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Read Ireland Book Reviews, March 2003
Behaving Badly: The Life of Richard
Harris 1930-2002 by Cliff Goodwin
Richard Harris was never an easy person to get along
with. He was a difficult schoolboy (and was later disowned by his Limerick
teachers), and then he went to work in the family flour and milling business
- where he organized a strike against his father. His teenage dreams of
becoming a professional rugby player were shattered when he contracted
tuberculosis. In 1953 he arrived in London to train as an actor with just
21 pounds in his pocket and his father’s words ringing in his ears: ‘Go.
For God’s Sake, go.’ It was as a gifted and compelling actor that Richard
Harris dominated stage and screen for more than four decades. He was nominated
for an Oscar twice: for his earthy portrayal of a rugby player in ‘This
Sporting Life’ and as a dominant and bullish Irish farmer in ‘The Field’.
More recently he delivered gripping screen performances in ‘Gladiator’
and two ‘Harry Potter’ films. But it was his violent, drunken, womanising
private life that fed the public myth and made Harris, one of the new
breed of rogue male actors, an international celebrity. Married and divorced
twice, with three sons - two actors, one a film director - he claimed
the only time he had been miscast was as a husband. His lovers included
legends such as Merle Oberon, Sophia Loren, Ava Gardner and Vanessa Redgrave.
This book tells the whole story!
[ top ]
Roger Casement: The Black Diaries
by Jeffrey Dudgeon
For the first time, all Roger Casement’s ‘Black Diaries’
are here publisher together, including the erotically-charged 1911 Diary
over which London threatened an obscenity prosecution, thus preventing
earlier publication. This volume provides both a comprehensive view of
the texts, with explanations for many of the cast of characters, famous,
infamous, and fleeting, and a context for the author whose significant
and seminal role in the political development of independent Ireland has
been masked by the debates over these diaries and their ‘authenticity’.
It is a uniquely fresh and original look at the Irish patriot and humanitarian,
hanged in 1916. The book also deals with the neglected sides of Casement’s
life: his involvement in Ulster politics; his family background in Co.
Antrim; his Belfast boyfriend Millar Gordon; and the sociopathic Norwegian
sailor, Adler Christensen, as well as providing a full account of the
authenticity controversy. Roger Casement had iconic status in life, and,
after death, was sanctified and vilified in equal measure. His real self
was consequently obscured. This book combines a rigorous academic study
of Casement, the public and political figure alongside an account of his
personal life, sexuality, and consular career, and an informed view of
how these aspects originated and interlocked. It also gives a fresh assessment
of the events of the Easter Rising, and an up-to-date account of the controversies
that have swirled around Casement to this day, including the attempts
made in Dublin, from the 1930s, to threaten the truth about the Black
Diaries.
[ top ]
Dublina: The Story of Medieval Dublin
by Howard Clarke, Sarah Dent and Ruth Johnson
The mysteries of life in medieval Dublin are revealed
in this lively and richly illustrated book. From the birth of the walled
medieval city in the twelfth century to the reign of Henry VIII and the
Reformation in 1540, surviving documents and key archaeological finds
tell the story of both Dublin’s elite and ordinary citizens. Maps, plans
and a fascinating scale-model reveal the spread and nature of the small
walled city. Few buildings survive today since much of the city was constructed
of wood. Those that do survive, such as Dublin Castle, Christ Church Cathedral
and St. Patrick’s Cathedral, have been much altered down through the ages.
Remnants of the old city wall remain, but only one of the minor gateways,
St. Audeon’s Arch, is still standing. The ships docked where land was
reclaimed, and the shape of the rivers and harbour was vastly different
from today. Faced with the spectres of the Black Death, invasion or massacre,
religious faith held sway over the city. Dubliners sought to govern themselves,
punishing crimes and misdemeanors with fines, the lock-up and the stocks.
The craft guilds grew in size, number and power. Plying their wares amidst
the bustle of the streets were the scribe, the barber-surgeon, the brewer,
the spicer, the armourer and many more. With the clink of pennies, the
merchants traded at the quayside and at Dublin’s international fair. This
vividly illustrated book presents all the sights, sounds and smells of
a bustling medieval city.
[ top ]
An Irish Roadside Camera: The Years
of Growth 1907-1918 by Bob Montgomery
This book is the second volume of an illustrated history
of motoring in Ireland. The pioneering years of motoring quickly passed
and the motor car moved into its adolescence as the first decade of the
twentieth century progressed. From being a sporting curiosity of the privileged
few to a veritable maid-of-all-work took but a few short years and by
the start of the Great War in 1914 the automobile had found a role in
all aspects of Irish life, and become relatively commonplace, even in
the remoter parts of Ireland.
[ top ]
All Things Considered by Mary Coll
This is a collection of poems, which explores relationships,
what can be resolved and what can hardly be understood. It is a journey
through the various ties that bind, which turns each one over like a series
of photographs to form a lyrical collage of the emotional life.
[ top ]
The Abbey Theatre 1899-1999: Form
and Pressure by Robert Welch
First published in 1999, this book is the definitive
and authoritative history of Ireland’s prestigious Abbey Theatre. It mixes
accounts of the theatre’s artistic directors with synopses of the major
plays and gives a good idea of the controversies and debates they inspired.
It contains a record of the days of Yeats, Synge and O’Casey when the
new was revolutionary, and of the reflections on contemporary change that
inform the best work of Tom Murphy and Brian Friel.
[ top ]
Maire Mhic Ghiolla Iosa: Beathaisneis
by Ray Mac Manais
Toghadah Maire Mhic Ghiolla Iosa ina hUachtaran ar Eirinn
sa bhliain 1997, an chead Ultach san Aras. Is I an chead bhean I a ceapadh
ina Leas-Seansaileir Cunta ar Ollscoil na Banriona agus an chead Chaitliceach
a ceapadh ina Stiurthoir ar Chomhairle ar Leinn Dli I mBeal Feirste. Roimhe
sin chaith si treimhsi ag obair mar iriseoir raidio agus teilifise le
RTE, ina hOllamh I mBeal Feirste. Is scribhneoir I chomh maith.
[ top ]
Neil Jordan: Exploring Boundaries
by Emer & Kevin Rockett
Neil Jordan is unquestionably Ireland’s most versatile,
prolific and successful film director whose work, both in terms of his
fiction writing and film, has achieved international acclaim and recognition.
