FOR the first three quarters of this 325-page novel, Peruvian master, Mario Vargas Llosa seems to be spinning, in alternating chapters, two quite separate — albeit thematically similar — yarns.

IN the belly of an old prison is a dungeon, an ‘enchanted place’, that houses Death Row inmates, and it is here that York waits out his final months before the lethal injection is administered.

Celebrating ten years in existence, the Cork World Book Fest (April 22-26), organised by Cork City Library and Triskel Christchurch, is one of the city’s most popular cultural events.

A few years ago, I was driving the Beara Peninsula and happened across the house of my dreams.

The Things We Lose, The Things We Leave Behind

HIGHLIGHT of the Cork International Short Story Festival (Sept 18-22) will be a reading by, and public interview with David Constantine, winner of the 2013 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award at Triskel Christchurch on Sept 22.

The determinedly private JM Coetzee is one of the world’s great writers. Billy O’Callaghan reports on a biography that unwraps the enigma

House of Earth

Daddy Love

Where I Left My Soul

Professor Andersen’s Night

Silent House

The Daughters of Mars

The Artist of Disappearance

The Shadow of What We Were

The Yellow Birds

Cain

This is How You Lose Her

The Daylight Gate Jeanette Winterson

Cork-based Joyce Russell dug deep into her interest in nature and family relationships for her first collection, Bloodlines, writes Billy O’Callaghan

Limassol

Mother America

A Year’s Midnight

Vengeance

The Soldier’s Farewell

Ru

Higher Gossip

The Dream of the Celt

Ghost Town

Tuesday’s Gone

Pao

Azazeel

Treblinka: A Survivor’s Memory

The Most Beautiful Walk in the World

The Tyrant

What It Was

Members of a legendary brass and reed band marched through Cork city yesterday to honour their founder as part of their 175th anniversary celebrations.

Memory Wall

Things We Didn’t See Coming

Pigeon English

Agents of Treachery: Spy Stories

Noah’s Child

Falling Sideways