Twelve Irish books that will have your festive reading for Christmas 2021 sorted
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Loading... - Brenda Butler
- 29 Dec 2021
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If you also find some time to relax and unwind over the holidays, you might well be after a good book to keep you company.
Luckily for you, we have compiled a list of some of the best books by Irish authors, or those with an Irish theme, of 2021.
So, if you’re into fact, fiction, history or healing, there’s plenty here to get stuck into.
You may need to restock your bookshelf or sort a last-minute gift, or you can simply choose a literary cracker to curl up with over the festive season…
The Irish Diaspora: Tales of Emigration, Exile and Imperialism, by Turtle Bunbury
Thames and Hudson. £19.99
The Irish have always been a travelling people.
In the centuries after the fall of Rome, Irish missionaries carried the word of Christianity throughout Europe, while soldiers and mariners from across the land ventured overseas in all directions.
Since 1800 an estimated 10 million people have left the Irish shores and today more than 80 million people worldwide claim Irish descent.
Turtle Bunbury explores the lives of those men and women, great and otherwise, whose journeys - whether driven by faith, a desire for riches and adventure, or purely for survival - have left their mark on the world.
Wunderland: A Novel, by Catriona Lally
New Island Books. €14.95
The keenly anticipated second novel from the Rooney Prize-winning author of Eggshells, centres on Roy, who has been exiled from Ireland under dubious circumstances and now works as a cleaner at the Wunderland miniature exhibition in Hamburg.
Struggling to connect with those around him, he commits secret acts of violence against the tiny scenes and figurines on display.
Then, to Roy’s palpable annoyance, his sister Gert visits, determined to uncover what really prompted his sudden move abroad and carrying a threadbare hope that she might finally figure him out.
Atmospheric, humorous and ultimately uplifting, Wunderland is a brilliantly wrought dual character study that sensitively wrestles family and mental health, identity and the erasure of self.
Did Ye hear Mammy Died? A Memoir, by Séamas O’Reilly
Little, Brown Book Group. £16.99
O’Reilly’s memoir is a book about a family of argumentative, loud, musical, sarcastic, grief-stricken siblings, shepherded into adulthood by a man whose foibles and reticence were matched only by his love for his children and his determination that they would flourish.
It is the moving, often amusing and completely unsentimental story of an Irish boy growing up in a family bonded by love, loss and fairly relentless mockery.
Old Ireland in Colour 2, by John Breslin and Sarah-Anne Buckley
Merrion Press. £21.99.
Old Ireland in Colour 2 is a photographic history of Ireland stretching back to the very start of photography in the country in the mid-19th century.
It is a sequel to 2020’s award-winning bestseller Old Ireland in Colour.
The book further celebrates the rich history of Ireland and the Irish people from all walks of life in 150 images, with all thirty-two counties represented.
The book covers rural and urban scenes in Ireland that have largely disappeared, along with scenic views, portraits of political figures, writers, farmers, fishermen and explorers.
The series of books has been collated by John Breslin, a Professor at NUI Galway, and Sarah-Anne Buckley, a lecturer in History at NUI Galway and President of the Women’s History Association of Ireland. Read More…