His films include, The Company of Wolves, Mona Lisa, The Crying Game (for
which he won an Oscar award), Interview with the Vampire, Michael Collins
and The Butcher Boy. Jordan lives in Ireland, and while his work often
engages with Irish subjects, he addresses at once more universal and more
intimate themes such as the interrelation of private sexuality and politics
or society, obsession and the nature of desire, and transformation and
identity. As the book’s title suggests, the authors argue that central
to Jordan’s work is an exploration and challenging of boundaries and borders.
This is evident not just in film terms in that he has worked in and across
many genres and in different production contexts, but in the various thematic
concerns of his diverse films. Just as he plays with the seemingly exclusive
realms of reality and fantasy, of which the latter in ultimately favoured,
so, too, does his work balance word and image, or narrative tightness
and visual pleasure. Above all, he creates sumptuous and sensuous worlds
of synergy which, thematically and narratively layered, are open to multiple
critical interpretations. This book is the first full-length study of
Jordan’s creative output and offers a contextualised reading of each of
his films as well as situating them in relation his literary work.
[ top ]
The Best of Irish Home Baking by Biddy
White Lennon
Bread lies at the heart of the Irish baking tradition,
and the range of breads, scones, tarts, cakes and biscuits still baked
every day in Irish homes is truly enormous. Possible the best known is
brown bread - unique to every cook - the recipe often a closely guarded
secret. Over fifty tempting recipes select the best from the tradition
and include soda breads, potato and griddle breads, gur cake, porter cake,
barm brack and Christmas cake, buttermilk scones, tarts, puddings and
oaten biscuits. They will delight visitors and family alike. Details of
customs, folklore and Irish regional food traditions provide a fascinating
background to the recipes. Thirty-five charming illustrations complete
the mix.
[ top ]
The Elusive Quest: Reconciliation
in Northern Ireland by Norman Porter
As Northern Ireland comes to terms with the nitty-gritty
of the peace process, an award-winning commentator suggests a moral pathway
towards a new and enlightened society in this new book. Porter is one
of the most respected writers on Northern Ireland politics. His previous
book, Rethinking Unionism (I have one copy left in paperback priced at
20 Euro) published in 1996 is widely credited with suggesting a shift
in Unionist thinking which facilitated the Good Friday Agreement. Turning
his attention towards post-Agreement politics, Porter argues that ‘reconciliation
matters’ and that, while there are genuine problems, they are ‘not of
such an order that they defy the powers of human with, imagination and
determination to resolve.’ At its core, the book treats reconciliation
as a moral idea which ‘makes demands on how we live and think as social,
political and cultural beings.’ This book is indispensable reading for
anyone with an interest in Northern Ireland, and in broader issues of
conflict resolution.
[ top ]
Ireland Bed & Breakfast 2003
from Stilwells
This book is an essential guide to the B&Bs in Ireland
and Northern Ireland. It contains colour photos and maps. It has over
1200 entries listed by county and location - private houses, country halls,
farms, cottages, inns, small hotels and guest houses. Each entry includes
room rates, facilities, Tourist Board grades, local maps and a description
of the B&B, its location and surroundings.
[ top ]
Patrick Kavanagh: A Poet’s Country:
Selected Prose edited by Antoinette Quinn
While Patrick Kavanagh (1904-67) was above all a poet,
for most of his writing life he was a prolific author of critical and
autobiographical prose. Work for newspapers and magazines was often his
main source of income, and provided him with a necessary outlet for his
views on the writers of his time, and past times; on the spiritual function
of poetry; and on his own background and experiences as an isolated genius
- impoverished, sometimes ostracized, and surrounded, as he saw it, by
mediocrity. The prose complements the poetry, telling the reader things
about Patrick Kavanagh that the poems do not. This is the first authoritative
gathering of the shorter prose writings. It is both a reliable scholarly
edition and immensely readable, entertaining collection. It contains the
essential shorter prose works from throughout Kavanagh’s career: the legendary
autobiographical pieces and rural reminiscences, as well as a thorough
selection of Kavanagh’s penetrating, sometimes scabrous, literary criticism.
Its verve and musicality, poignancy and pitch, rage and glory, expressed
as no other the voice of rural Ireland.
[ top ]
Out to Lunch: Poets from Dublin’s
lunchtime reading series edited by John McNamee
This anthology is a gathering of some of the most gifted
poets writing in Ireland today. These poets, have, over the years, read
their work at the Out to Lunch series of readings, hosted by the Bank
of Ireland Arts Centre. Since its inception in January 1988, the series
have developed an enduring popularity, presenting contemporary and, indeed,
living poetry at a convenient time in one of Dublin’s finest city centre
venues. This is anthology is an invitation to the readings and an invitation
to explore the work of contemporary Irish poets. It includes the work
of seasoned practitioners in both Irish and English, from Seamus Heaney,
Medbh McGuckian, Paula Meehan, John Montague, and Gabriel Rosenstock;
through to young, emerging poets like Paul Grattan, Conor O’Callaghan,
Kate O’Shea and Enda Wyley. Ireland possesses a rich heritage of literary
tradition. Poets reading and engaging with the public in this series help
to ensure that this tradition lives on. By way of celebrating this, the
Bank of Ireland Arts Centre has produced one of the most comprehensive
anthologies of contemporary poetry in Ireland today.
[ top ]
The Face of the Earth by Medbh McGuckian
Through the prism of illness and loss, these meditations
move away from McGuckian’s recent books’ concentrations on violence and
political strife towards an acceptance of the natural order of the world.
As she arrives at a mystical interpretation based on faith, the poet renders
her apprehensions of renewal I characteristically rich rhythms and with
dynamic emotional force.
[ top ]
Erris by Sean Lysaght
Lysaght is a poet treasured for his explorations of the
discipline of silence and watching. In this new collection, his local
focus is refracted through broader perspectives. His poems adopt a strategy
by which a moment observing the natural landscape becomes a prelude to
meditation while, in a sequence about his native city of Limerick, a speaker
plays devil’s advocate with ideas about the value of tradition in an Ireland
hurrying to forsake it. The book also includes an extended narrative dramatizing
a move westward, to Connacht, with all the tensions of that phrase’s unsaid
counterpart.
