Read Ireland Book Reviews, November 1998

Irish Houses: Eclectic and Unique Interiors by Ianthe Ruthven
Irish houses have a special, elusive quality often celebrated in literature but rarely captured in photographs. This book explores the moods and perspectives suggested by these houses, reflecting the country’s political legacy, economic fortunes and remarkable literary and cultural heritage. The author’s evocative photographs capture the fluctuating moods of Irish domestic interiors, from the grand aspirations of the Anglo-Irish ascendancy embodied in Castletown House in County Kildare, to the rustic simplicity of the traditional cottage such as the home on Gola Island and the ancient and romantic Ballinterry in Country Cork. They are accompanied by her absorbing commentary which places the exuberant variety of Irish interior design in its wider historical and social context. (Contains over 200 full colour photographs)

By Swerve of Shore: Exploring Dublin’s Coast by Michael Fewer
As a small boy, the author of this traveller’s tale was fascinated by the vastness and power of the ocean, and how the very skeleton of the land was exposed in layers along sea cliffs. His fascination and interest grew over the years, and he longed to explore the coastline by foot. Six years ago, he walked his native Waterford coast, keeping a diary as he went. He found the experience an exhilarating one, and was determined to walk the coast of Dublin where he now lives. Starting at the Meath border, he walked along the entire Dublin coast, finishing up where the Dublin coast meets the Wicklow coast. As he walked, he observed the landmarks, the seashore, the flora and fauna. He found a coast rich in history, topographically diverse, with a mixture of urban and rural landscapes. He recounts his meetings and conversations with local people and other walkers along the way, and records the constant visual surprises that enliven and often shorten journeys. This is a unique book, told with all the enthusiasm and excitement of discovery.

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Revolutionary Imperialist: William Smith O’Brien 1803-1864 by Richard Davis
By 1848 all peaceful means of giving Ireland an equal place within the British Empire seemed exhausted and William Smith O’Brien found himself a reluctant revolutionary generalissimo. An aristocratic Protestant landlord, O’Brien nevertheless commanded unrivalled respect amongst all Irish classes. This scion of an ancient dynasty and tireless campaigner for Catholic Emancipation and Repeal of the Union had advocated a host of improving laws and policies in a parliamentary and political career spanning more than twenty years. Disillusioned by parliament, dismayed at Ireland’s imminent disintegration during the Great Famine, and pressured by Young Irelanders of the Irish Confederation, O’Brien strove to reunite with fellow-nationalist loyal to the memory of Daniel O’Connell. The author traces O’Brien’s domestic, political and nationalist life, showing that, despite sympathy with British imperialism, he resorted to armed protest to win self-government from Britain without a class or civil war.

The Fenians in Context: Irish Politics and Society 1848-1882 by R.V. Comerford
This book is an outstanding piece of research, elegantly written, constantly maintaining a delicate balance between world context and local detail. It is a major contribution to 19th century Irish historiography. The author restores fenianism to its original context and explains it as a product of its own time. He examines Irish politics and society over a period that is often covered very unevenly, and provides the first sustained interpretation of many major political and social developments in the years 1848 to 1882, The result is a new perspective not just on fenianism but on the whole political and social history of mod-Victorian Ireland.

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The Lost Theatres of Dublin by Philip Ryan
The Theatre Royal, The Queen’s, the old Abbey, the Capital, Dan Lowry’s Music Hall names that evoke not just a vanished Dublin but an era during which Ireland began to takes its place in the vanguard of both world theatre and popular entertainment. In this book, Richard Brinsley Sheridan jostles with Cecil Sheridan, and the author takes the reader on a fascinating and eclectic journey from the licensing of the first Theatre Royal, in Smock Alley in 1662, through to the restoration of the Olympia in 1977. Along the way he charts the rise of Peg Woffington from Dublin street urchin to thespian superstar, takes a fresh look at W.B. Yeats and the political intrigue at the heart of the Abbey Theatre, considers the value of the ‘Fit-Up’ as a training ground for performers, and explores Ireland’s relationship with ostensibly non-native forms like Pantomime and Music Hall. This book has as its centrepiece the most comprehensive history yet written about the most famous and lamented lost theatre of all, the third Theatre Royal which, before is was demolished in 1962, was a bustling, vibrant venue in which international stars alternated with home-grown talent. The book is illustrated throughout, often with unique photographs from the estates of the performers and theatre staff.

