Irish America
Irish America
Haven by Emma Donoghue It’s seventh-century Ireland. Clonmacnoise is a newish monastic settlement, with about thirty monks in residence, along with the families who work for them and an order of nuns. The monastery also offers temporary accommodation to guests who come to study or just to retreat from the world. One of these visitors, Artt, believes in harder fasting than is … [Read more...] about Fall 2022 Book Reviews
Snowflake By Louise Nealon There’s been a huge buzz about Louise Nealon ever since word of her debut novel was announced, with many reviewers and critics calling her the next Sally Rooney. Maybe they should all leave the Mayo writer to be the current and next Sally Rooney, however, and come up with different descriptors for almost every other Irish female writer under 30. … [Read more...] about Summer Reading
The pendulum continued to swing between optimism and pessimism in Northern Ireland at the time of going to press, with the main political parties still in talks and Senator George Mitchell poised to release his long-awaited report on the state of the peace process. Mitchell, hailed by commentators of all the persuasions for his role in securing the Good Friday Agreement, flew … [Read more...] about Quiet Optimism Over NI Talks – Mitchell Report Anxiously Awaited
A Galway Epiphany by Ken Bruen Ken Bruen’s Jack Taylor series – set in Galway – are very much books of their place and time. Bruen evokes Galway so realistically that the reader is there with Jack as he meanders down Shop Street or heads for a pint in Garavan’s or encounters trouble down by the Corrib. And because Jack listens to the same news, we watch through his eyes as a … [Read more...] about Darina Molloy’s Irish Book Reviews
Il Papa Meets Il Bono "Holy Father, this is Mr. Bono -- he's a pop singer." With these words the U2 lead singer was introduced to Pope John Paul II at the Vatican in September. Bono and former Boomtown Rats frontman Bob Geldof met with the pope as part of a campaign the two celebrities are promoting to wipe out the Third World Debt. "The pope's everyday courage amazes me," said … [Read more...] about Hibernia People