[ top ]
Fuselage by Justin Quinn
Quinn’s first collections exhibited a rare stylistic
and emotional range in the way that they addressed their author’s transition
to Eastern Europe and the wider upheavals of the 1990s. In this collection,
he tenders his finest work to date. As a convincing register of the modern
world’s concerns and ills, it welds the private and panoramic, the micro-vision
and overview. Changes in scale and scope coincide with a startling medley
of forms and tones. From the luminescence of a child’s birth, through
the inflammation of political passion and sacrifices, and on to its spiritual
revelations, this is a book of unusual coherence and compelling claims.
[ top ]
Love and Sleep by Sean O’Reilly
Arriving in Derry, years after he left for a wandering
life - from city to city in Europe, from woman to woman - Niall finds
the damaged city of his youth to have changed in all but character. His
family too has fractured, and Niall’s failure to show up at his father’s
funeral has encouraged a bitter response. Haunted by past and present
fears that threaten to consume him, Niall’s dangerous relationship with
Lorna threatens to push him even closer to destruction. This is a compelling
novel, a portrait of a self-damaged society, and lingers with a resonance
long after the book has been finished.
[ top ]
Half Moon Lake by Una Brankin
Grace grew up in the shadow of her widowed mother and
her superstitious, overbearing neighbours in the remote town of Preachers
Bay in Northern Ireland. One summer evening, a stranger knocks on their
door, desperately seeking refuge. As Grace helps to nurse him back to
health, she experiences at last the love that she has so innocently yet
dementedly craved and that has long been denied. Now, two decades later,
Grace thinks back to her childhood and that steamy summer of 1976. And
finally, we learn the truth behind her lifelong reclusiveness, her relationship
with her mother, and her first and only love.
[ top ]
Special Places to Stay in Ireland
2003 by Alastair Sawday
This book is as refreshingly honest as the people and
houses it describes. It projects a genuine enthusiasm about the places,
for they are either beautiful, or simple, or surprising, or modest, or
original - or all of possess all of these qualities. It contains details
on nearly 250 B&Bs, hotels and holiday homes.
[ top ]
Voyage of the Catalpa: A Perilous
Journey and Six Irish Rebels Escape to Freedom by Peter Stevens
Setting out from New Bedford, Massachusetts on April
29, 1875, the American whaling barque ‘Catalpa’ undertook a secret yearlong
mission to liberate a group of Irishmen known as ‘The Freemantle Six’
from an Australian prison. The six men had been soldiers in the British
army when they took the secret Fenian Oath and pledged themselves to fight
for Irish independence and armed insurrection against the British military.
Arrested in 1866 and tried for treason against the Crown, they were sentenced
to imprisonment and slow death in ‘a hellish foreign land.’ After eight
years languishing in Freemantle Gaol and aided by a worldwide network
of Irish nationalists and undercover agents the Freemantle Six escaped
to the Australian coast where the ‘Catalpa’ was waiting to escort them
to freedom. But their trials were only just beginning. The obstacles they
overcame, from armed British vessels to the full fury of the sea, made
their escape the stuff of international headlines and legends.
[ top ]
Roman Ireland by Vittorio Di Martino
Imagine Ireland untouched by Roman influence during the
four centuries Britain, only 55 km away, at the closest crossing, was
part of the Roman imperial world. This was a time when such a distance
was nothing for sailors routinely navigating the entire Mediterranean.
Yet, until recently, the accepted view has been no Roman expedition to
Ireland ever took place. This book provides a fresh reconsideration of
Roman influence in Ireland, highlighting the common Indo-European roots
of Roman and Irish culture. It outlines the early influence of Latin on
the Irish language, the Roman contribution to the shaping of Irish art
and the crucial function of trade in opening new contacts between the
Irish and Roman worlds. The impact of Rome on social life, metallurgy,
craftsmanship and farming is described. Finally, new insights are provided
on the importance of Christianisation as a vehicle of Romanticism in Ireland
and the likely occurrence of at least one Roman military invasion in Ireland.
[ top ]
Photography in Ireland: The Nineteenth
Century by Edward Chandler
This book pieces together the lives and careers of largely
forgotten men and women who pushed forward the boundaries of the visual
world. From the very start, in 1839, and through the nineteenth century,
there was no mainstream movement in the art-science called photography.
Irish photographers, like their contemporaries elsewhere, not only sustained
but also added to the predominant currents along photography’s evolutionary
path both philosophically and technically. Thanks to long overdue reprints,
some of the achievements of Coghill, Grubb and Joly can be here assessed
at first hand. Their story is part of a larger one where patents bedevilled
the progress of the calotype for years; commercial rivals struggled to
survive; leisured amateurs compiled their albums; the slow and costly
daguerreotype mirror went dark; and the difficult to manipulate wet plate
collodion process triumphed in adversity until the plates turned dry.
[ top ]
Coincraft’s Standard Catalogue of
the Coins of Scotland, Ireland, Channel Islands and Isle of Man by Richard
Lobel et. al.
This comprehensive and authoritative book covers over
1,000 years of coin issues from Ireland, Scotland, Jersey, Guernsey and
the Isle of Man. This is the first new volume on the subject in 15 years.
It contains information on curiosities such as James II Gun Money; the
coinage of the Irish Free State and Irish Republic; Isle of Man seventeenth
century tokens; Channel Islands’ George II token pieces; Mintage figures
for decimal issues; Unofficial Ecu and Euro issues; Hundreds of collecting
tips; Extensive historical and regional information; and an informative
general index.
[ top ]
Avoca CafE9 Cookbook 2 by Hugo Arnold
Following on the best-selling success of the first Avoca
CafE9 Handbook (which is still available and at the same price as volume
2) comes another exciting collection of much-requested recipes and fresh
ideas from the award-winning kitchens of the Avoca cafes. This book is
infused with a passion for fresh ingredients and wholesome, creative cooking.
The book contains over 170 new recipes, a whole chapter on planning menus,
and a guide to deli shopping. It is a treasure trove of inspiring meals,
simple techniques and useful information. Above all, it is about good
food making great meals!
[ top ]
The Rising of the Moon: The Language
of Power by Ella O’Dwyer
This book puts the radical changes in current political
dialogue in Ireland into the context of the whole of the 20th century.