An Age of Innocence: Irish Culture 1930-1960 by Brian Fallon
Irish life between 1930 and 1960 is normally presented as a sort of cultural wasteland. In a radical re-examination of the period, the author challenges this stereotype and argues that Ireland’s cultural and artistic life was vigorous, continuous and fertile. He argues that the effects of literary censorship, while onerous and vexatious, were greatly exaggerated and that they did not have a stultifying effect on the cultural vitality of the country. Despite the censorship, literature flourished and in the visual arts many diverse artists established or consolidated their careers and reputations. In addition, the period saw the establishment of a public broadcasting service and its sponsorship of a national symphony orchestra. And in 1940, the establishment of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies represented a major development in the intellectual life of the nation. The author’s provocative and passionate survey of this period rescues it from the clich -ridden neglect into which it has fallen. This book will prompt a lively reassessment of these important decades in Irish history.

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Eternal Echoes: Exploring Our Hunger to Belong by John O’Donohue
In the sequel to the internationally-bestselling book, Anam Cara, John O’Donohue explores that most basic of human desires the desire to belong. It is a desire that constantly draws us towards new possibilities of self-discovery, friendship and creativity. In this book the author embarks upon a journey of discovery into the heart of our post-modern world a hungry, homeless world that suffers from a deep sense of isolation and fragmentation. With the thousand-year-old shelter of Divine Belonging now shattered, we seem to have lost our way in thus magical, wondrous universe. Here, as we explore perennial themes and gain insight from a range of ancient beliefs, we draw inspiration from Ireland’s rich spiritual heritage of Celtic thought and imagination. It is a heritage of profound mystical wisdom that will open pathways to peace and contentment, and lead us to live with creativity, honour and compassion the one life that has been given to us. This book is as illuminating and profoundly inspirational as its predecessor

Cathal O’Neill’s Dublin
Dubliner Cathal O’Neill, former Head of the School of Architecture at University College Dublin, has a strong affection for and unrivalled professional knowledge of the buildings of Ireland’s capital city, public and private, contemporary and historic. This book contains a collection of watercolour paintings by the author and artist of his favourite Dublin buildings and green spaces. Each painting is accompanied by a commentary that is descriptive, historical, or that evokes personal memories or associations of the author from his early life or his professional career. Stimulating, original and above all personal, Cathal O’Neill’s perceptions of space and of the use of buildings will conform the status of Dublin both as a city of fine architecture and a city for people.

The Irish Civil War by Tim Pat Coogan and George Morrison
In this remarkable book Tim Pat Coogan has written an account of the origins and course of the Irish Civil War and George Morrison has assembled an unrivalled pictorial record of the personalities and events of those years and written the accompanying captions. The result is not only an important history of the period but also a testament to men and women of courage and conviction prepared to devote their lives to what they believed to be right; it is also a grim reminder of the excesses of political zeal: the bloodshed and appalling brutality which came to haunt succeeding generations.

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Through Irish Eyes: A Visual Companion to Angela McCourt’s Ireland with a foreword by Malachy McCourt
This book adds a visual dimension to the Ireland that has so many readers of Angela’s Ashes Frank McCourt’s luminous account of his Limerick childhood have longed to know better. Stirring photography of Limerick in the 1930s and 1940s offers witness to the Irish way of life its landscapes, its singular ways, its people and customs, its struggles, and its small and hard-wrought joys. Compelling images are coupled here with firsthand accounts of daily life in Limerick and the gorgeous words of such important writers as Yeats, Morton and Thackery.

Ireland: Stone Walls and Fabled Landscapes by Alen MacWeeney & Richard Conniff
This is a wise and affectionate look at the people of Ireland and the 240,000 miles of stone walls that form an inescapable facets of one of the most admired landscapes in the world. It is a perfect union of spirited text and beautiful photography historical background and anecdotes from around the country unfold with the richness and sensitivity the subject deserves. For if the stone walls are the remnants of Ireland’s past, they are also the stuff of her charms. They have sheltered lovers, harboured her secrets and divided her countryside into thousands of miniature fiefdoms that spread like a patchwork to the sea. More intricate and numerous that the crazing on a glazed pot, each wall has its own interesting story to tell. The two authors spent months travelling throughout Ireland, talking with farmers and townsfolk and taking photographs to create this irresistible treasure.

