FICTION

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The Women's Prize Trust Summer Party & Awards Ceremony 2025
Book review: Profound truth of disconnection
In a world where we are constantly connected but increasingly out of touch with our humanity, there is immeasurable value in seeing and acknowledging other people

Sat, 09 May, 2026

Book review: Toxic potential of memory
Book review: Toxic potential of memory
Dermot Bolger writes best when he writes sparely, at times delivering blunt life lessons, unvarnished home truths

Sat, 09 May, 2026

Book review: Murder and mystery in a small town
Book review: Murder and mystery in a small town
Final instalment of Tana French's trilogy is an absorbing and believable read

Fri, 01 May, 2026

Edinburgh International Book Festival 2019
Book review: Lanchester is a master of writing topical tales that entertain
'Look What You Made Me Do' deals with some weighty topics but also reads as if it was fun to write

Fri, 01 May, 2026

Book review: Finding common ground in shared grief
Book review: Finding common ground in shared grief
If you want to open your heart up and let three incredibly brave and independent women tell you their story, 'Secrets Between Friends' could be the perfect read for you

Sat, 25 Apr, 2026

Book review: Classic mixed with current
Book review: Classic mixed with current
A prolific novelist, poet and essayist, Mary O’Donnell writes with all the assurance you would expect from an author of her experience

Sat, 18 Apr, 2026

Book review: United through shared oppression
Book review: United through shared oppression
Set in the early 1970s, 'Our Better Natures' interweaves the real lives of radical feminist Andrea Dworkin, poet Muriel Rukeyser with that of fictional housewife, Phyllis Patterson

Sat, 18 Apr, 2026

Book review: Never easy, but always engaging
Book review: Never easy, but always engaging
Liz Nugent’s new novel is not a comfortable read, but it is compelling and takes readers through a multitude of emotions and moral questions

Sat, 11 Apr, 2026

Book review: Gritty debut garnering acclaim
Book review: Gritty debut garnering acclaim
Electricity pulsates through 'All Them Dogs' with an intensity and a sense of urgency that propels the reader forward to the very fitting ending

Sat, 11 Apr, 2026

Irish writer Mary Lavin
Book review: A behemoth of the Irish canon
Spanning Mary Lavin’s long career, this book gathers 16 stories that show her at different stages of life, yet always alert to the same quiet tensions

Sat, 28 Mar, 2026

Book review: Exploring the nature of meaning
Book review: Exploring the nature of meaning
Mary Costello’s latest novel offers a thoughtful portrait of the drift of life, the perils of the unconscious, and the mysteries of the self

Sat, 28 Mar, 2026

Saturday with Cathy Kelly: 'I've been doing arty things — and there's always the laundry!'
Saturday with Cathy Kelly: 'I've been doing arty things — and there's always the laundry!'
Bray is a fabulous place to live — it's great for the dogs and has at least eight charity shops

Sat, 14 Mar, 2026

Book review: Firm hold on skillful storytelling
Book review: Firm hold on skillful storytelling
Readers will readily empathise with, and root for, Dan and Tamma as they try to overcome every obstacle that lands in their path in this coming-of-age story

Sat, 07 Mar, 2026

Book review: Revelling in brilliant absurdity
Book review: Revelling in brilliant absurdity
Anyone who enjoys quirky stories with flawed but lovable characters and a good deal of heart will lap up this debut novel

Sat, 07 Mar, 2026

Book review: The forbidden love of two lonely strangers seeking a port in a storm
Book review: The forbidden love of two lonely strangers seeking a port in a storm
Debut novel about two immigrants, trying to navigate their lives in a country where bosses have no compunction about underpaying vulnerable workers

Sat, 28 Feb, 2026

Book review: Exhilarating thriller exposes the harsh reality of stalking
Book review: Exhilarating thriller exposes the harsh reality of stalking
Author Sam Blake has clearly done her homework in this impossible-to-put-down read

Sat, 28 Feb, 2026

Book review: Gender and family dynamics
Book review: Gender and family dynamics
Themes of queer parenting, gender identity, parasocial relationships and intense friendships are treated with accomplished care in 'Like Family'

