stephen King, New York Times Book Review) is now a Netflix movie starring Florence Pugh
An English nurse is brought to a small Irish village to observe what appears to be a miracle. A girl said to have survived without food for months. She soon finds herself fighting to save the child’s life.
Tourists flock to the cabin of eleven-year-old Anna O’Donnell, who, interestingly, believes she is living off manna from heaven. In response to this growing phenomenon, a journalist is dispatched to cover the sensation. Additionally, Lib Wright, a veteran of Florence Nightingale’s Crimean campaign, is hired to keep a watchful eye over the girl.
The Wonder works beautifully on many levels. It’s a tale of two strangers who transform each other’s lives. It’s also a powerful psychological thriller, and a story of love pitted against evil.
The Pull of the Stars by Emily Donoghue
In an Ireland ravaged by war and disease, Nurse Julia Power works at an understaffed hospital in the city center. They quarantine expectant mothers who have come down with the terrible new Flu in this place. Into Julia’s regimented world step two outsiders. Doctor Kathleen Lynn is a rumoured Rebel on the run from the police. Bridie Sweeney has joined as a young volunteer helper.
In the darkness and intensity of this tiny ward, these women change each other’s lives in unexpected ways. They lose patients to this baffling pandemic, but they also shepherd new life into a fearful world. With tireless tenderness and humanity, carers and mothers alike somehow do their impossible work.
In In Search of Ancient Ireland, Carmel McCaffrey traced the history, archaeology, and legends of ancient Ireland from 9000 B.C. to the Norman invasion. Now, in an engaging sequel, Ms. McCaffrey tells the story of the struggle between English and Irish aspirations in the centuries since the first English incursions into Ireland in the twelfth century. This narrative history features powerful personalities and families who fought in battle and used constitutional means to free Ireland from English control. With an extensive use of original sources―letters, personal accounts, and parliamentary documents―Ms. McCaffrey brings these individuals to life and tells their story.
We meet the intrepid O’Neills, the colorful O’Donnells, the wily Fitzgeralds. Many others also possessed a passion for freedom and for Ireland that could not be conquered. The Irish, as the book recounts, struggled over many generations to hold on to ancient lands. The forces lost that fight in the Elizabethan wars. In the early 1600s conquerors extinguished the ancient Irish Brehon laws. It felt like the Gaelic past had faded from memory. Yet the story of Irish determination did not end there. Other generations took up the effort to establish an Irish parliament free of English control. To this stirring history Ms. McCaffrey brings the same adroitness that prompted Terry Golway of the New York Observer to call her first book “marvelous…fine storytelling and analysis.” With 25 black-and-white photographs and a map.
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
A Pulitzer Prize–winning, #1 New York Times bestseller, Angela’s Ashes is Frank McCourt’s masterful memoir of his childhood in Ireland.
“When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.”
So begins the luminous memoir of Frank McCourt, born in Depression-era Brooklyn to recent Irish immigrants. He was raised in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. Frank’s mother, Angela, has no money to feed the children since Frank’s father, Malachy, rarely works. When he does he drinks his wages. Yet Malachy—exasperating, irresponsible, and beguiling—does nurture in Frank an appetite for the one thing he can provide: a story. Frank lives for his father’s tales of Cuchulain, who saved Ireland. Or of the Angel on the Seventh Step, who brings his mother babies.
Perhaps it is the story itself that accounts for Frank’s survival. Despite wearing rags for diapers and begging for a pig’s head for Christmas dinner, he endures extreme poverty, near-starvation, and the casual cruelty of relatives and neighbors. Nevertheless, Frank manages to live on, ultimately telling his tale with eloquence, exuberance, and remarkable forgiveness.
Angela’s Ashes, imbued on every page with Frank McCourt’s astounding humor and compassion, is a glorious book that bears all the marks of a classic.
In Search of Ancient Ireland by Carmel McCaffrey and Leo Eaton
This engaging book traces the history, archaeology, and legends of ancient Ireland from 9000 B.C., when nomadic hunter-gatherers appeared in Ireland at the end of the last Ice Age to 1167 A.D., when a Norman invasion brought the country under control of the English crown for the first time. So much of what people today accept as ancient Irish history—Celtic invaders from Europe turning Ireland into a Celtic nation; St. Patrick driving the snakes from Ireland and converting its people to Christianity—is myth and legend with little basis in reality. The truth is more interesting.
The Irish, as the authors show, are not even Celtic in an archaeological sense. And there were plenty of bishops in Ireland before a British missionary called Patrick arrived. But In Search of Ancient Ireland is not simply the story of events from long ago. Across Ireland today, numerous festivals, places, and folk customs establish a tangible link to events that took place thousands of years ago.
In this exploration, the authors not only visit but also describe many of these significant sites and celebrations. Moreover, they engage in discussions with a wide variety of historians, scholars, poets, and storytellers, all in the very settings where history unfolded. Thus the book is also a journey on the ground to uncover ten thousand years of Irish identity. In Search of Ancient Ireland is the official companion to the three-part PBS documentary series. With 14 black-and-white photos, 6 b&w illustrations, and 1 map.
Michael Collins: A Biography by Tim Pat Coogan
When President of the Irish Republic Michael Collins signed the Anglo-Irish Treaty in December 1921, he remarked to Lord Birkenhead, ‘I may have signed my actual death warrant.’
In August 1922 during the Irish Civil War, that prophecy came true – Collins was shot and killed by a fellow Irishman in a shocking political assassination.
So ended the life of the greatest of all Irish nationalists, but his visions and legacy lived on.
This authoritative and comprehensive biography presents the life of a man who became a legend in his own lifetime. Indeed, he is a man whose idealistic vigor and determination were matched only by his political realism and supreme organizational abilities. Furthermore, Coogan’s biography offers a fascinating insight into this great political leader. Notably, he vividly portrays the political unrest in a divided Ireland, which can significantly enhance our understanding of Ireland’s recent tumultuous socio-political history.
