Fiction reviews Non-Fiction reviews Books for Younger Readers Author Interviews Books News and Features Books Home Page
Books are my business: Librarian at Bantry Library Denis Murphy
Books are my business: Librarian at Bantry Library Denis Murphy
'Approaching high summer, the West Cork Literary Festival concentrates most of my attention'

Fri, 20 Jun, 2025

Book review: From podcast to page... unmasking the real story of Northern Bank heist
Book review: From podcast to page... unmasking the real story of Northern Bank heist
On December 20, 2004, one paramilitary group — most likely the IRA — robbed the Northern Bank in Belfast stealing £26.5m

Sat, 14 Jun, 2025

Crime writer Michael Connelly: I???m definitely not finished with Harry Bosch
Book review: A brand new detective hits the scene
In Michael Connelly’s 40th thriller he introduces us to a new lead character — LAPD detective Stilwell

Sat, 14 Jun, 2025

Books are my business: Irish Writers Centre CEO Mags McLoughlin
Books are my business: Irish Writers Centre CEO Mags McLoughlin
My job is to elevate awareness of the centre, its story, and get more money in for more writers to do more writing

Sat, 14 Jun, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Counsellor and psychotherapist Sinéad Nolan
Beginner’s pluck: Counsellor and psychotherapist Sinéad Nolan
Nolan's debut novel 'The Counting Game' is clever and compulsive and the plot is lifted by the psychological insights

Sat, 14 Jun, 2025

Author Catherine Chidgey photographed at her Duned
Book review: How perspectives can vary
With much to unfold, and many plot twists to hide, Catherine Chidgey teases out her story with great skill in 'The Book of Guilt'

Sat, 14 Jun, 2025

Cute girl reading a book in a hammock in the garden.
Children's book reviews: Summer stories to warm up and inspire an eager imagination
Ranging from reality TV penguins to underwater antics, and even a sprinkle of time travel through unexpected worlds, there is something, as always, for every reader to enjoy

Fri, 13 Jun, 2025

Author interview: Dizzyingly inventive narrative exploring the nature of time
Author interview: Dizzyingly inventive narrative exploring the nature of time
The concept of time, and the privilege of having it, is explored by Cork writer Caroline O’Donoghue in her latest book, 'Skipshock'

Fri, 13 Jun, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Freelance writer and editor Anna Carey
Beginner’s pluck: Freelance writer and editor Anna Carey
Anna’s first book, 'The Real Rebecca', won the Senior Children’s Book of the Year at the 2011 Irish Book Awards.

Sat, 07 Jun, 2025

Paul Sharp
Book review: Light touch always present in a story that is about love, pure and simple
'Open Heart' is written with lyrical delicacy, featuring beautiful Hardyesque descriptions of nature with an intimate tone

Sat, 07 Jun, 2025

Book review: Touching tale of finding love in later life
Book review: Touching tale of finding love in later life
'Best Friends' takes unlikely romantic material — two outsiders in their 70s — and fashions a tender story about risk, fate, and second chances

Sat, 07 Jun, 2025

Books are my business: Bookshop children’s section manager Méabh McDonnell
Books are my business: Bookshop children’s section manager Méabh McDonnell
The former newspaper sub-editor found her dream job in Charlie Byrne's bookshop and believes there is 'a book out there for every child'

Sat, 07 Jun, 2025

Announcement of a Two Test International Boxing Series between Ireland and France
Book review: Unravelling every wrongdoing
Journalist, media entrepreneur, and migration activist Fintan Drury has handled the almost impossible task of framing the unframeable in his latest book, 'Catastrophe: Nakba II'

Sat, 07 Jun, 2025

Karl Whitney: When the journey of a writer hits a wall, it’s the perfect time to reflect
Karl Whitney: When the journey of a writer hits a wall, it’s the perfect time to reflect
While writers ply their trade due to their love of the medium, waiting to reach the next stage in a writer’s career is a unique creative challenge

Fri, 06 Jun, 2025

Author interview: Fighting past the pain barrier to deliver a riveting mystery
Author interview: Fighting past the pain barrier to deliver a riveting mystery
Michelle McDonagh’s third novel focuses on a murder investigation in Blarney, Cork, where multiple layers of the search for truth connect in an immensely well-paced offering

Fri, 06 Jun, 2025

10 books for June: Michelle McDonagh, Bill Clinton, Taylor Jenkins Reid, and more
10 books for June: Michelle McDonagh, Bill Clinton, Taylor Jenkins Reid, and more
Some of this is True by Michelle McDonagh stays close to home in her latest book, where, on an icy morning in January, a young tourist’s body is discovered at the bottom of the Wishing Steps at Blarney Castle