Exploring the dynamics of power and language, the author compares the
literature of Beckett, Conrad and Chinua Achebe, amongst others, to accounts
of real events in Ireland’s political history. She also examines accounts
of particular events in Irish history that include Rex Taylor’s biography
of Michael Collins, Gerry Adams’s biography and even messages from hunger-striker
Bobby Sands that were smuggled out of prison. In a country where people
have been subjected to incarceration and victimization, and where the
political discourse is characterized by slogans, repetition, agreement
and treaty, the implications for the national language and identity are
immense. The author shows how oppression has obstructed and fractured
the nature of Irish national discourse - and that this fragmented voice
is a feature of all postcolonial narrative.
[ top ]
The Dublin Review Number 10 Spring
2003 Edited by Brendan Barrington
This issue contains: Andrew O’Hagan’s Dublin Journal;
Catriona Crowe on the Field Day Anthology; ‘Selective Kinship’: Benedict
Anderson traces his ancestors; Patrick Crotty on Ascherson’s Scotland;
Harry Browne reads the US National Security Strategy; Kundera and Bohemia:
Justin Quinn; Stories by Elaine Garvey and Philip O Ceallaigh
[ top ]
Shannon Harps by Peter Regan
Joe Duggan is a man with a dream. To revive football
in a parish that once sent a player to Croke Park to win an all-Irish
senior title. And so Dave (tricky and hard as nails) and Rory (kicks the
ball a mile) and Big Mary (sees a match as a chance to flatten the opponents)
and Bull Malone (frightens the life out of goalies) and Dara (hurler turned
footballer) and fifteen others set out on the road to glory. It is a road
that’s strictly uphill. But there’s a cup at the end. What chance Shannon
Harps?
[ top ]
Circle of Suspicion by Paul Bradshaw
Summer and the Daredevils are at a loose end. Then in
blows Vinnie (from LA), complete with all the mondo gear you care to mention.
He wants to know is there ‘anything’ to do in boring old Five Rivers.
Good question! What’s the answer? Then Sean sees a light winking from
the spooky old house perched high above the cliffs. But no one has lived
there for years.
[ top ]
The Hound of Ulster by Rosemary Sutcliff
The boy who takes up the spear and shield of Manhood
on this day will become the most renowned of all the warriors of Ireland,
men will follow at his call to the world’s end, and his enemies will shoulder
at the thunder of his chariot wheels. So the prophecy went, and as the
boy Cuchulain heard it, he went forward to claim the weapons of his manhood.
This is the story of how he became the greatest of heroes, the Hound of
Ulster.
[ top ]
The Wish List by Eoin Colfer
Meg Finn is in trouble. Unearthly trouble. Cast out of
her own home by her stepfather after her mother’s death, Meg is a wanderer,
a troublemaker. But after a botched attempt to rob a pensioner’s flat,
Meg, along with her partner in crime, Belch, ends up in a very sticky
situation. Meg’s soul is up for grabs as the divine and the demonic try
ever-underhand ploy imaginable to claim it. Her only chance for salvation
is the Wish List.
[ top ]
Johnny Coffin School-Dazed by John
Sexton
A shooting star flashes over the town of Kilfursa and
Johnny Coffin makes a wish. That’s when the trouble starts. Strange lights
follow the school bus, hedgehogs throw themselves at the traffic and all
the town dogs go missing. Enya’s pet crocodile has also disappeared and
Enya wants it back. Their teacher, Mr. McCluskey, becomes totally unhinged.
And the homework he’s setting in class becomes weirder and weirder. Is
it any wonder that Johnny and his mates are school-dazed?
[ top ]
Momentum by Mo Mowlam
Mo Mowlam is one of the most respected and best-loved
figures in British life. In this book she tells the story of her own time
in government in her own words. She writes about the months leading up
to the 1997 General Election, and Labour’s landslide victory; and the
treatment she underwent for a brain tumour at the time. She tells the
inside story of her time as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and
the tortuous progress towards the Good Friday Agreement. She was then
moved to the Cabinet Office where she worked on a high-profile anti-drugs
campaign, before deciding to leave Westminster politics in 2001. The characters
and the chemistry of her period in government are analysed with the candour,
warmth and humour that are her trademarks.
[ top ]
Love in a Dark Time: Gay Lives from
Wilde to Almodovar by Colm Toibin
In this book the author looks at the life and work of
some of the greatest and most influential artists of the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries. His subjects range from figures such as Oscar Wilde,
born in the 1850s, to Pedro Almodovar, born nearly a hundred years later.
Toibin studies how a changing world impacted on the lives of people who,
on the whole, kept their homosexuality hidden, and reveals that the laws
of desire changed everything for them, both in their private lives and
in the spirit of their work.
[ top ]
The Road to McCarthy by Pete McCarthy
We discussed it over a few pints, and decided that the
original McCarthy’s must have been a nomadic tribe from North Africa who
sometime in pre-history had, like the Celts, emigrated north to Ireland.
Over Singapore noodles and a couple of bottles of wine we further deduced
that the unaccustomed moistness of the Irish climate must have broken
down their dark sun-beaten nomadic skin pigment, a kind of genetic rusting
process that led inevitably over the centuries to red hair and freckles.
Determined to pin down mythical tales of his own clan history and pursue
other far-flung Irish connections to their illogical conclusions, Peter
McCarthy is thrust into a world-wide adventure that reveals an unsettled
and poignant history, while unearthing a good pint in the most unexpected
of places. From the Holy Ground of Cork harbour via the Fried Breakfast
Zone of Belfast Airport, he travels to Gibraltar and Morocco, searching
for his hereditary Gaelic chief in the perplexingly un-Celtic casbah of
Tangier. Journeying onwards to New York, Tasmania, Montana, and the tiny
Caribbean island of Monserrat, he survives worrying confrontations with
ornamental monkeys, an endangered species of goose, and a bar full of
stratospherically drunken Glasgow Celtic supporters before finally reaching
the remote Alaskan township of McCarthy and its population of just eighteen
people, but a lot more bears. McCarthy’s previous book, McCarthy’s Bar
(also available in paperback) an international bestseller, placed him
in the forefront of contemporary travel writers. His unique combination
of laugh-out-loud humour, heartfelt insights, and uncanny instinct for
the unlikeliest situations, and the best bars, now lights the way for
this joyous and hilarious journey.