Sat, 21 Feb, 2026

Culture That Made Me: Irish author Patricia Scanlan picks her touchstones 
Culture That Made Me: Irish author Patricia Scanlan picks her touchstones 
The City Girls writer includes the likes of Leonard Cohen, Edna O’Brien, and Mary Poppins among her selections

Mon, 16 Feb, 2026

Irish Examiner view: Public has been sidelined in drone operator discussions
Irish Examiner view: Public has been sidelined in drone operator discussions
Parts of the city’s northside, the central island of the city, the Docklands, as well as Blackrock, Mahon, and Douglas is to join the existing red zone areas around Cork Airport and Cork Prison

Sat, 14 Feb, 2026

Elmore Leonard
Book review: Ending leaves reader wanting more
'Picket Line: The Lost Novella' is a work from very long ago about a strike by honeydew melon pickers in south Texas’ Rio Grande Valley

Sat, 07 Feb, 2026

Book review: Complex tale had too many plots
Book review: Complex tale had too many plots
Told from multiple points of view, all clearly marked, the story takes quite a number of far-fetched twists

Sat, 07 Feb, 2026

Book review: Family secrets meet cold-case thrills
Book review: Family secrets meet cold-case thrills
The narrative moves quickly and has lots of twists and turns

Sat, 31 Jan, 2026

Book review: Finely-crafted examination of life’s uncomfortable truths at death’s door
Book review: Finely-crafted examination of life’s uncomfortable truths at death’s door
'Vigil' explores comfort, repentance, and the path to redemption, which must be sought again and again

Sat, 24 Jan, 2026

Book review: Terror that threatens to unravel it all
Book review: Terror that threatens to unravel it all
Ellie Levenson has created an eminently relatable protagonist and the narrative is full of action, tension, drama, all wrapped around what is essentially a love story

Sat, 24 Jan, 2026

Book review: Tragicomedy with a very unsettling narrative
Book review: Tragicomedy with a very unsettling narrative
This is a very dark tale highlighting the tragedy of mental health struggles and the toxic side of celebrity fandom

Sat, 24 Jan, 2026

Book review: Difficult path to novel’s hopeful end
Book review: Difficult path to novel’s hopeful end
The plot of 'Remain' develops too slowly to really engage the reader, and is weighed down by dialogue that feels forced and unnatural

Sat, 17 Jan, 2026

The British Book Awards - Arrivals
Book review: Uproarious whodunnit for ‘Traitors’ fans
'The Faithfuls' is a hilarious whodunnit mystery that just gets more bizarre and far-fetched after each page

Sat, 10 Jan, 2026

Book review: Hurling, land, and legacy
Book review: Hurling, land, and legacy
Conor Power's 'Hurling 1810' is a short glimpse into the life of early 19th century rural Ireland

Sat, 03 Jan, 2026

Book review: Secrets emerge from the past
Book review: Secrets emerge from the past
A family mystery is at the heart of this emotional rollercoaster from journalist Ann O'Loughlin

Sat, 20 Dec, 2025

Book review: Joyful tale of self-discovery
Book review: Joyful tale of self-discovery
'Is That You, Beth Cherry?' is a heart-warming, relatable, and gentle story about self-discovery and finding one’s place in the world

Sat, 13 Dec, 2025

International Booker Prize 2025 Award Ceremony in London
Book review: Forever shackled by November 18
'On the Calculation of Volume' adopts and transforms the convention that its main character must constantly live the same stretch of time

Sat, 13 Dec, 2025

Book review: ‘The shapeshifter’s daughter’, like its protagonists, struggles with identity
Book review: ‘The shapeshifter’s daughter’, like its protagonists, struggles with identity
In attempting to explore mythology, familial trauma, terminal illness, and uplifting romance all at once, the novel's deeper themes are underdeveloped

Sat, 13 Dec, 2025

Heather Clark by Beowulf Sheehan
Books of the year: Four brilliant page-turners you’ll want to give to friends
Sue Leonard selects her best books of the year, featuring inter-generational guilt, a harrowing depiction of coercive control, and no shortage of wonderful prose

Fri, 12 Dec, 2025

Book review: Investigating the personal struggles of investigators
Book review: Investigating the personal struggles of investigators
Although the crime at the centre of the book drives the plot and sparks many twists and revelations, it is the personal struggles and inner battles the main characters face that linger long after you have finished reading