Tue, 03 Jun, 2025

Books are my business: Bookshop owner Antonia Daly
Books are my business: Bookshop owner Antonia Daly
Antonia Daly is currently putting books together to sell at the Hinterland Festival, making sure that she has books from all the authors attending the festival

Sun, 01 Jun, 2025

Book review: Oona Frawley brings readers on a raw exploration of the past
Book review: Oona Frawley brings readers on a raw exploration of the past
As both her parents are now dead, Frawley feels able to tackle the thorny subject of her father’s alcoholism, his struggles as an actor, and her mother’s reasons for enduring dysfunction for so long

Sun, 01 Jun, 2025

Book review: IWU members' essays offer first-hand accounts of life after the Contraception Train
Book review: IWU members' essays offer first-hand accounts of life after the Contraception Train
Irishwomen United (IWU) member Evelyn Conlon and academic Rebecca Phelan cement the movement in Irish history

Sun, 01 Jun, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Virginia Evans
Beginner’s pluck: Virginia Evans
When she was 32 and still unpublished, Virginia was accepted on the MFA for creative writing at Trinity College, Dublin, moving her family over 'an life has never been better'

Sun, 01 Jun, 2025

Book review: Memoirs of Ireland’s wars told from an extraordinary ordinary soldier
Book review: Memoirs of Ireland’s wars told from an extraordinary ordinary soldier
Owen O’Shea is no stranger to the War of Independence and Civil War in Kerry. 'One Man’s Ireland' is his third book on this theme

Sun, 01 Jun, 2025

Edinburgh International Book Festival
Author interview: 'What are the politics of belonging if you don't have it'
Sarah Moss’s ninth novel, 'Ripeness', centres on Edith, a happily divorced 73-year-old who has found utter contentment since settling in the Burren

Sun, 01 Jun, 2025

UK - 2007 Edinburgh International Book Festival
Book review: Biography of a biography is an onerous read
An author using an introduction to try to justify a book’s very existence is an uninspiring start to proceedings, writes Sean Kelly  

Sun, 01 Jun, 2025

'Female friendship is not a perfect love story any more than a romantic relationship is'
'Female friendship is not a perfect love story any more than a romantic relationship is'
From Sex and the City to The White Lotus, the complexities of women’s companionship has been a source of fascination for many. Vicki Notaro tells Elle Gordon how the idea of ‘the one’ in female friendships inspired her latest novel

Sat, 24 May, 2025

Book review: Reinterpreting the Irish Famine as a consequence of unbridled capitalism
Book review: Reinterpreting the Irish Famine as a consequence of unbridled capitalism
The central contention in 'Rot' is that Westminster’s response to the starvation was defined by its overarching commitment to the principles of the free market

Sat, 24 May, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Artist and writer Gethan Dick
Beginner’s pluck: Artist and writer Gethan Dick
An optimistic debut, this centres on love, motherhood, childbirth, and resilience and it’s glorious — funny, thought provoking, and wise

Sat, 24 May, 2025

Irish Novelist John Connolly Participates In Vlc Negra Festival
Book review: Ageing sleuth fights old and new demons
'The Children of Eve' will undoubtedly hook die-hard Parker fans and leave them eagerly asking what’s next for their favourite private detective

Sat, 24 May, 2025

Oxford Literary Festival 2025
Book review: Gripping tale of right v wrong
This  nail-biting thriller explores the fine line between justice and revenge and it’s a novel which will be remembered long after you finish it — it’s a triumph

Sat, 24 May, 2025

Books are my business: Specialist bookshop owner Caroline Sullivan
Books are my business: Specialist bookshop owner Caroline Sullivan
Working in the children’s section in Hodges Figgis bookshop in Dublin inspired her to set up Tales for Tadpoles

Sat, 24 May, 2025

Author interview: Psychiatric care left wanting — ‘I lost so much’ as a psychosis patient
Author interview: Psychiatric care left wanting — ‘I lost so much’ as a psychosis patient
In this compelling and affecting memoir Mary Ann Kenny describes how the experience of psychiatric care left her feeling dehumanised and even more traumatised

Fri, 23 May, 2025

Children's books review: Thrilling reads from a trio of brilliant Irish authors
Children's books review: Thrilling reads from a trio of brilliant Irish authors
Pet O’Connell rounds up a diverse selection of the latest children’s books that tackle everything from AI and young love to ancient mythology and the recorder

Fri, 23 May, 2025

Books are my business: Owner and founder of EDB Studios Elize de Beer
Books are my business: Owner and founder of EDB Studios Elize de Beer
When it comes to making books, I find that because I use such a traditional technique, there’s no real way to speed it up

Sat, 17 May, 2025

Book review: Down and out in Donegal and New York — a forgotten victim of greed
Book review: Down and out in Donegal and New York — a forgotten victim of greed
'The Many Murders of Michael Malloy' was first published in the USA over 20 years ago. It has all the ingredients of a black comedy, except for the fact that it is a true story

