Pot o' Gold:
A Selection of Irish Fiction

The Secret Scripture, by Sebastian Barry, Viking, 2008.
As she approaches the age of 100, mental patient Roseanne McNulty decides to record the events of her life. As her caregiver evaluates whether she should be released back into society, he discovers a very different story of Roseanne's life from what she has been recalling.

The Lace Makers of Glenmara, by Heather Barbieri. HarCol, 2009.
Fleeing to Ireland in the wake of a failed relationship and her mother's death, fashion designer Kate Robinson finds herself in the crumbling, poverty-stricken coastal Gaelic village of Glenmara where she finds healing by listening to the stories of loss and suffering offered up during her interactions with the ladies of a local lace-making group.

Five Days Apart, by Chris Binchy. HarCol, 2010.
When tongue-tied David falls for Camilla, he asks his best friend, Alex, to introduce him. Instead, Alex and Camilla become a couple, forcing David into the role of s best friend. But this modern day take on Cyrano de Bergerac may just have a happy ending after all.

Minding Frankie, by Maeve Binchy. Knopf, 2011.
Recovering alcoholic Noel gets more than he bargained for when he agrees to care for the baby that a terminally ill former girlfriend claims is his.

Finbar's Hotel, by Dermot Bolger, et al. HB, 1999, 1997.
In its prime Finbar's Hotel was a glorious place. Now it is a firetrap and the haunt of prostitutes and criminals. The new owner decides to pull it down. This collection of related short stories by Bolger, Anne Enright, Joseph O'Connor, Roddy Doyle, Jennifer Johnston, Hugo Hamilton, and Colm Tóibín) imagine Finbar's on the eve of its demolition, with each author bringing to life a guest who occupies a room on the first floor. Followed by: Ladies' Night at Finbar's Hotel (Harvest, 2000).

Ghosts and Lightning, by Trevor Byrne. Doubleday, 2009.
After his mother dies suddenly, Denny Cullen returns home to Dublin for the funeral and to sort out his life. Disillusioned, unemployed, and feeling powerless in the face of death, he spends his time hanging out with friends who, in between stealing, doing drugs, and performing a séance to get rid of a pesky ghost, seem to be searching for some meaning in life.

A Bit of Scandal, by Mary Rose Callaghan. Brandon, 2009.
Irish immigrant and art historian Louise O'Neill returns to Dublin after 30 years living in New York City. While waiting for her son to join her, she visits a friend whose home overlooks an old monastery, spurring memories of her youthful love affair with Peter, a handsome Canadian monk.

The Mermaids Singing, by Lisa Carey. Avon, 1998.
Three generations of strong, independent Irish and Irish-American women, struggle with each other, life, and their own natures in this story about mothers and daughters, the search for a place to call home, and the redemptive power of family and love.

A Sort of Homecoming, by Robert Cremins. Norton, 2000.
Having determined to blow his inheritance as quickly and dissolutely as possible, Dubliner Tom Iremonger makes a quick trip home for Christmas where a set of personal setbacks force him to confront how meaningless his life has become.

The Outside Boy, by Jeanine Cummins. NAL, 2010.
In late 1950s Ireland, 11-year-old Pavee gypsy Christy Hurley has trouble adjusting when his father tries to settle in a single town after a lifetime of roaming. And he soon finds himself questioning just who he is when old family secrets begin to spill out.

The Dead Republic, by Roddy Doyle. Viking, 2010.
Irish rebel Henry Smart unsuccessfully collaborates with legendary film director John Ford on a script based on his life, then finds work as a caretaker at a Dublin boys' school, where he meets a respectable woman who just may be his long-lost wife. Preceded by: A Star Called Henry (1999) and Oh, Play That Things (2004).

The Year of the French, by Thomas Flanagan. HRW, 1979.
In 1798 a band of determined Irishmen rise up in County Mayo against their English rulers. Eager to harass the English, the French send three shiploads of troops to aid the uprising.

Irish Gold, by Andrew M. Greeley. T. Doherty, 1994.
Dermot Coyne travels to Ireland to find out why his grandparents left the country never to return. There he meets student Nuala Anne McGrail, who helps him translate some documents left by his grandparents, documents that may lead to the killer of Michael Collins and a treasure trove of gold missing since the Easter Uprising of 1916. Followed by: Irish Lace (1996), Irish Whiskey (1998), Irish Mist (1999), Irish Eyes (2000), Irish Love (2001), Irish Stew (2002), Irish Cream (2005), Irish Crystal (2006), Irish Linen (2007), Irish Tiger (2008) & Irish Tweed (2009).

