Irish Fiction

In a series of unexpected moments when past loves and choices re-surface with startling clarity, the imperfect beings who populate these stories find themselves finally grasping the impact of crucial early relationships, as joy, loss and betrayal echo across decades. A man searches for a possible secret half-sister to understand his father. A woman is haunted by a boy’s death fifty years ago.

A lighthouse keeper recalls his first relationship. A public figure, slipping into dementia, relives a fateful night that haunts him. A man seeks insights into his mother’s past on a remote Portuguese island.

From childhood holidays shadowed by tragedy to chance reunions that rewrite old narratives, Bolger’s complex and deeply humane characters reveal the fragile beauty of human connection.

‘Exhilarating, devastating, comforting, essential.’ CLAIRE KILROY’These are stories which sing off the page.’ JAN CARSON’Powerful, compelling and richly crafted.’ MARY COSTELLO’Profoundly intimate.’ TAHMIMA ANAMThe highly-anticipated new collection from the BBC National Short Story Award-winning author of Multitudes, Intimacies and Openings’There must be moments when we let go – let go of all that we do, all that we are.’A young Belfast theatre troupe brings its experimental production of Hamlet to New York. On a night-flight, travelling with a violin older than the United States, a professional musician slips through time. A man who loses all he thought he had, and finds himself haunted by all he never will, comes to a painful new understanding of what it might mean to love.

Transporting and profound, these are stories of love, grief, longing, of new beginnings, and the ways we find shelter in each other. ‘One of our best short story writers.’ THE TIMES'[Caldwell] holds the reader right up against the tender humanity of her characters.’ EIMEAR McBRIDE’A next-level author of short stories.’ THE HERALD

Derry is already abuzz with news that famous American actor, Monica Logue, has flown to the city and will be starring in a new series set during the Troubles.

And then she goes missing . . .

All eyes are on Diarmuid, the flaky scriptwriter who was the last to see Monica alive. From budding young actors hoping for a role to grieving parent whose story forms the backbone of the narrative; newspaper editors covering the mystery to taxi drivers hearing all the news from their clients, Prestige Drama follows the city’s cast as they all try to locate themselves in Monica’s disappearance. Séamas O’Reilly’s debut novel is a comedy about dramatising tragedy, and the responsibilities of a teller to a tale.

‘A brilliantly observed, funny, poignant and utterly real portrait of a mid-life woman and her family. I loved it.’ Claire Fuller‘An elegant and beautifully-observed novel by one of our finest contemporary writers’ Louise Kennedy‘I found myself taking screenshots to send to friends because MacMahon nails it over and over again’ Claire Kilroy—‘Marriage was the biggest decision of their lives and yet they made it so lightly it was barely a decision at all’As schoolgirls, Justine and her best friend Iseult dreamed of a future that revolved around marriage. They saw it as a happy ending, never imagining for a moment that the reality would be more complicated.

Coming up to fifty, they’re still best friends. Justine has been married to Iseult’s brother for twenty-five years and lives in her childhood home. Iseult has spent her adult life abroad, her marriage clearly unhappy for reasons she won’t discuss.

When Justine’s daughter suddenly announces her engagement, Justine is thrown into planning a big family wedding. Afraid that her daughter is making a mistake, she finds herself questioning the choices she and Iseult made decades earlier. This crisis of confidence tests Justine in new and unexpected ways.

‘A writer living and thinking his way to the frontiers of human society’ Spectator

Cameo is the life story of invented Irish novelist Ren Duka, who has unexpected, runaway international success with a prolific series of autofictional novels.

What begins as a playful satire on literary ambition and the chaos of our times expands into a dazzling, polyphonic odyssey that challenges the border between fiction and reality.

As the Ren Duka novels race outwards in widening circles of influence, we encounter Dina Tatangelo, cult novelist of the New York underworld; a Japanese manga artist whose work eerily affects his family life; a grizzled Dublin taxi driver who just might ferry his passengers between worlds; a film-star facing public disgrace; and Rob Doyle, an author enduring a psychic and ontological crisis.

Cameo is at once a metaphysical architecture of the imagination, a human comedy full of unruly passions, and a self-portrait across multiple dimensions.

‘I absolutely loved it. So realistic about the complexity of loving people who will break our hearts’Marian KeyesFROM THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING, AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF SNOWFLAKE – AN UNFORGETTABLE STORY OF TWO FAMILIES RIVEN BY ONE GREAT SECRET. For Niamh Ryan, the Foleys are family.

Her childhood flew by on their farm, playing with her best friend Peter and his sister Kate – all the while being doted on by their mother Helen and coached by their father Liam, a legendary former hurling player. Now, following a distressing series of events, the family ties are strained. Niamh receives drunken phone calls and messages from Peter who can’t understand what derailed their burgeoning relationship three years ago.

Meanwhile, Helen Foley is trying her best to escape her life by checking into guesthouses under the names of women she went to school with. In her life in Belfast, Kate is attempting to hold down a job and a relationship while carrying the weight of the family’s secrets, and feeling like she is the one to blame. As a family wedding looms, and the women find themselves face to face, the knotty love that still binds Niamh, Helen and Kate might just bring them back together again.

Told through the perspectives of three very different women, Everything That Is Beautiful unfolds the story of one complicated family in startlingly honest prose. By turns funny and deeply moving, and with unmatched emotional intelligence, this is an unforgettable story of love and family, heartbreak and hope – and who we might become after we pick up the pieces. Praise for Everything That Is Beautiful’Vivid and compelling.

A big-hearted, immersive novel about the complex bonds of family and friendships’ Roisin O’Donnell, award-winning author of NESTING’I truly loved it. Nealon has such a talent for conveying the intimate and devastating multitudes of family life. Bittersweet, wise, full of humour and heart’ Grainne O’Hare, author of THIRST TRAP ‘Intimate and panoramic, tender-hearted and clear-eyed, poignant and laugh-out-loud funny.

A book you’ll read and love, then immediately buy for those you love’ Colin Walsh, number 1 bestselling author of KALA’A deeply moving exploration of all the joys and pains of living in community. Beautifully written, funny, emotionally complex and always quietly hopeful. I loved it’ Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin, award-winning author of ORDINARY SAINTS’I BLOODY LOVED IT.

Complicated families, gorgeous fully- realised characters, heartbreak and laughter’ Jennie Godfrey, bestselling author of THE LIST OF SUSPICIOUS THINGS’Fresh and engaging . . .

Her characters are alive and real, and the familial relationships, with all their petty cruelties and their bumbling acts of love, are so acutely observed’ Claire Gleeson, author of SHOW ME WHERE IT HURTS’Wrought with tension, humour, irreverence and warmth. The Foleys will inhabit your heart long after the last page’ Charleen Hurtubise, author of SAOIRSE——————————————————-From the acclaimed author of SNOWFLAKE *A number one international bestseller*Winner of Newcomer of the Year at the AN Post Irish Book Awards*A BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime pick*Chosen as the official read of the One Dublin One Book campaign’Wonderful and mad’ Roddy Doyle’Sparks with tender charm and humour . .

. Fresh, bleakly funny’ Sunday Times’Tender, laugh-out-loud funny and deeply moving’ Louise O’Neill