Did Charles Dickens execute the most audacious literary fraud ever or was the Pickwick Papers a work of stunning originality? Mary Leland unravels the threads of a riveting fictionalised account of the book’s origins.

The haunting persistence of anti-semitism is what fuels Shakespeare’s ‘The Merchant of Venice’. A book on Shylock, its main character, offers an adroit slant on modern Judaism by a master literary stylist, writes Mary Leland.

In this ‘Titanic enterprise’, Simon Sebag Montefiore is not afraid to suggest that something of what made the Romanovs powerful remains in the Russian psyche and Russian leadership today, writes Mary Leland.

Mary Leland delves into the rich history which visitors can enjoy at next week’s Dromana 800 celebrations.

These Brothers Grimm stories topics are common to mankind’s experience of life: they unite us all. Mary Leland on a new anthology.

Michel Deon

David Marsh

Writer and Irish Examiner book reviewer, Mary Leland, wrote an informative article for a Sunday newspaper recently, reflecting on the media reports about the mother-and-baby home in Tuam, Co Galway.

Mary Leland on some recent book releases

This week's reviews in brief

The Professor Of Poetry

I Hear the Sirens in the Streets

Mary Leland enjoys a talk by Peregrine Cavendish — the Duke of Devonshire — on his family’s extensive collection

The Testament of Mary

Mary Leland on two books that look at our past through some magnificent, and some ruined, buildings

‘Handwriting’, says Philip Hensher, ‘is what registers our individuality and the mark which our culture has made on us.’ Mary Leland agrees

At Home in Ireland

Astray

The Songs of Achilles

Between the Sheets: Nine 20th century Women Writers and their Famous Literary Partnerships

HHhH

Tommy Barker is tickled pink by this Durrus delight

What Matters in Jane Austen:Twenty Crucial Puzzles Solved

Victorian Dublin Revealed: The Remarkable Legacy of Nineteenth Century Dublin

With only weeks to go before her wedding, Poppy Wyatt loses her priceless engagement ring and her mobile phone at a hen weekend brunch.

Death comes to Pemberly

*Barbara Scully

A quick glance around us reveals that little care or emphasis is placed on the basics of language, says Mary Leland

Carolyn Bourne’s email berating her intended daughter-in-law for her lack of decorum has divided opinion. Esther N McCarthy challenges the strictures of etiquette while Mary Leland insists upon good manners.

For some they were a symbol of oppression and decadence. Now they are simply a fascinating example of history brought to life, writes Mary Leland.

A MAJOR review of safety zones around hazardous oil depots and chemical plants in Cork’s docklands could jeopardise the city’s €2 billion docklands strategy, it was claimed yesterday.

I WRITE regarding a comment by Mary Leland in an article that concerned the anniversary of the Huguenot Church in Cork (Irish Examiner, Property, March 11).

IN her excellent article on Fota (Weekend Examiner, January 21), Mary Leland suggests that the Office of Public Works (OPW) should take over Fota House.

I WISH to compliment Mary Leland on her excellent article (Irish Examiner Property, October 8) on the proposed development of 1,500 houses in the grounds of Dunkettle House and the adjoining lands of Ballinglanna, Glanmire, near Cork city.

WELL done Mary Leland (Irish Examiner, October 25) for alerting your readers to the developers’ plans to obliterate the view of St Fin Barre’s Cathedral.

YOUR supplement on Douglas (Irish Examiner, Nov 27), and in particular Mary Leland’s item on St Luke’s Church, reminds me of how much my life was enhanced by being taught by Sam McCutcheon at Cork Grammar School from 1961 to 1963.