The Truth About Love, by Josephine Hart. Knopf, 2009.
The accidental death of a teenage boy in a small 1960s Irish community finds his mother struggling through her grief with the help of her family, his sister embracing her memories to shield herself from the intensity of her feelings, and Thomas, their German ex-pat neighbor ruminating on the wider implications of loss.

To Marry an Irish Rogue, by Lisa Hendrix. Jove, 2000.
There is a crisis in the village of Kilbooly. The male population has decided to emulate wealthy, playboy industrialist Brian Hanrahan by refusing to commit to marriage. So the ladies of the village join forces with TV reporter Tara Bird to teach their reluctant grooms a lesson by denying them all--and that means all-- the comforts of home.

Shade, by Neil Jordan. Bloomsbury, 2004.
Actress Nina Hardy, murdered with a pair of gardening shears by her childhood friend, George, retells the events of her life and afterlife, as her half-brother retraces their childhood together, revealing the crime against Nina was the opposite of the senseless crime it seemed. A novel by the Oscar winning director/screenwriter of The Crying Game and Michael Collins.

Ulysses, by James Joyce. 1922.
Leopold Bloom, an advertising salesman, spends the 16th of June, 1904, wandering around Dublin in a book whose events correspond to those in Homer's Odyssey.

The Bodhrán Makers, by John B. Keane. Four Walls Eight Windows, 1992.
Impoverished farmers in rural Ireland find their annual celebration of their Celtic ancestry opposed by a parish priest who disapproves of the ancient rites. By the same author: Durango (1992) & An Irish Christmas (2000).

Time After Time, by Molly Keane. Knopf, 1983.
Beneath the surface of uneasy peace in which a man and his three sisters live in a once grand country house, lies a web of dark secrets. By the same author:Good Behaviour (1981)

The Hungry Earth, by Sean Kenny. Roberts Rinehart, 1995.
An ambitious, cut-throat accountant undergoes an attitude adjustment after a blow to the head transports him back to the time of the Great Famine.

Blessed Are the Cheesemakers, by Sarah-Kate Lynch. Warner, 2003, 2002.
In County Cork, Ireland, Joseph “Corrie” Corrigan and Joseph “Fee” Feehan produce the internationally famous Coolarney Blue cheese. But they have gotten on in years and have found no successor to take over the business. How fortuitous then, that their granddaughter, Abbey, who they haven't seen since she was a child, arrives out of the blue, estranged from her philandering husband and heartless mother. At the same time, Kit Stephens, an alcoholic New York stock trader who has not recovered from the loss of his wife and child, has comes to Ireland hoping to put the pieces of his life back together. Corrie and Fee couldn't be more delighted.

Cal, by Bernard MacLaverty. Braziller, 1983.
A young Irish Republican Army operative who wants to break the cycle of violence seeks out a woman whose Ulster policeman husband he helped to murder. As their relationship grows, so do Cal's guilt and sorrow, until, in the end, he is forced to make a sacrifice of himself in order to gain redemption.

The Lady, by Anne McCaffrey. Ballantine, 1987.
This saga tells of the Carradyne family and the magnificent horse farm that is the center of their lives.

Crowe's Requiem, by Mike McCormack. Henry Holt, 1999.
In his own little village, Crowe (that's the name he has chosen for himself), is alone and friendless. Later, at the University, he finds happiness with a young woman but then makes a rash choice out of love that exacts a terrible price.

The Dark, by John McGahren. Knopf, 1966.
Set in rural Ireland, this novel explores the relationship between a boy on the verge of manhood and his embittered, domineering widowed father. By the same author: Amongst Women (1990) & By the Lake (2002).

Daughter of Ireland, by Sonja Massie. Jove, 2000.
When the Irish uncle of American businessman Rory O'Brien dies, Moya Mahoney, who has lovingly cared for the deceased, fears what O'Brien will do with the only home she has ever really known.

Lipstick on the Host, by Aidan Mathews. Harcourt, Brace & Co, 1992.
Collection of short stories about the pain, innocence and warmth of modern life.

High Ground, by John McGahren. Viking, 1987, 1985.
Chekovian stories set in ordinary places dealing with men and women trying to make sense of the contradictions of their often topsy-turvy world.