[ top ]
The Empress of South America by Nigel
Cawthorne
Born in Ireland in the 1840s, Eliza Lynch left the country
as a girl, fleeing the potato famine with her parents. As a young woman,
she became one of Paris most celebrated courtesans, until she was persuaded
by Francisco Solano Lopez, the son of the dictator of Paraguay, to leave
Paris for South America, where he promised he would make her Empress of
the entire continent. Back in Asunsion, they embarked on a programme of
extravagant building (the grandiose buildings they commissioned included
a replica of the Palais Garnier, though few of them were ever complete),
acquisitions (Eliza’s collection of jewellery, little of it acquired honestly,
became legendary), hospitality (Eliza was known to attend balls dressed
as Elizabeth I, highly impractical, given Paraguay’s climate), and, finally,
war. Paraguay went to war with a coalition that included all its neighbours,
Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina. By the time their reign was over, Paraguay’s
population had been devastated.
[ top ]
The Speckled People by Hugo Hamilton
The childhood world of Hugo Hamilton, born and brought
up in Dublin, is a colourful place. His father, a sometimes brutal Irish
nationalist, demands his children speak Irish, while his mother, a softly
spoken German emigrant who has been marked by the Nazi past, talks to
them in German. He himself wants to speak English. English is, after all,
what the other children in Dublin speak. English is what they use when
they hunt him down in the streets and dub him Eichmann, as they bring
him to trial and sentence him to death at a mock seaside court. Out of
his fear and guilt and often comical cultural entanglements, he tries
to understand the differences between Irish history and German history
and turn the twisted logic of what he is told into the truth. It is a
journey that ends in liberation, but not before he uncovers the long-buried
secrets that lie at the bottom of his parent’s wardrobe. In one of the
finest memoirs to have emerged from Ireland in many years, the acclaimed
novelist has finally written his own story - a deeply moving memoir about
a whole family’s homesickness for a country they can call their own.
[ top ]
Another Kind of Love by Catherine
Dunne
Hannah, May and Eleanor are sisters. Their early life
in Dublin, with their middle-class parents, has prepared them for a comfortable
future of marriage, children and servants. Further north, Mary and Cecelia
are also sisters. They are struggling to make a living in the linen mills
of Belfast, amid the rising political tensions. The lives of all the sisters
are destined to unfold in ways that none of them could ever have imagined.
This novel is an intricately crafted tale of how their lives entwine,
against the backdrop of the rapidly changing Ireland of the late nineteenth
century.
[ top ]
Guilty: Violent Crimes in Ireland
by Stephen Rae
This book chronicles some of the most notorious and violent
murders in Ireland’s recent history. The brutality and random nature of
a number of the killings sends a chill down the spine of the reader. In
all but one of the cases, the victims were women and often they were simply
at the wrong place at the wrong time. The victims of serial killers Geoffrey
Evans and John Shaw were strangers, yet the sexual crimes that they suffered
at the hands of these men shocked the nation. The random murders committed
by Malcolm MacArthur, which caused a sensation, are for the first time
comprehensively documented. MacArthur’s handwritten notes, showing how
he may have planned to kill again, are also reproduced. The murder case
of 10-year-old Bernadette Connolly in 1970 have never been solved, but
new evidence in recent times has thrown up new suspects and opened old
wounds in the close-knit community of Collooney. With access to police
files and a special relationship with the Gardai built up over years as
Security Correspondent with the Evening Herald, the author has been able
to piece together the events leading up to the crimes, the crimes themselves
and the work of the Gardai from the first discovery to final arrest and
convictions. The court cases failed to provide the full picture and these
well-researched chapters form an invaluable reference tool.
[ top ]
Death in December: The Story of Sophie
Toscan du Plantier by Michael Sheridan
On 23 December 1996, the body of Sophie Toscan du Plantier
was discovered outside her remote holiday home near Schull in West Cork.
The savage murder caused shock waves in her native France and in the quiet
Cork countryside that she had chosen as her retreat from the high-flying
lifestyle of the film business in which she and her husband mixed. Six
years later, and despite an extensive investigation, the killer of Sophie
is still at large - and the file remains open. What was Sophie really
like, and why was she murdered? Based on exclusive interviews with Sophie’s
parents and her husband, as well as access to her diaries and her personal
family photographs, the author builds a picture of a woman of character
- independent, beautiful and fearless. He follows the trail of the investigators
and creates a chilling psychological profile of a sadistic killer who,
police believe, could strike again.
[ top ]
Evil Empire 2nd edition by Paul Williams
Ruthless godfather John Gilligan controlled a colossal
drugs empire and a mob of gangland’s most dangerous criminals. Violence
and the threat of murder kept terrified witnesses silent and other gangsters
in fear. Gilligan thought himself untouchable and above the law - until
his gang crossed the line by executing crime reporter Veronica Guerin.
This book tells the chilling inside story of Gilligan’s rise to power,
his savage gang and the truth about the horrifying murder that shocked
the world. Revealed for the first time, too, is the intense behind-the-scenes
drama of the dedicated police squad who waged an unprecedented four-year
war to smash ‘Factory’ John’s Evil Empire. With a new chapter and epilogue,
this edition of the bestselling book brings the reader up to date on Gilligan’s
prison assaults, the gang members’ bids for freedom, and the controversies
that have dogged the players in this ongoing battle for justice.
[ top ]
Basketmaking in Ireland by Joe Hogan
The main purpose of this book is to record the techniques
used in making Irish traditional baskets, a task that became more urgent
as indigenous baskets, such as creels and lobster pots, began to go out
of use. The history of the baskets and their uses are included because,
in order to understand or even make these baskets, the author feels strongly
that some knowledge of, and respect for, the people who made and used
them is required. The book is structured so that each chapter contains
information for the reader who has a general interest in traditional crafts;
each chapter also has a technique section giving details of how to make
many of the baskets described.
[ top ]
How Ireland Voted 2002 edited by
Michael Gallagher, et. al.
