The Irish Times reviews a selection of paperbacks.
Rathcormick: A Childhood Recalled. Homan Potterton, Vintage, £7.99
While the heart of this memoir is serious about giving voice to middle-class Protestants, the tone is often Just William. The child-slanted narrative of the young Homan and his dog, Rusty, makes us laugh as he chronicles his own rites of passage. In order for the two girls and six boys to grow up, Papa had to be cajoled, outmanoeuvred, duped or told, while Mamma was reasonable, sensible and affectionate. In the chapter 'One of our Own' we learn that non-Anglo-Irish Protestants "were not landowners, but tenants in perpetuity". They had neither English relations nor sons in the British army and were usually educated in Ireland. This profile sharpens its focus with fine distinctions like the degree of interest in royalty, the radio and TV programmes listened to and watched, and the magazines and newspapers taken - a shapely book, with charming pen-and-ink sketches. - Kate Bateman
Gwen Raverat: Friends, Family and Affections. Frances Spalding, Pimlico, £18
Raverat, whose father was an eminent academic at Cambridge, was a grandchild of Darwin. Born in 1885, her childhood was one of privilege. Unlike her immediate family she discovered her talent was as an artist and she attended the Slade. Marriage to Frenchman and fellow-artist Jacques Raverat followed in 1911. However, the first World War smashed their world. In addition, her ensuing life with Jacques became an agony as he got multiple sclerosis and edged slowly towards death in 1925. But Raverat had two daughters and, armed with her quiet confidence and talent as a wood engraver, she made a career as an artist. Her gift of observation resulted in her greatest achievement, Period Piece, published in 1952. Spalding describes it as "dry, observant, witty and direct", which is a fine description of her own prose. - John McBratney
The Mughal Throne: The Saga of India's Great Emperors. Abraham Eraly Phoenix, £10.99
An entertaining and informative journey charting the rise of the Mughal dynasty while examining the lives, concerns and fascinations of the first six of the 11 Indian emperors - Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb - who each in their different way ruled with a ruthless, ego-driven aggression that helped preserve thrones, cities, artefacts and harems while advocating war, pillage and plunder. Retracing events that lasted 175 years, Eraly reconstructs an empire of family in-fighting, serial jealousies and multiple fratricides at a time when succession to, and control of, the throne was an unhealthy line of work and a lifelong burden. This volume of late- medieval Indian history, from 1526 to 1707, is part of Eraly's four-volume study, India Retold, that, when concluded, will comprise the history of India from its beginnings up until 1858. - Paul O'Doherty
Mary, Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley. Alison Weir
Pimlico, £8.99
The murder of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, the husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, is the most celebrated mystery in Scottish history. It featured a range of pretty ghastly characters. Darnley had a knack of making enemies, so there was no shortage of potential assassins. The marriage brought Mary little joy; he was a most unattractive character who behaved despicably in the Rizzio murder plot, which was aimed at the queen also, then changed sides, thus signing his own death warrant. Weir undermines accounts that tried to implicate Mary in the murder. Not only were the real culprits guilty of murder and of pinning the blame on Mary, but they were responsible for "one of the greatest injustices in history". Their campaign of "baseless and vicious slander" led to her forced abdication, flight to England, 19 years as a prisoner of Elizabeth, and execution. - Brian Maye
Fire Mountain. Peter Morgan, Bloomsbury, £8.99
On the French Caribbean island of Martinique on May 8th, 1902, the town of Saint-Pierre and all of its 30,000 inhabitants were engulfed by hundreds of tons of super-heated gas and volcanic debris. In the inferno that followed all but one, Ludger Sylbaris, perished. This is his amazing story, and the story of the island paradise that was his home. To the north of the island stood Mont Pelée, or "La Montagne" as the Pierrotins affectionately called it, for man and mountain had lived together for more than 350 years with scarcely a cross word until that apocalyptic day. Peter Morgan's ability to draw together the political, the scientific and the human lifts this tale of paradise lost above the run-of-the-mill disaster story - a story Ludger Sylbaris, dubbed "The Most Marvellous Man on Earth", went on to recount daily in Barnum and Bailey's travelling circus. - Martin Noonan
Irish Girls are Back in Town. Pocket Books/Townhouse, 9.99
All right, girls, get that bathwater running, chuck in some of that pearly pink bubbly stuff and get the fluffy towels warming on the radiator. The successor to Irish Girls About Town, a collection of easy-reading, pacy stories written by women known for their clever, sassy writing, has arrived. Authors such as Patricia Scanlan, Morag Prunty, Julie Parsons, Cecelia Ahern, Deirdre Purcell, Catherine Foley and Rosaleen Linehan have contributed pieces about women's lives at all ages, and they're more fun than a rake of Cosmopolitans. As you poke through the mounds of bubbles with your toes, you can luxuriate in a selection of entertaining stories of romance, betrayal, friendship and more. A great alternative to the pub-to-club route, and both you and your wallet will be feeling so much better tomorrow. And €1.27 of every copy sold goes to Barnardo's. - Christine Madden.