The Ancient World of the Celts by Peter Berresford Ellis
In this book, the author, a foremost authority on the Celts, gives a marvellous overview of their world. With his great gift for making the scholarly accessible, he discusses their mysterious origins and early history, and describes their rich and complex society. Thematic chapters look at particular aspects of their lives their kings and chieftains, their architectures, arts and crafts, medicine, religion, myths and legends to give the fullest portrait available of one of European history’s greatest civilisations. The illustrations in the book are not only visually brilliant and supremely beautiful, but are also an important aid to understanding. Almost all the images are dazzling, and many of them will be unfamiliar. The author’s use of recently uncovered finds coupled with his own vast knowledge of the Celtic people ensure that this book will stand as the single most essential volume for anyone interested in this most engaging of ancient worlds.

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Jack Yeats by Bruce Arnold
Jack Yeats (1871-1957) stands as a giant figure in Irish 20th century art. An isolated artist throughout his life, Yeats dominated solely through the talent, magic and inventiveness of his painting. His vision and his standing, as well as the many critical judgements during the forty years since his death have provoked controversies which the author confronts. In this major biography Bruce Arnold tells the full story of the artist’s life and analyses his prodigious output. This included not only some one thousand paintings and vast numbers of illustrations, comic cartoons, drawings, and watercolours, but also seven novels and nine plays. An innately original man, Yeats eschewed all movements, took no pupils, taught only by example. Yet he exerted a fundamental and fascinating influence on Irish culture during his long and diverse life. Based on extensive research among primary sources, this book is very generously illustrated and detailed; it provides a compelling portrait of the complex and enigmatic artist whose reputation and artistic vision have become increasingly admired in the years since his death.

Bertie Ahern: Taoiseach and Peacemaker by Ken Whelan and Eugene Masterson
Bertie Ahern, Ireland’s Prime Minister, has had an incredible political career. The TD for Dublin Central since 1977, he has been at the heart of the Irish political scene for two decades. Brought into Charles Haughey’s inner circle and made government whip, he quickly built up a powerful political base and became the highest vote-getter in the country by the mid-80s. Later described by Haughey as ‘the most skilful, the most devious, the most cunning of them all’. Ahern’s takeover as leader of Fianna Fail put him in an unassailable position of power. This penetrating and hard-hitting book delves deeply into the complex world of Irish politics, examining Ahern’s rise to power, his allies and enemies, and his vital role in the peace talks. It is an essential book for anyone wishing to know more about one of Ireland’s most prominent politicians and his place in contemporary history.

Christmas in Ireland edited by Colin Morrison
Originally published to coincide with an RTE radio series, this book is a collection of such recollections and other pieces, both prose and poetry, that celebrate the best-loved Christian festival: John B. Keane’s evocation of the true spirit of Christmas in ‘Many Years Ago’; Seamus Heaney’s powerful poem “An Ulster Twilight’; Breandan OhEithir’s comical but poignant anecdote of the Dubliner who mislaid the family’s turkey in a pub on Christmas Eve; Bryan MacMahon’s story of the novices who cast decorum aside to go ‘out on the Wren’; Cal Mulkerns who as a ‘little bit in love’ with her father, especially on Christmas Day! This book is an ideal Christmas companion.

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Frank O’Connor: A Life by Jim McKeon
Hailed as one of the greatest short-story writers of all time, Frank O’Connor was also a poet, lecturer, linguist, playwright, broadcaster, critic and self-taught genius. His success is all the more remarkable given that he was born and brought up in the slums of Cork, his childhood characterised by poverty and sickness and his teenage years involved in the volunteer movement. After the War of Independence, he became Cork’s first country librarian and it was then that his literary career truly began: as a librarian he was years ahead of his time, introducing poetry readings and musical gatherings. Eventually, though, he felt Cork could no longer satisfy his thirst for literature and so, in 1928, he went to Dublin. There he became great friends with W.B. Yeats, Lady Gregory and the acclaimed George Russell among others. After the unprecedented success of his first book, Guests of the Nation (still in print and available) O’Connor was unstoppable. As well as writing plays, short stories and poetry, he continued his library work and took on the role of managing director of the Abbey Theatre at the age of only thirty-three. He continued to write, even when illness and exhaustion forced him to give up everything else. Much of what he wrote was banned due to the draconian Irish censorship laws, and finally he decided to broaden his horizons and go to America; there his success was huge but short-lived: illness forced his return to Ireland for good, and he died here in 1966. Today, more than three decades later, O’Connor’s works are as popular as ever; this biography, described by the great writer’s widow as ‘a masterpiece’, is a timely portrait of an author who made such an impact on the literary world and the man behind the books.