This book is the definitive account of the Irish General
Election of 2002. The book is written by leading political scientists
and journalists and includes first-hand accounts by seven politicians
recounting their personal experiences during the campaign. The book covers
all aspects of the election, including the lead-up, the campaign, candidate
selection, a definitive analysis of the results, why Irish voters voted
as they did and why the opinion polls got it wrong. There are also chapters
on the declining voter-turnout, the election for the upper house, government
formation and ministerial selection and an overview analysis that puts
the 2002 results in historical and comparative perspective. It is an invaluable
account of the emergence of the new government and the implications for
the future of the Irish party system.
[ top ]
Derry Beyond the Walls: Social and
Economic Aspects of the Growth of Derry, 1825-1850 by John Hume
John Hume is more usually associated with political events
as they affected the city of Derry and with the political progress in
Northern Ireland for which he was accorded the Nobel Prize for Peace in
1998. This book, however, is the outcome of his earlier research in the
social and economic developments of his native Derry at a critical phase
in the middle of the nineteenth century. He traces and explains the developments
behind Derry’s nineteenth-century pre-eminence in the north-west. The
construction of a new bridge over the River Foyle facilitated the settlement
and expansion of the Waterside and the city’s role as a regional centre.
The development of Foyle Street as the commercial centre of the town from
the 1820s was closely linked with ship-building and the flourishing port.
The 1840s witnessed the development of that icon of Derry industry - shirt-making.
In 1845 the industry employed over 500 women and, within ten years, no
fewer than fourteen factories were engaged in the making of shirts. Hume’s
sharply-questioning mind has here highlighted a period when Derry embarked
on the path to becoming a modern industrial and commercial town and port.
[ top ]
Irish Writers Against the War edited by Conor Kostick
and Katherine Moore
It is clear that people right across the globe are opposed to war. The
extraordinary day of marches on 15 February 2003, the world’s biggest
ever peace protest, were greater testimony in this regard than any opinion
poll. People are tired of war, and tired of the consequences of war. In
this anthology, Irish writers have contributed poems and prose to create
a book of powerful impact. The works were submitted during the build-up
to the war in Iraq, and whether through anger, sorrow, humour or harrowing
description, all the writing in this book carries a protest against war.
[ top ]
Magnificent Irish Wolfhound by Mary McBryde
The Irish Wolfhound, the biggest of all dog breeds, has an ancient history,
dating back some 3,000 years. These giant-sized hounds were used for hunting
wolf, deer and wild boar, and they were even used in battle to pull men
off horseback. However, by the 19th Century numbers had dwindled, and
following the Irish Famine of 1845, the breed almost died out. Fortunately,
a revival took place, and today the Irish Wolfhound has a strong, enthusiastic
following worldwide. This book is the most comprehensive to date on the
Irish Wolfhound. It is one of the most impressive books ever published
on a single breed. The Irish Wolfhound is traced through its chequered
history to its emergence as an impressive show dog and a lovable, gentle
companion. Extensive coverage is given to choosing and rearing a Wolfhound
puppy, with particular emphasis on diet and exercise during the vital
growing period. The Breed Standard is analysed in detail, and there is
expert guidance on training the Irish Wolfhound for the show ring. Using
her extensive experience, the author gives invaluable advice on breeding
Irish Wolfhounds, and there is a complete section on health care and breed
associated conditions. Illustrated with more than 200 top-quality photographs.
[ top ]
Almost There: The Onward Journey of a Dublin Woman
- a Memoir by Nuala O’Faolain
In 1996, a small Irish press approached Nuala O’Faolain, then a writer
for the Irish Times newspaper, to publish a collection of her opinion
columns. She offered to write an introduction to give the opinions a context
- to explain the life experience that had shaped this Irish woman’s views
- and, convinced that none but a few diehard fans of the columns would
ever see the book, she took the opportunity to interrogate herself, as
fully and candidly as she could, as to what she had made of her life.
But the introduction, the ‘accidental memoir of a Dublin woman’, was discovered,
and ‘Are You Somebody?’ became an international bestseller. It launched
a new life for its author at a time when she had long let go of expectations
that anything could dislodge patterns of regret and solitude well fixed
and too familiar. Suddenly in mid-life there was the possibility of radical
change. Whereas the memoir ended with its author reconciled to a peaceful
if lonely future, now opportunities opened up, and there were thrilling
choices to make - choices that forced her to address the question of how
to live a better life herself and, therefore, of what makes any life better.
This memoir begins at the moment when O’Faolain’s life began to change,
and its both tells the story of life in the subtle, radical, and, above
all, unforeseen renewal, and meditates on that story. It is on one level
a tale of good fortune chasing out bad - of an accidental harvest of happiness.
But it is also a provocative examination of one woman’s experience of
‘the crucible of middle age’ - a time of life that faces in two directions,
forging the shape of the years to come, and clarifying and solidifying
one’s relationships to friends and lovers (past and present), family and
self. Fiercely intelligent, hilarious, moving, generous, and full of surprises,
this book is a crystalline reflections of a singular character, utterly
engaged in life
[ top ]
Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review Spring 2003
Called ‘Modernising Ourselves’ this issue contains: Forty Years on by
Mary Kenny; Patrick Lynch: Moderniser by Donal de Buitlear; Faith and
Culture by James Corkery, Eamon Maher and Seamus Murphy; Pluralism by
Patrick Riordan; Portugal Modernises by Herminio Rico; Stem Cell Research
by Wolfgang Fruewald; Banville’s ‘Birchwood’ by Brendan McNamee, and over
a dozen book reviews.
[ top ]
The Dublin Review Number 9 Winter 2002-3 Edited by
Brendan Barrington
This issue of the Dublin Review contains the following: ‘Penitents’:
Tom Dunne on ‘The Magdalene Sisters’; Hubert Butler: A newly discovered
essay; Keano agonistes: Conor O’Callaghan; Selina Guinness on Georgie
Hyde Lees, quintessential modernist; Our first jukebox: George O’Brien;
Clair Willis consults ‘The Invasion Handbook’; ‘Davitt at Moore’s Door’:
Adrian Frazier; Michael Cronin remembers rotary dial; ‘Girl in a Yellow
T-shirt’: A story by David Woelfel.
