More PRESENTS BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2016
Lying In Wait Liz Nugent Penguin, €15.99
Former Irish Book Award winner Liz Nugent’s new thriller comes highly praised for its complex murder plot and exploration of deeper themes of female sexuality, the Irish class system and the roots of childhood psychosis. The critical consensus is that Lying In Wait propels her to the first rank of Irish crime writing.
All We Shall Know Donal Ryan Doubleday Ireland, €14.99
Another modern-day tragedy of small-town Ireland by the prolific Ryan. Like his earlier work, it is fast-paced, compelling and relatively short. Set in the Traveller community, it is charged full of passionate indignation at the forces of social exclusion and injustice.
Solar Bones, Mike McCormack Tramp Press, €15
This portrait of rural life in the troubled 21st Century is narrated by middle-aged Marcus, an engineer based in Louisburgh, Co. Mayo. Haunting and poignant, it centres on Marcus’s family, his wife, artist daughter and backpacking son, the past that formed them and the future that awaits.
The Lesser Bohemians Eimear McBride Faber & Faber, €15.99
Much-anticipated second novel from the author of A Girl Is A
Half-Formed Thing, this novel is described as Edna O’Brien’s The
County Girl 30 years on. That makes it sound light-hearted and engaging yet it’s not. If anything, it continues the dark and agonising journey, overshadowed by abuse from childhood to maturity, that McBride began in her earlier novel and earned her praise as one of the most astonishing new voices in literature.
Vinegar Hill Anne Tyler Hogarth, €15.99
Pulitzer Prize winner Anne Tyler’s latest novel is a witty take on Shakespeare’s comedy
The Taming Of The Shrew. The Shrew is Katherine a 29-year-old woman who lives with her father and sister, caring for them in a slapdash and resentful fashion. She is drawn into a marriage of convenience in order to establish residency for one of her father’s assistants and the result is typically Tyleresque, entertaining and unpredictable.
Days Without End Sebastian Barry Faber & Faber , €15.99
The two-times Booker Prize finalist’s compelling portrait of mid-19th-Century America as seen through the eyes of his great uncle Thomas McNulty who emigrated from Sligo as a teenager and served in the American Civil War. The harrowing violence and slaughter conducted by a young Irish emigrant who had escaped famine against helpless Native Americans and Confederate rebels is laid bare, along with his calm acquiescence. His gay love affair with a fellow officer shows his tender side but it is the brutality of war, not illicit love, that lingers most in the reader’s mind.
Lyrebird Minds of Winter Ed O’Loughlin Quercus, €16.99
Intricate and ambitious novel spanning two centuries about a perilous polar expedition and its secrets which percolate into the present day. The multiple story lines and shifting time frames mean that it’s not for the faint-hearted but it rewards those who manage to stay the pace with an engrossing search for the North West passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans.
Game Of Throw-Ins Ross O’Carroll-Kelly Penguin Ireland, €15.99
The Rossemeister is back; a rugby player with a great future behind him. In this latest instalment he discovers his destiny – to keep a struggling Seapoint team in Division 2B of the All Ireland League.
Holding Graham Norton Hodder & Stoughton, €14.99
The charismatic chat show host has astonished many with the skill and insight of his literary debut. This novel tells how a grim discovery in a small and seemingly innocent Irish town uncovers long-held secrets and proves a turning point in the lonely life of a local garda.
Cecelia Ahern Harper Collins, €13.99
Set on the rugged west coast of Ireland, this tells the story of a 26-year-old woman who has grown up surrounded by animals in the wilderness and encounters civilisation when a film crew stumbles upon her. The crew decides to make a documentary about the strange creature, unaware of how everyone involved will have their lives changed forever.
Vogue 100: A Century Of Style NPG, €55.95
Whether it’s Beaton and Dietrich, Bailey and Shrimpton, or Testino and Kate Moss, above, the photographer/subject combinations make up a perfect roll-call of glamour icons in this gorgeous celebration of the world’s premier fashion magazine.
Dark Matter Thin Air Michele Paver Orion, €19 Blake Crouch Macmillan €16.99 It Was Only Ever You Kate Kerrigan Head of Zeus, €15.99 Kate Kerrigan justifies her reputation for riveting sagas with this uplifting story about an almost pathologically insecure woman who can never quite believe that her handsome husband loves her. Conclave Robert Harris Hutchinson €17.99
If there’s a single election more fraught with intrigue, corruption and deceit than America’s, it’s the Papal conclave. Or so suggests this suspenseful tale, which begins with the Pope’s passing and spans three days of backroom deals and jockeying for spiritual power, as the world awaits that famous puff of white smoke. It’s 1935 and Dr Stephen Pearce and his team are scaling Kangchenjunga, the world’s third highest mountain. They’re following in the footsteps of a 1906 attempt that cost five men their lives, and as they ascend higher, it transpires that burial cairns aren’t the only thing left behind by the earlier mission. Chilling. In every sense. Former physicist Jason Dessen has a nice life in Chicago with his wife and their 15year-old son. But is he really happy? One October evening, he heads to a bar to toast an old friend and is sucker-punched into an alternate reality. Tense and addictive, this helter-skelter ride will leave your head spinning. Miss You
Kate Eberlen Mantle, €16.99 Small Great Things Jodi Picoult Hodder & Stoughton, €14.99
African-American Ruth Jefferson has worked as a nurse at a Connecticut hospital for more than 20 years when she’s accused of murder by a white supremacist. As she struggles to defend herself, shifting perspectives bring this charged tale to life. Tess and Gus are both 18 when they meet as tourists in Florence. Over the next 16 years, their paths cross repeatedly, they just don’t know it. Are they meant to end up together, and if so when? Fate and fortune play starring roles with each teasing near-encounter.
The Flame Bearer Bernard Cornwell Harper Collins, €15.99
Battles and royal intrigue aplenty keep this Saxon saga, following the warrior Uhtred who is on a mission to steal back a fort, rollicking along.