Contemporary fiction books set in Ireland (20)
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1.
The Spinning Heart: A Novel by Donal Ryan EN
IrelandDescription:
Winner of the Irish Book Award Finalist for the Booker Prize This “affecting” debut is “reminiscent of William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying” as it paints a vivid portrait of a working-class community in contemporary rural Ireland (New York Times Book Review). “One of my favorite Irish books . . . Moving, atmospheric and beautiful.” —Tana French In the aftermath of Ireland’s financial collapse, dangerous tensions surface in an Irish town. As violence flares, the characters face a battle between public persona and inner desires. Through a chorus of unique voices, each struggling to tell their own k... continue
2.
The Thing About December by Donal Ryan EN
Description:
From the twice Man Booker longlisted author of From a Low and Quiet Sea 'A force of nature ... a life-enhancing talent' SEBASTIAN BARRY While the Celtic Tiger rages, and greed becomes the norm, Johnsey Cunliffe desperately tries to hold on to the familiar, even as he loses those who all his life have protected him from a harsh world. Village bullies and scheming land-grabbers stand in his way, no matter where he turns. Set over the course of one year of Johnsey's life, The Thing About December breathes with his grief, bewilderment, humour and agonizing self-doubt. This is a heart-twisting tale... continue
3.
All We Shall Know by Donal Ryan EN
Description:
'Martin Toppy is the son of a famous Traveller and the father of my unborn child. He's seventeen, I'm thirty-three. I was his teacher. I'd have killed myself by now if I was brave enough. I don't think it would hurt the baby. His little heart would stop with mine. He wouldn't feel himself leaving one world of darkness for another, his spirit untangling itself from me.' Melody Shee is alone and in trouble. Her husband doesn't take her news too well. She doesn't want to tell her father yet because he's a good man and this could break him. She's trying to stay in the moment, but the future is loo... continue
4.
Antarctica by Claire Keegan EN
Description:
Compassionate, witty, and unsettling, Antarctica is the debut collection of one of Ireland's most exciting and versatile new talents. Claire Keegan, winner of several prestigious awards including the William Trevor Prize, writes stories that have a razor-sharp narrative style and unembellished tone, and move from the cruel, hard life of rural Ireland to the hot landscape of the southern United States. From the title story about a married woman who takes a trip to the city with a single purpose in mind—to sleep with another man—Antarctica draws you into a world of obsession, betrayal, and fragi... continue
6.
Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry EN
Description:
LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE IRISH TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR IRISH BOOK AWARDS NOVEL OF THE YEAR A BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE NEW YORK TIMES, NEW STATESMAN, TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT, BIG ISSUE, i, THE ATLANTIC and LITERARY HUB 'A true wonder' Max Porter 'Beautifully written’ Guardian It’s late one night at the Spanish port of Algeciras and two fading Irish gangsters are waiting on the boat from Tangier. A lover has been lost, a daughter has gone missing, their world has come asunder – can it be put together again?
7.
Remind Me Again Why I Need A Man by Claudia Carroll EN
Description:
A fresh and vibrant voice offers a hilarious look at the lengths one woman will go to find--and keep--the man of her dreams.
8.
Description:
An exquisitely talented young Irish writer makes her literary debut with this powerful and haunting novel--a tale of love and family, depression and joy, and coming of age in the twenty-first century that is a blend of Sally Rooney and Colm Tóibín. Eighteen-year-old Debbie was raised on her family's rural dairy farm, forty minutes and a world away from Dublin. She lives with her mother, Maeve, a skittish woman who takes to her bed for days on end, claims not to know who Debbie's father is, and believes her dreams are prophecies. Rounding out their small family is Maeve's brother Billy, who liv... continue
9.
The Wren, the Wren by Anne Enright EN
Description:
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2024 WINNER OF THE WRITERS' PRIZE FOR FICTION 2024 Carmel had been alone all her life. The baby knew this. They looked at each other, and all of time was there. The baby knew how vast her mother's loneliness had been. 'A magnificent novel' SALLY ROONEY Nell is a young woman with adventure on her mind. As she sets out into the world, she finds her family history hard to escape. For her mother, Carmel, Nell's leaving home opens a space in her heart, where the turmoil of a lifetime begins to churn. Over them both falls the long shadow of Carmel's famo... continue
10.
Acts of Desperation by Megan Nolan EN
Description:
The female narrator falls completely into the power of a male writer. When he suddenly rejects her, she resolves to hang on to him and his love at all costs...even if it destroys her.
11.
