This week's books: fiction, memoirs and poems too
This week there’s another eclectic mix of fiction, memoirs and a few poems too!
Our London Lives, Christine Dwyer Hickey, Atlantic, €17.99
A sweeping story, covering four decades, of two lost and lonely members of the Irish diaspora in London, this is not really a love story. Or only partially. It is more the story of those Irish emigrants who lost themselves in the city, never to return home, and their numbers are vast. Milly is a teenage runaway looking for a new start and Pip is of Irish descent, a boxer with a drink problem. Dwyer Hickey’s leitmotif through most of her storytelling is loneliness, a sense of otherness, and this great novel is a perfect example. Heartbreaking but also extremely powerful.
Mad, Isn’t It?, Emma Doran, Gill, €18.99
Emma Doran found herself pregnant after her first sexual encounter and did her Leaving Cert in maternity wear, with all aspirations of an acting career crushed. She spent her 20s rearing her young child, and on turning 30, found herself finally on the stage. Just when she thought her life was mapped out in nothing besides motherhood, she found her feet in standup comedy. This is her story, from being a pregnant schoolgirl to becoming a household name in comedy.
Playing Dead, Robert Sheehan, Penguin, €18.99
If you’re not sure who Robert Sheehan is, just google him. You’ll know his face from numerous TV shows and films. He states in this memoir, about his journey towards meditation as a daily habit, that meditation is the foundation of everything he now does in his life and career. He also shares tips on finding inner quietness and soothing the soul. Our attention is constantly being pulled this way and that, but Sheehan insists that with a little practice we can all attain a powerful sense of equilibrium.
The Museum of Lost and Fragile Things, Suzanne Joinson, Indigo Press, €15.99
Novelist Suzanne Joinson recalls her nightmare childhood in this memoir of growing up in the grey council house estates of Crewe and a life of psychedelic trips and enforced ‘meditation’ practices. Joinson’s parents were part of a cult known as The Divine Light Mission in the 1980s and their activities had a profound negative impact on the author. It’s a disturbing, but beautifully written testament of complicated familial dynamics and inherited trauma. Possibly not the most cheerful of seasonal reading, but it’s compelling stuff.
80 at 80, Paul Durcan, Harvill Secker, €20.99
This is a special selection of 80 of Paul Durcan’s poems, published in celebration of his 80th birthday this year, and chances are if you’re a Durcan fan, your favourites will be included here. Durcan has always been a terrific reader of his own work (this is often not the case) and so has found a place in the hearts of many who might not have discovered him otherwise. He is both profoundly funny and profoundly moving, and Colm Tóibín nails it in his introduction to this anthology, where he writes: ‘Underneath the laughter is a strange seriousness. Beside the wildness there is tenderness. And these are the tensions that nourish Durcan’s imagination…’ It’s a wonderful collection from a national treasure.
Then Things Went Dark, Bea Fitzgerald, Michael Joseph, €17.99
A look at the wrongs of reality TV here, as six contestants land on a desert island for a reality TV show, where the stakes are high and so is the adrenaline. One of them, Rhys Sutton, has died while 12 million people watched it live. The remaining five are all being held in a Portuguese police station and all are considered suspects, but none of them will talk. What exactly happened? This is a thriller that explores relationship abuse, drug abuse and mental illness, as well as delivering a cliffhanger of a story.
Think Again, Jacqueline Wilson, Bantam Press, €18.99
Jacqueline Wilson is widely known as a prolific children’s author, and one unafraid to explore what might be considered ‘uncomfortable’ topics for kids, but the kids love her and she has sold mountains of books. This is her first venture into adult fiction.
As Ellie approaches her 40th birthday and appears to have a moderately successful life, she realises there must be more. She embarks on a long-term relationship for the first time and finds that she has to assert herself. She makes a new friend and is surprised by the strength of the connection. She reflects on parenthood (she’s a single mother of an adult daughter) and on the ever-changing circumstances of dealing with ageing parents. This novel has been labelled uplit but I believe it goes a bit further. It’s a satisfying, grownup read about impending middle age.
What a Way to Go, Bella Mackie, Borough Press, €16.99
A hilarious whodunnit, where the uber-wealthy Anthony Wistern turns up dead at his own garden party. He is found in the garden pond, ruining the party altogether. His wife isn’t terribly sorry to see him go and his inheritance-obsessed adult children aren’t grieving much either. Which, of course, makes them all suspects in his murder. Mackie has oodles of fun with this selfish, Kardashian-like family of over-entitled nitwits and sets up an imaginary waiting room for the dead, where Anthony is held until his memory returns and he can recall precisely how he has died. There are no good guys in this moral fable but it’s a brilliant feat of imagination and an acerbic look at human nature in all its greedy ugliness. Great fun.
Footnotes
All of the county libraries, the larger branches anyway, are running workshops right up to Christmas, for adults and children, on arts and crafts ideas for the festive season. Look up your county council website for information on what’s happening locally.
The old-fashioned Green Santa returns to Belvedere House, Mullingar this year. They’re also hosting a Land of Lights spectacular show. See belvedere-house.ie for details.
Farmleigh House in the Phoenix Park is hosting a special Christmas market every weekend up to Christmas. See farmleigh.ie for details.
Loughcrew Estate’s special Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs lights show continues up to December 23. See loughcrew.com for details.