[ top ]
Women’s Studies Review Volume 8: Making a Difference:
Women and the Creative Arts
The most recent issue of this well-respected journal is divided into
three sections. The first section, Transforming Icons, contains the following
articles: Public images of Roman imperial women during the Julio-Claudian
period by Constantina Katsari; Camille Claudel the artist as heroine rhetorician
by Angela Ryan; Women on screen: a short history of the femme fatale by
Christiane Schonfeld; and Editing The Field Day Anthology by Siobhan Kilfeather.
Transgressing Conventions contains: Multiplicity in art practice: Alice
Maher in conversation with Sheila Dickinson; The veiled subject figuring
in feminine through Una Troy’s/Elizabeth Connor’s ‘The Apple’ and Siobhan
Piercy’s screenprints; ‘I’ll spin you a yarn, I’ll weave you a tale’ subverting
patriarchy through art and ‘women’s work’ by Catherine Marshall; and Beyond
categorizations: A conversation with Carmel Benson by Luz Mar Gonzalez
Arias. Translating Experience contains: Alternative representations create
alternative possibilities by Helen O’Donoghue and Catherine Marshall;
Breaking the mould: three plays by Marina Carr by Catherine Kelly; Visa
to join the human race: a twelve-minute film script by Mary Dempsey; and
Creativity workshop by Chris Hand. There is also new poetry from Eva Bourke,
Moya Cannon, Mary Dempsey, Kerry Hardie and Mary O’Donoghue.
[ top ]
A Touring Guide to Ireland’s Major Attractions 2003
by Heritage Island
This book contains detailed information of over 75 major visitor attractions
and suggested itineraries.
[ top ]
Golfer’s Guide to Ireland by Philip Reid
Nobody can claim to have discovered golf’s true mystique until the day
they have visited Ireland, which boasts some of the finest golf courses
in the world - from the spectacular, sea-sprayed Old Head of Kinsale in
the south to the majestic Royal County Down in the north. This book selects
the best of these courses, both links and parkland, and is an invaluable
reference for anyone keen to savour the unparalleled delights of the Irish
golfing experience.
[ top ]
Quentins by Maeve Binchy
Every table at Quentins Restaurant has a thousand stories to tell: tales
of love, betrayal and revenge. There has been great hope and deep despair.
The staff who come and go have stories of their own, and the restaurant
itself has had times when it looked set fair for success and others when
it seemed doomed to failure. Ella Brady wants to make a documentary about
the renowned Dublin restaurant that has captured the spirit of a generation
and a city in the years it has been opened. In Binchy’s magical Quentins
you will meet new friends and old: the twins from ‘Scarlet Feather’, the
Signora from ‘Evening Class’, Ria from ‘Tara Road’ - and a host of fresh
faces. There is Monica, the ever-cheerful Australian waitress, and Blouse
Brennan, whose simplicity disguises a sharp mind and a heart of gold.
The whole place is presided over by the apparently imperturbable Patrick
and Brenda Brennan, who have made Quentins such a legend. But even they
have a story and a sadness that is hidden from the public gaze. As Ella
uncovers more of what has gone on, she questions the wisdom of bringing
it to the screen. And as she is forced to confront the most devastating
dilemma in her own life, Ella wonders if some stories are too sacred to
be told Full of warmth, humour, humanity and unerring truth, Quentins
is a marvel of storytelling, to be savoured and treasured.
[ top ]
Finders Keepers: Selected Prose 1971-2001 by Seamus
Heaney
This book is a gathering of Seamus Heaney’s prose of three decades. Whether
autobiographical, topical or specifically literary, these essays and lectures
circle the central pre-occupying questions: ‘How should a poet properly
live and write? What is his relationship to be to his own voice, his own
place, his literary heritage and the contemporary world? ‘As well as being
a selection from the poet’s three previous collections of prose, the present
volume includes material from ‘The Place of Writing’, a series of lectures
delivered at Emory University in 1988. Also included are a rich variety
of pieces not previously collected in volume form, ranging from short
newspaper articles to more extended lectures and contributions to books,
including ‘Place and Displacement’ (1984), only available previously as
a pamphlet (of which I have two copies only available from stock priced
at 50 Euro each), and ‘Burns’s Art Speech’, written for the bicentennial
of Robert Burns’s death. In its soundings of a wide range of poets - Irish
and British, American and East European, predecessors and contemporaries
- this collection is, as its title indicates, ‘an announcement of both
excitement and possession.’
[ top ]
Fenian Fire: The British Government Plot to Assassinate
Queen Victoria by Christy Campbell
In a masterpiece of historical detective work, the author exposes in
this book the true instigators behind on of the most serpentine of all
the attempts on Queen Victoria’s life. Irish-American bombers had waged
a five-year campaign of dynamite attacks against British cities; now they
seemed poised to bring off the most spectacular outrage imaginable. But
the conspiracy’s real target was not the Queen but the entire cause of
Irish Home Rule. This book is extraordinary and engrossing, a scrupulously
accurate piece of research which tells a dramatic tale.
[ top ]
Missing by Mary Stanley
John and Elizabeth Dunville believe they have the ideal family. Their
three daughters - beautiful, vivacious Baby; clever, industrious Becky;
and lively, if mischievous Brona - attend Dublin’s most prestigious convent
school, and all have bright futures. But denial and deception go hand
in hand, and one night, one of the girls slips out into the winter fog,
and doesn’t come home 85 This is a perceptive and poignant novel exploring
the ramifications of loss and abandonment with compassion and a wry wit.
[ top ]
The Parts by Keith Ridgway
In her mansion in the Dublin Mountains, Delly Roche, widow of pharmaceuticals
millionaire Daniel Gilmore, is getting ready for death. Keeping her company
are her companions of many years, Kitty Flood and the discreetly insane
Dr. George Addison-Blake. Why is Delly so keen to die? What exactly is
in the letter discovered by Kitty? What is Dr. George doing in the shed
by the overgrown tennis court? And does any of it have anything to do
with the conspiracy theories hinted at on Joe Kavanagh’s radio show? Down
in the city, Barry Joe’s producer, is getting caught up in something and
he’s not quite sure what. Meanwhile Joe is trying desperately to lose
his foothold on life and is succeeding only in annoying his neighbours.
And all the time, conducting business down by the river, doing his best
to keep out of this, is Kez.