Sat, 06 Dec, 2025

Book review: Confessions of a sentient AI algorithm
Book review: Confessions of a sentient AI algorithm
The dystopian AI potboiler appears to be ubiquitous, but Paul Bradley Carr wisely got in ahead of the rush — 'The Confessions' depicts a world gone slightly madder than ours

Sat, 29 Nov, 2025

2021 Booker Prize For Fiction: Shortlist Photocall
Book review: Wayward connection in chaos
For those new to Lockwood, 'Will There Ever Be Another You' will be a challenging and, at times, frustrating read as incidents and characters from previous books are referenced without explanation or context

Sat, 22 Nov, 2025

Harper Lee
Book review: Pinhole view into icon’s life
Harper Lee über-fans and readers interested in examining early work from a noted literary figure will likely get a kick out of the fiction here — but the stories are uneven

Sat, 22 Nov, 2025

Crime writer Michael Connelly: I???m definitely not finished with Harry Bosch
Book review: Poignant tale centred on the perils of AI
In Michael Connelly’s latest, Mickey Haller is representing the mother of a teenage girl murdered by her ex-boyfriend who claims he was encouraged to do so by a chatbot

Sat, 22 Nov, 2025

Booker Prize 2025
Colin Sheridan: The Booker shows what we're willing to celebrate — a new, questioning, masculinity
The 'death of the introspective male novel' has been greatly exaggerated — see Karl Ove Knausgaard’s newest nine-volume, 6,000-page meditation on the misery of being alive

Thu, 20 Nov, 2025

Book review: Witty jab at smartphone era
Book review: Witty jab at smartphone era
Anika Jade Levy's 'Flat Earth' is very good at illustrating how very differently men and women experience the world

Sat, 08 Nov, 2025

Book review: Answers from a life well lived
Book review: Answers from a life well lived
In her 33rd novel, 'Weathering Storms', Alice Taylor reflects on her nostalgic childhood while coming to terms with her own mortality

Sat, 08 Nov, 2025

Book review: Explore faith and psyche in ‘The Vanishing Place’
Book review: Explore faith and psyche in ‘The Vanishing Place’
This mesmerising thriller plunges the reader straight into the murky New Zealand wilderness and pulls back the curtain on what can happen in the isolated, rural darkness

Sat, 01 Nov, 2025

Book review: An engaging, if chastising, judgement on the foolishnesses we indulge
Book review: An engaging, if chastising, judgement on the foolishnesses we indulge
Anthony Gardner's satire may not be a cure all, but it is a wonderfully enjoyable tonic for our current reality

Sat, 01 Nov, 2025

"Che Tempo Che Fa" TV Show
Book review: Langdon is back with a bang
'The Secret of Secrets' is the sixth book that Dan Brown has written starring Robert Langdon as the unflinching hero 

Sat, 25 Oct, 2025

Book review: Searching for a reason amid the gloom
Book review: Searching for a reason amid the gloom
'Saltwash' skilfully blends the themes of decay both personal and general with a ticking tension over an impending game which turns out to have high stakes 

Sat, 25 Oct, 2025

Book review: Vibes aplenty in excellent debut novel
Book review: Vibes aplenty in excellent debut novel
Souvankham Thammavongsa is one to watch, and this debut is a certifiable knockout

Sat, 18 Oct, 2025

Haiti Air Ambulance Reception
Book review: Sincere but syrupy, Albom’s familiar premise won’t get a second chance
Mitch Albom’s commitment to his story is commendable, but comes at the expense of style and clarity

Sat, 18 Oct, 2025

Book review: Feisty, forensic Dublin thriller
Book review: Feisty, forensic Dublin thriller
Marie Cassidy’s debut was praised for its compelling storyline and its authentic forensic detail, and the same is true of ‘Deadly Evidence’

Sat, 11 Oct, 2025

Book review: What is the cost of privilege?
Book review: What is the cost of privilege?
Elizabeth Day’s smart writing expertly weaves the tales of five major characters in the political-themed narrative in 'One of Us'

Sat, 04 Oct, 2025

Book review: Facing the music of the past
Book review: Facing the music of the past
'Hot Wax' is an electrifying triumph of a novel with a raw, emotional core, finely crafted by the talented M. L. Rio. 

Sat, 04 Oct, 2025

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