The Alternatives : A Novel by Caoilinn Hughes EN
Description:
“A bold, beautiful, complex novel, and I can’t wait to read what Hughes writes next. She, too, is an unstoppable force.” —New York Times Book Review “A tale about sisterhood, a novel of ideas, a chronicle of our collective follies, a requiem for our agonizing species, The Alternatives unfolds in a prose full of gorgeous surprises and glows with intelligence, compassion, and beauty.” —Hernan Diaz From the writer Anthony Doerr calls “a massive talent,” the story of four brilliant Irish sisters, orphaned in childhood, who scramble to reconnect when the oldest disappears into the Irish countryside... continue
12.
Wild Houses by Colin Barrett EN
Description:
The riotous, raucous and deeply resonant debut novel from "one of the best story writers in the English language today" (Financial Times) Wild Houses follows two outsiders caught in the crosshairs of a small-town revenge kidnapping gone awry With his acclaimed and award-winning collections Young Skins and Homesickness Colin Barrett cemented his reputation as one of contemporary Irish literature's most daring stylists. Praised by the Oprah Daily as "a doyen of the sentence," and by the Los Angeles Times as a writer of "unique genius," Barrett now expands his canvas with a debut novel that conta... continue
13.
The Bee Sting : A Novel by Paul Murray EN
Description:
"The Barnes family is in trouble. Dickie's once-lucrative car business is going under--but rather than face the music, he's spending his days in the woods, building an apocalypse-proof bunker with a renegade handyman. His wife Imelda is selling off her jewelry on eBay, while their teenage daughter Cass, formerly top of her class, seems determined to binge-drink her way through her final exams. And twelve-year-old PJ is putting the final touches to his grand plan to run away from home. Where did it all go wrong? A patch of ice on the tarmac, a casual favor to a charming stranger, a bee caught b... continue
15.
Description:
Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common. Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties - successful, competent and apparently unassailable. But in the wake of their father's death, he's medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women - his enduring first love Sylvia, and Naomi, a college student for whom life is one long joke. Ivan is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward, a loner, the antithesis of his glib elder brother. Now, in the ... continue
16.
In the Forest by Edna O'Brien EN
Description:
Based on a horrendous true crime, IN THE FOREST si the story of Mich O'Kane -- 'not all there in the head' it's said -- who shoots three people dead in the woods of Ireland. Edna O'Brien traces the events that lead to such horror. Mich O'Kane hears voices; he cannot stop mourning the death of his mother. Theft and other crimes lead him to a Christian Brothers borstal, then to a British prison. By the time he returns home, he is an institutionalised criminal incapable fo telling the truth even to himself. Single mother Eily lives with her you son Maddie in a house Mich camped out in after his m... continue
17.
The Wren, the Wren by Anne Enright EN
Description:
Named a Most Anticipated Book of the Year by TIME, The Millions, and Literary Hub An incandescent novel from one of our greatest living novelists (The Times) about the inheritance of trauma, wonder, and love across three generations of women.
18.
Corazón giratorio by Donal Ryan ES
Description:
El estallido de la burbuja inmobiliaria ha dejado secuelas en un pequeǫ pueblo irlandš, donde la prosperidad de los l︢timos aǫs ha dado paso a urbanizaciones fantasma, desempleo y desesperacin̤. La quiebra de la constructora local, el asesinato de Frank Mahon, viejo malhumorado y de lengua viperina, y el secuestro del pequeǫ Dylan han conmocionado a los vecinos de esta poblacin̤ poco habituada a salir en los perid̤icos.
19.
The Women Behind the Door by Roddy Doyle EN
Description:
Booker Prize–winner Roddy Doyle’s spectacular return to his iconic character, Paula Spencer, whom he originated in the groundbreaking The Woman Who Walked Into Doors and its follow-up, Paula Spencer. At sixty-six, Paula Spencer—mother, grandmother, widow, addict, survivor—is finally living her life. A job at the dry cleaners she enjoys, a man—Joe—with whom she shares what she wants, friends who see her for who she is, and four grown children, now with families and petty dramas the likes of which Paula could only have hoped for. Despite its ghosts, Paula has started to push her past aside. That... continue
20.
Thirteen Ways of Looking by Colum McCann EN
Description:
From the National Book Award-winning and bestselling author of Let the Great World Spin and TransAtlantic, comes a novella and three stories of immediate power and grace 'A superbly crafted and deeply moving collection of fiction...underscores [McCann's] reputation as a contemporary master' Kirkus 'Separate and together, these four works prove McCann a master with a poet's ear, a psychologist's understanding, and a humanitarian's conscience' Publishers Weekly _______________________ A story in this collection has been longlisted for the Sunday Times EFG short story award As it was, it was like... continue