In Angie Cruz’s third novel, shortlisted for The Women’s Prize for Fiction, a young country girl is trapped by circumstance in a patriarchal society on the brink of civil war. Forced into marriage with a violent, alcoholic man twice her age, fifteen-year-old protagonist Ana Canción carries the burden of her family’s future on her young Read More
On the cover of Lia Purpura’s marvellous collection of lyric essays, On Looking, there is a close-up photograph of a strange bony object with clavicle-like hollows and spinal protuberances. Our classroom exchanges about exactly what this represents always lead to discussions on Purpura’s themes and poetics. Jessie Greengrass’s second book will spark exactly those kinds Read More
It is human nature to be attracted to that which we feel we can relate to, things that resonate within us. And perhaps that is why as a debut novel, The Good Guy, is such a memorable first impression. Inspired by her own experience, Susan Beale offers a compelling insight into the classic tale: the Read More
The cityscape of Cork, in which Lisa McInerney’s The Glorious Heresies finds itself unfolding, is a paradoxical M.C. Escheresque backdrop. This is the debut of a seasoned and celebrated blogger, the ‘sweary-lady’ (as McInerney titles herself), and while her first expedition into extended prose fiction comes with a few teething problems, the novel finds itself Read More
Having been coaxed into seeing a horror film at a tender age, I’ve never since been able to gain enough distance from the gothic form to relish its thrills dispassionately. That half-glimpsed face in the darkened window or the unfamiliar shadow on the landing still results in one of those sudden irrational lurches of the Read More