[ top ]
The Day of the Dead by John Creed
The newest Jack Valentine thriller, a deadly chase stretching from one
end of New York to Mexico and culminating in incandescent conflict in
the searing and pitiless uplands of central Mexico. Jack Valentine thinks
he is finished with the covert life but the covert life is not finished
with him. The assignment seems straightforward. An old friend’s daughter,
Alva Casagrande, has been sucked into what looks like a minor league Manhattan
heroin vortex and Jack is persuaded to go there to pull her out. Simple
enough, until the old friend is fighting for his life courtesy of a kilo
of Semtex in the wheel arch of his car. Two days later Jack is in New
York calling on old friendships and provoking ancient hatreds. He realises
that the little girl’s Mexican partner is as wealthy and hard-wired as
they come and also that his friend’s daughter carries a punch herself.
The agenda is drugs on a large scale and Jack is fixed for a descent into
hell.
[ top ]
The Sirius Crossing by John Creed
This book is a tense, gripping and intelligent thriller - the first in
the Jack Valentine series - from one of Ireland’s finest writers. Jack
Valentine has been in the intelligence game too long and it is starting
to show, but he accepts one more mission. He always does. It seems like
a simple task but it throws up deadly questions and he doesn’t know the
answers. What were American Special Forces doing in Ireland twenty-five
years ago and why does it matter now? What is the thread, which leads
from a deserted mountainside to the offices of the White House? Valentine
no longer knows which threatens him most - the dark alliance of men who
want to kill him or his own dangerous cynicism.
[ top ]
Resurrection Man by Glenn Meade
In seven days Islamic terrorists will unleash an appalling new weapon
on the Western world unless their demands are met. With millions of lives
at stake, Washington and Moscow realise they have no choice but to join
forces and put their two top investigators in charge of the manhunt. As
the President of the United States contemplates choosing between humiliating
defeat and mass destruction, Jack Collins and Alexi Kursk find themselves
pitted not only against a ruthless enemy, but also against each other.
This explosive novel offers a terrifying insight into a world in the grip
of a monumental crisis.
[ top ]
Wild Geese by Lara Harte
Set on the eve of the French Revolution, this novel is a tale of two
cities, Dublin and Paris. Isabella, a headstrong Irish girl flees Dublin
and an unwanted suitor to join her father in Paris, a city that already
shelters a number of Irish escapees from the penal restrictions at home.
When she arrives in Paris, Isabella finds her father’s beautiful but penniless
cousins already in place. It looks at first as if Isabella’s unexpected
appearance will fatally damage the accomplished duo’s schemes. But, when
the idealistic Isabella discovers the real origin of her father’s fortunes,
the cousins set out to exploit her innocence and horror to their own ends.
Isabella’s quest for independence takes her through the snowbound streets
of Paris to the door of the infamous Bastille itself. In this book, the
author offers a story of 18th-century intrigue and romance.
[ top ]
The Ledge by Blanaid McKinney
The care and maintenance of bonsai trees, the sex life of pandas, Anthony
Perkins’s singing career, suicidal bakers, bad song lyrics, good graffiti
this novel is a blazing urban love story, with robbery and torture thrown
in.
[ top ]
The Map of Tenderness by William Wall
Joe Lyons has never had much success with relationships until he meets
Suzie, a young music teacher. Living a solitary existence as a writer,
he’s alienated his mother with his autobiographical fist novel and has
little to say to his stridently religious sister, Mary. Only his father
keeps in regular touch. But now, in the warmth of this new love, the happy
endings finally seem to outnumber the tragedies. So when news comes that
his mother is seriously ill, he returns home to Ireland, hoping to make
amends. Instead, what he finds shocks him out of his complacency and,
like his father, he comes to understand the true nature of love.
[ top ]
Marble Gardens by Deirdre Purcell
Sophie and Riba have known each other since childhood. They’ve played,
fought, shared traumas and bedded their lives on the substance of friendship.
The bond between them is unbreakable. Then Riba’s teenage daughter Zelda
falls gravely ill. Frustrated by the limitations of conventional medicine,
Riba pins all her hopes on alternative methods. Sophie is torn between
loyalty to her friend and her fear that Zelda will not get the help she
desperately needs. United in their distress, Sophie and Brian, Riba’s
husband, find themselves drawn toward each other. Time is running out
for Zelda, for two marriages, and for a friendship.
[ top ]
Rosemary by Margaret Kaine
For three women - Rosemary, her mother Beth and grandmother Rose - a
single phone call ends years of heartbreak and regret. For Rosemary, alone
and determined to find her roots, it is the end of a search begun when
she first held her birth certificate, staring in bewilderment at the heading:
Certified Copy of Entry from Adopted Children’s Register. But the end
of one journey is the beginning of another - one that brings both romance
and the nightmare truth about her conception. Rosemary has sprung from
tough soil: the clay of North Staffordshire where her ancestors have worked
in The Potteries for generations. Yet will she have the strength to endure
what she is about to discover?
[ top ]
Why Do Fools Fall in Love? By Louise Marley
When Shelby Roberts is forced to resign from the police, her new job
- three weeks on location in a 5-star hotel looking after dangerously
hunky actor Luke McFadden - doesn’t look so bad at all. Well, just how
much trouble can one actor get into? But spoilt Luke is outraged at being
lumbered with a bodyguard. Outrage soon turns to intrigue and before long
Luke is crazy about Shelby. But has he left it too late? Shelby fancies
mean and moody director Ross Whitnes, but Luke’s co-star Courtney has
her own plans for him. When Luke’s ex-fiancee Paige comes back on the
scene, and a stalker makes his presence felt, passions continue to rise
long after the cameras stop rolling.
[ top ]
Sheltering Rain by Jojo Moyes
On Coronation night in 1953, the ex-pat community in Hong Kong gathers
for a celebration party. While they strain to listen to the proceedings
on a faulty wireless, twenty-one year old Joy falls in love. She is engaged
within twenty-four hours, but will not see her fiancee again for a year.
In 1980, eighteen-year-old Kate’s rebellion is to run away from County
Wexford with her illegitimate child. Fifteen years later, Sabine leaves
trendy Hackney to visit the grandparents she has never known, and finds
that time in Wexford seems to have stood still. When Sabine, her mother
and grandmother are brought together, a deeply buried family secret is
discovered - as well as some fundamental truths: about the conflict between
love and duty, about women’s choices, and about mothers and daughters.
[ top ]
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