Sat, 17 May, 2025

Book review: A different shade to the world’s end
Book review: A different shade to the world’s end
Gethan Dick's novel is not only charmingly hilarious, it is also a deeply serious and philosophically capacious book, particularly in relation to womanhood

Sat, 17 May, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Writer and freelance journalist Caroline Madden
Beginner’s pluck: Writer and freelance journalist Caroline Madden
'The Marriage Vendetta' started off as a historical novel but after many rejections, Caroline rewrote it in a modern setting and sold it at auction

Sat, 17 May, 2025

General O'Duffy
Book review: A useful lesson from our past
The core message of this valuable book is that a party founded by some truly odious bigots — Fine Gael — has evolved into a modernish, socially liberal force

Sat, 17 May, 2025

Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025
Author interview: From Alaska to Afghanistan, and the Marines to a PhD in writing
Christopher Bryde trained for a time to be a monk, but ended up joining the US Marines. Deployed to Afghanistan, he lost both legs below the knee due to wounds

Fri, 16 May, 2025

Folk Musicians Playing in Washington Square Park
Book review: The New York neighbourhood that changed the music world
David Browne thoroughly examines all that happened in the artistic scene of Greenwich Village over the course of close to five decades  with a heavy focus on the tumultuous ’60s.

Fri, 16 May, 2025

ANDREA MARA
From daydreaming about bank heists to TV adaptations: Andrea Mara on her writing career
She left her job in finance to be a freelance writer. Today, Andrea Mara has eight books under her belt — and a TV adaptation with Sarah Snook and Dakota Fanning in the works, writes Deirdre McArdle

Sun, 11 May, 2025

Book review: Stories that are always alive to the overwhelming weight of our pasts
Book review: Stories that are always alive to the overwhelming weight of our pasts
Old age, waning minds, distortions of perception, and capitalism’s assault on nature are at the heart of Shane Tivenan’s alternately blunt and poetic collection

Sat, 10 May, 2025

Book review: Secrets of a past buried long ago
Book review: Secrets of a past buried long ago
In 'Writers Anonymous' William Wall creates a claustrophobic, unsettling atmosphere, which becomes more dense as the story goes on.

Sat, 10 May, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Dublin-born writer Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin
Beginner’s pluck: Dublin-born writer Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin
'Ordinary Saints' is pretty perfect. It’s informative, original, heartfelt, very real, and stunningly written

Sat, 10 May, 2025

Books are my business: Poolbeg Press publisher Paula Campbell
Books are my business: Poolbeg Press publisher Paula Campbell
'I have been through every aspect of the business, from the literal bookselling to wholesaling to publishing'

Sat, 10 May, 2025

Book review: Novel goes to dark places but there is humour, empathy, and redemption
Book review: Novel goes to dark places but there is humour, empathy, and redemption
'Air' is testament to John Boyne’s strong storytelling talent. He packs a lot in, given that the book is only 166 pages long

Sat, 10 May, 2025

Karl Whitney: Opening a world to books that beg to be unearthed
Karl Whitney: Opening a world to books that beg to be unearthed
When I read about people ‘discovering’ and republishing ‘lost classics’, I often think: Well, they were in print once

Fri, 09 May, 2025

Author interview: Harding back to college days with love of campus novel
Author interview: Harding back to college days with love of campus novel
'The Wildelings' is set in a fictionalised version of Trinity College Dublin in 1992 — when the author was a student there

Fri, 09 May, 2025

Books are my business: O’Brien Press senior editor Helen Carr
Books are my business: O’Brien Press senior editor Helen Carr
'A lot of my job is reassuring authors and letting them know we want to do the best for their book'

Sat, 03 May, 2025

Book review: A worthy insight on life and relations but loses its way geopolitically
Book review: A worthy insight on life and relations but loses its way geopolitically
The premise is original and, at least for the first half, the novel is entertaining and at times very funny, however the second half of the novel is disappointing

Sat, 03 May, 2025

Jane Casey, Author of crime fiction. Photographed at her home in Wandsworth, London.
Book review: Thrilling crime secrets to be unlocked
Jane Casey's 'The Secret Room' is a fast-paced thriller with realistic police drama, plausible twists, and great characters

Sat, 03 May, 2025

Book review: Irish slow-burn mystery grips
Book review: Irish slow-burn mystery grips
Andrea Carter fleshes out the plot of 'There Came A-Tapping' with supernatural elements and a kind of mystery within a mystery

Sat, 03 May, 2025

Latest

Cookie Policy Privacy Policy Brand Safety FAQ Help Contact Us Terms and Conditions

© Examiner Echo Group Limited