Zulu: An Irish-American’s Quest to Discover Her Roots by Joan Mathieu
For generations, Ireland has been deeply marked by emigration. By spending time in one small town in central Ireland Roscrea, County Tipperary New Yorker Joan Mathieu hoped to discover why people still leave and to examine the effect of their departure on those who remain behind. One emigrant was Mathieu’s grandmother Sarah who left Roscrea for New York City in 1912 at the height of Irish emigration and this book is thus both a personal exploration and a more general portrait of a community defined by absences. From her superstitious old relatives and those who have never been further than Dublin to her young friends who work at the local ribbon factory and the school’s rebellious Catholic teachers, the author gives a vivid sense of life in this town of 4000 people and 40 pubs. She also talks to modern Irish immigrants in New York and discovers that the whole process of emigration has changed as many people no longer leave Ireland for good. These new emigrants do not establish roots in their adopted country and are often faced with a good deal of antagonism from the established Irish-American community. With lyrical intensity, humour and a wonderfully exact attention to the Irish landscape and speech, the author has created a fascinating portrait of the Irish people and the nature of emigration.

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The Unappeasable Host: Studies in Irish Identities by Robert Tracy
This book explores some of the tensions created when Anglo-Irish writers Protestant in religion, of non-Irish ancestry reflected upon their preferred subject matter, Ireland and their unhyphenated Catholic contemporaries. These tensions involve the writers’ sense of anxiety about losing their distinctive identity. Anglo-Irish writers founded modern Irish literature in English, identifying themselves with their native country and its people. Yet they often felt themselves surrounded and watched by an ‘Unappeasable Host,’ a population that resented them. The author discusses Irish writers who in England were considered Irish, in Ireland English including Maria Edgeworth and Lady Morgan, the Banim brothers, Roger O’Connor, Sheridan le Fanu, W.B. Yeats, J.M. Synge, Elizabeth Bowen together with James Joyce, who, although neither of English ancestry nor Protestant, similarly focuses on individually separated or excluded from the Irish life around them.

Mercier Companion to Irish Literature by Sean McMahon and Jo O’Donoghue
This book offers concise, readable and up-to-date information on Ireland literature under three broad headings. It includes all the significant writers in Irish and English, from Adamnan the 7th century author of the life of Colmcille, to contemporary poets and novelists such as Seamus Heaney, Deirdre Madden, Colm Toibin and Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill; major works of literature, chosen for their quality and fame or for their seminal influence on Irish writers, such as Synge’s Playboy of the Western World, Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, Heaney’s North, Flann O’Brien’s At Swim-Two-Birds, and Eric Cross’s Tailor and Antsy; and places, institutions and events that shaped Ireland’s authors and literary heritage or features in some of the greatest Irish works of literature, such as the Gaelic League, Coole Park, the Abbey Theatre, the Irish Folklore Commission, the Blasket Islands and the 1916 Uprising. This book is a convenient work of reference, a lively travelling companion and an absorbing bedside book.

Celtic Heritage Saints by Marian Kenny
This book celebrates a unique age in the Celtic Church. The influence of great Celtic centres of learning such as Clonmacnoise, Lismore, Whitby and Bangor, the Light of the World, still fascinates us today. Thousands of pilgrims and tourists come to visit these sites and venerate their founders every year. The monk illuminating manuscripts in his scriptorium still holds our imagination. This period of learning and holiness flourished against the backdrop of the Dark Ages in Europe. This book for teenagers introduces them to scholars, adventurous sailors, saints who get their heads chopped off, friends and enemies of kings.

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Lenihan: His Life and Loyalties by James Downey
In this major biography of one the most endearing and enduring personalities in Irish politics, the author looks behind the legend of Brian Lenihan. To the true man, with his extraordinary magnanimity, his loyalty to leader, party and country, and the inner shyness which concealed the breadth of his political knowledge and acumen. From his early days touring Europe after World War Two to the trauma of his 1990 Presidential bid, this book reassesses Lenihan’s role in the political events of his times and reveals a man who sacrificed himself for the good of the Fianna Fail party.

Reading Paul Muldoon by Clair Wills
Paul Muldoon is one of the most exciting and accomplished poets writing in English. In this book, the author takes the measure of Muldoon’s poetic gifts. She offers close readings of many of his major poems, while also assessing the general features of his unmistakable style, and his relation to significant predecessors such as Robert Frost and Seamus Heaney. Her book also highlights the major themes in Muldoon’s poetry, such as autobiography and the question of origins, sexuality, Irish myth and legend, history and political violence in Northern Ireland, and the dynamics of cross-cultural encounters. She tracks the Muldoon’s poetic development, exploring key concerns of each of his books. Concluding with an evaluation of his latest collection, Hay, her study will be an essential reference point for discussions of this important poet.