Only the River Runs Free, by Bodie & Brock Thoene. T. Nelson, 1997.
Since the death of the hereditary descendant of the Burke family and the mysterious disappearance of his only son, the tenant farmers of Ballynockanor have lived under the cruelty and oppression of a greedy English landlord. While most have lost hope, "mad" Molly Fahey promises the priest and villagers that a miracle is on the way. Followed by: Of Men and of Angels (1998).

House of Splendid Isolation, by Edna O'Brien. Farrar Straus Giroux, 1994.
A lonely widow's life is disrupted when an escaped I.R.A. terrorist invades her house. By the same author: Time and Tide (1992).

The Mammy, by Brendan O'Carroll. Plume, 1999, 1994.
The comic misadventures of the resourceful Agnes Browne, a young widow trying to raise seven children in 1960s Dublin, who occasionally finds a spare moment in her busy day to trade gossip and quips with her best pal Marion Monks (alias "The Kaiser") and even finds herself pursued by the amorous Frenchman who runs the local pizza parlor. Followed by: The Chisellers (2000) and The Granny (2000).

The Salesman, by Joseph O'Connor. Picador, 1998.
Billy Sweeney, a middle-aged salesman with a failed marriage and faltering career, plots revenge against the gang of street thugs who brutally attacked his now comatose daughter.

No Country for Young Men, by Julia O'Faolain. C&G, 1980.
The release of a supposedly mad nun who has been incarcerated in a convent for half a century poses a threat to a number of people regarding a 1922 murder.

Foreign Affairs and Other Stories, by Sean O'Faolain. Atlantic Monthly, 1976. Eight stories describing love affairs involving foreignness--sometimes geographical, sometimes internal.

I Am of Irelaunde, by Juliene Osborne-McKnight. Forge, 2000.
Full of anger, the former Roman slave who will become St. Patrick, spreads the word of God in Ireland. But only after encountering the poet-warrior Osian--who has been dead for 200 years--is he forced to reexamine his faith and purpose. By the same author: Daughter of Ireland (2002), Bright Sword of Ireland (2005), & Song of Ireland (2006)

The Thirteenth Room, by Siobhán Parkinson. Blackstaff, 2003.
The this modern-day gothic, newly certified nurse, Niamh, arrives at a gloomy country manse to care for its dying master and finds the place haunted by a decade-old tragedy which no one wants to talk about.

Remembrance Day, by Henry Porter. S&S, 2000.
While waiting for his brother outside of a London tube station, Irish national Constantine Lindow is injured by a bus blast. He soon finds himself the chief suspect in the bombing, In his efforts to prove himself innocent, he is caught between the IRA and the British government, for whom the bomber may have been working.

Born in Fire, by Nora Roberts. Jove Books, 1994.
The Cocannon sisters of western Ireland are women of ambition and talent, and are bound by the timeless spirit of their land. Followed by Born in Ice (1995) and Born in Shame (1996). The trilogy was re-issued in 2003 as Irish Born.

The "Irish Country" series, by Patrick Taylor.
Follows the heart-warming and humorous adventures of the folk living in the country village of Ballybucklebo, in Northern Ireland. An Irish Country Doctor (2007); An Irish Country Village (2008); An Irish Country Christmas (2009); An Irish Country Girl (2009);& An Irish Country Courtship (2010).

The South, by Colm Tóibin. Viking, 1991.
In 1950 Katherine Proctor, determined to escape from her family and become a painter, leaves Ireland and moves to Spain. But a fellow emigre forces her to reexamine all her relationships: to her lover, her art, and the homeland she only thought she knew. By the same author: The Heather Blazing (1993) & The Blackwater Lightship (2000, 1999).

Love and Summer, by William Trevor. Viking, 2009.
Living an unfulfilling existence in small Irish town of Rathmoye in the 1950s with her much older husband, a farmer haunted by the deaths of his child and first wife in an accident he feels he caused, shy orphan Ellie Dillahan begins an affair with a young photographer. When the time comes for him to leave Ireland, she is forced to choose a future with the man she loves and the desolate life she lives.

Trinity, by Leon Uris. Doubleday, 1976.
Chronicles the lives of three families--the Larkens, the Hubbles, and the Weeds--living in Ireland from the 1840s to the Easter Rising of 1916. Followed by: Redemption (HarperCollins, 1995).

Created and maintained by: Lynne M. Kennedy.

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