A Family Matter by Claire Lynch: Serviceable, highly readable but a bit preachy
The book centres on the author’s noble desire to illustrate the hideous treatment of lesbian mothers in British courts
By Lucy Sweeney Byrne
Timothy O’Grady: ‘You feel miserable most of the time when you’re writing’
Military Maverick: a British war hero who later aided the IRA
Claire Adam on childhood summers in Ireland: ‘My grandmother from Skibbereen lived to 108’
Artists, Siblings, Visionaries: The lives and loves of Gwen and Augustus John by Judith Mackrell - pithy, incisive and fascinating
Perfect Storm by Thane Gustafson: A thorough study of the use and abuse of sanctions on Russia, and what could happen next
Europe without Borders: a detailed history of the Schengen system - Skilful account of a tense balancing of freedoms
Niall Montgomery ‘originated an Irish form of jazz-inspired sound poetry’
SHORT STORIES
Book Club
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POETRY
Saraswati by Gurnaik Johal: A novel of immense range that deserves a very wide readership
By Naoise Dolan
Crime fiction: Megan Abbott, Elmore Leonard, Luke Beirne, Paul Vidich, Karin Slaughter and K Anis Ahmed
By Elizabeth Mannion and Brian Cliff
