Markus Zusak and John Boyne struck up a friendship while promoting their bestselling Holocaust-themed novels, The Book Thief and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. On Saturday, they discuss Zusak’s long-awaited new novel, Bridge of Clay. Brian Hanley, author of The Impact of the Troubles on the Republic of Ireland, 1968-79: Boiling Volcano?, looks at Jack Lynch’s threat to introduce internment before the diastrous policy was imposed north of the Border. Paraic O’Donnell whose book review cliche bingo card recently went viral on Twitter, celebrates the art of the hatchet job.
Speaking of reviews – see what I did there? – we have Seán Hewitt on Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak; Neil Hegarty on Dermot Bolger’s An Ark of Light; Christopher Kissane on Diarmaid Ferriter’s On the Edge: Ireland’s Offshore Islands, A Modern History; Derek Turner on Europe: A Natural History by Tim Flannery; Henrietta McKervey on Seashaken Houses: A Lighthouse History from Eddystone to Fastnet by Tom Nancollas: Patrick Skene Catling on J P Donleavy: The Ginger Man Letters, edited by Bill Dunn; Mark Brennock on Ed Vulliamy’s When Words Fail; John McAuliffe on Robin Robertson’s The Long Take; Fintan O’Toole on 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari; Sarah Gilmartin on Things That Make the Heart Beat Faster by João Morais; Sara Keating on the best new children’s books; and Julie Parsons on The Woman of Rome by Alberto Moravia; plus we have new poems by Gerard Fanning and Frank Ormsby.
And if all that isn’t enough, with every purchase of The Irish Times in Eason’s this weekend – for why stop at one? – you can buy Uncommon Type by Tom Hanks for €4.99, a saving of €6.
