Meet the shortlist up for the International Dublin Literary Award and the €100,000 prize

It may have changed name from the Impac, but the International Dublin Literary Award is still one of the most lucrative in the world. Alan O’Riordan reveals the shortlist for the €100,000 prize

Academy Street - Mary Costello

This is one of those understated, polite Irish novels that have critics reaching for the word ‘human’. It is the story of Tess Lohan, following her from the meagre, rural Ireland of the early 20th century, through her life in New York City: first as a young woman predictably shocked and shamed by her sexuality, then as a lonely mother.