Two Moons by Jennifer Johnston
In a house overlooking Dublin Bay, Mimi and her daughter Grace are disturbed by the unexpected arrival of Grace’s daughter Polly, and her striking new boyfriend. The events of the next few days will lead both of them to reassess the shape of their lives. For while Grace’s visitors focus her attention on an uncertain future, Mimi, who receives a messenger of a very different kind, must begin to set herself to rights with the betrayals and disappointments of the past. Two Moons is a novel of love and intimacy, of the delicate threads that bind and protect, and the threat of their rupture. Moving with ease across the dimensions of age and time, it is as warm and resonant as it is delightfully attentive. Jennifer Johnston, widely recognised as one of Ireland’s finest writers, has written a beautiful novel.

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Emerald Underground by Michael Collins
In this novel, the author of The Feminsts Go Swimming brings his characteristic energy and edge to a story that links Ireland and America. Liam, a fallen angel with a bad track record, has arrived in America through the back door, an illegal immigrant stuck with the worst kind of job and a reputation for trouble. Forced on the run, he links up with another fallen star, a beautiful, pregnant girl called Angel. Hampered, yet spurred on, by Angel’s lowlife boyfriend, Liam finds the wide open spaces bring him a freedom not advertised by the immigration brokers back home and the chance to run towards the life he had always dreamed of. Sad Bastard by Hugo Hamilton Pat Coyne, the damaged idealist of Hamilton’s previous novel, Headbanger, is in this novel recovering from an accident while on duty, in therapy but refusing to be healed. Unable to keep pace with the new Ireland, he has become a man with a truth fixation who forgets to eat and calls his ex-wife Carmel in the middle of the night for food aid. While his son Jimmy places the family in danger, Coyne is drawn into a misguided mission and finds himself dealing with new enemies. A powerful portrayal of a changing nation, this novel confirms the author as one of Ireland’s most innovative writers.

The Song of the Tide by Mary Ryan
The only girl among four brothers, Aine is a neglected and lonely child, afraid of the dark, plagued by nightmares, too scared to show terror for fear of being mocked. Perceptive and secretive, she is sensitive to nuances of atmosphere and the secrets of others particularly those of her emotionally abused mother and aunt. She is equally haunted by the mysterious magnetism of Dunbeg the rambling old castle on the west coast of Ireland in which she spends her summers. It is here, at the age of ten, that she meets her American cousin for the first time: a meeting that will change her life forever In this deeply passionate and page-turning novel, Mary Ryan sensitively explores the complexities of relationships whose driving forces range from fear and control to forbidden love.

The Silk Weaver by Gabrielle Warnock
This is a historical novel of stunning narrative power, which brims with bustle and intrigue. It deftly recreates Dublin of the late 18th century with vividly drawn characters. Antom Paradis, a silk weaver of unparalleled excellence whose only desire is to create sensuous patterns on the finest of silk, finds his life in absolute turmoil when he is reluctantly forced to betray his employer, friend and fellow-revolutionary Danno McKenna. The unfortunate artisan is swept up in a spiralling nightmare of uncontrollable events which culminates in him becoming a deeply unwilling and unlikely hero of the Irish Cause. Against this backdrop of ominous and increasingly frenetic political intrigue, Danno’s consuming affair with the beautiful and passionate Letitia is mirrored by Anton’s despairing love for the quiet Caitlin. None of the central characters escape the sinister machinations of a well-placed informer, culminating in a series of shattering public and personal betrayals.

Consequences of the Heart by Peter Cunningham
This literary work of fiction shows a powerful and sensual lyricism, effortless characterisation and sparkling humour. It is a glorious epic sweep of a narrative that encapsulates a whole Irish community and landscape, making brilliantly alive the rivalry and passion that bind the lives of three people formed by their time but stubbornly independent of everything beyond their mutual love. Chud Conduit, the wild grandson of the most successful businesswoman in Monument, and Anglo-Irish Jack Santry, gentle heir to Main, the big estate on the hill, are unlikely friends. United by their love for Rosa and then by a terrible event that flings all three adolescents from their garden of Eden, Jack and Chud meet again on the beaches of Normandy where acts of bravery and cowardice determine the course of the rest of their lives in ways that none of them can anticipate. One of them wins Rosa’s hand in marriage, and in this constellation all three embark on adult life, bound in a triangle of love that is stronger than social convention, beyond even law.

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