The latest paperbacks reviewed
The Line of Beauty Alan Hollinghurst Picador, £7.99
The 1980s: the decade style forgot, or so late-night TV generally assures us. But the '80s was also the decade of disillusion, of moral and political ambiguity and, finally, of Aids. Not the most promising of fictional material. Enter Alan Hollinghurst: one part shrewd observer, one part masterful prose stylist. The Line of Beauty is narrated by Nick Guest, a young gay man who moves into the attic room of his best friend's house, only to become entangled in the family's business, much of which is - emotionally, at least - anything but beautiful. Nick's great passion in life is the writing of Henry James, but he's not averse to the odd line of coke washed down with champagne, either: and that's just for breakfast. Funny and sad and richly satisfying, The Line of Beauty may just be the most compulsively readable novel ever to have won the Man Booker Prize.
Arminta Wallace
From Dún Síon to Croke Park: The Autobiography Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh Penguin, £7.99
Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh has written a warm, evocative autobiography that vibrates with the love and affection he clearly retains for his native place of Dún Síon in Co Kerry but will bring hours of enjoyment to readers from all corners of Ireland and beyond. He writes of the simple life of rural Ireland from the 1930s onwards and celebrates the customs and pastimes, the warmth of companionship and the sense of community that welded the people together. As a result, it is sometimes difficult not to conclude that while times were undoubtedly harder, the quality of life was infinitely better. And while the book will find particular favour with sports enthusiasts it will win thousands of admirers among readers who have never witnessed a greyhound race or seen a Munster hurling final.
Eugene McEldowney
11 Emerald Street Hugh O'Donnell Vintage, £6.99
As an altar boy living in Dublin, Robbie knows all the Latin prayers, the Holy Days and the sins of the flesh he hasn't yet tried, being only 11. Blessed with a fertile imagination and a desire to always do good for family and friends, he is a sweetly askew spirit wandering through the magical address that is Emerald Street. When he suffers a head injury in the crush to get into Croke Park for the St Patrick's Day matches, he is convinced he sees God and is given the power to work miracles. O'Donnell tells an hilarious and touching story of a child's belief in the power of faith to counter life's challenges - despite signs to the contrary. Robbie's lack of sentimentality whisks us through events that may or may not actually be happening outside his head. Even if the effort to sustain a child's narrative slips away from O'Donnell here and there, this is still a delightful read.
Claire Looby
The Jesuits: Missions, Myths and Histories Jonathan Wright HarperCollins, £9.99
The blurb on the cover says it's "a roller-coaster read", but one shouldn't imagine this is a tale of the swashbuckling St Ignatius Loyola and his loyal Francis Xavier - and how they courageously defied the odds to found the most important and influential, not to mention reviled, religious order in the Catholic Church. But roller coaster is a fitting description of the way in which Wright's heavily researched and detailed history pays little heed to space or time. He leaps from period to period, place to place, as we hear anecdotes about great Jesuits in far flung countries. The approach is initially appealing, but never quite coalesces into a comprehensive narrative, leaving the reader with the unavoidable feeling that, for all the tales of proselytising and persecution we are told, the Society of Jesus remains unexplained.
Davin O'Dwyer
Moscow 1812: Napoleon's Fatal March Adam Zamoyski HarperCollins, £8.99
Long a source of fascination for historians, the triumphant march and ignominious retreat from Moscow by Napoleon's Grande Armée has entered our collective consciousness, although more for the great works of art it inspired rather than the war itself. It was a war neither of the protagonists wanted. On what became a bloody chessboard the two massive armies - Tsar Alexander's eventually numbering 904,000 - fought each other until poor planning forced Napoleon's retreat. The defeat ended French hegemony in central Europe and allowed for the rise of patriotic nationalism in both Germany and Russia: events that would have far-reaching consequences. Zamoyski's book is a riveting read worthy of its epic subject, and looks set to become the standard by which all future histories on the period will be judged.
Martin Noonan
In the Shadow of the Ombú Tree Hugh Fitzgerald Ryan Chaos Press, €11.95
This is a story about calf love, adult love, disillusionment and contentment. It is a tale of innocence, blind bravery, but above all else, about the dignity of man, or, in this instance, a woman. The woman in question is Catherine Doyle of Wexford who, in 1864 and when still at school, takes a shine to young John Cardiff and runs away with him to Uruguay. Thereafter they manage as best they can in a hostile environment. How they cope with this challenge is the essence of this fascinating story. Six children later they return home to Ireland to much changed circumstances. This is a tender tale, told in beautiful, unforced prose which vividly evokes the dirt, hardship and beauty of Uruguay. there is also occasional gentle humour. The author in reality is writing about his great-grandparents; the result is a beautiful work of fiction from a vivid imagination.
Owen Dawson