Nonesuch by Francis Spufford: Distinctly Narnian in timbre – pure story of the richest kind
Part of the game of Nonesuch is to restore the reality of the second World War to a Narnian story of magic
Book Reviews
Among Communists by Sinéad Morrissey: memoir captures North in pressure cooker of weirdness
Memoir expresses an attitude of observation that rhymes quietly with poetry, a revelation of a writer and her experience
All Them Dogs by Djamel White: Magical writing which tenderises the most hardened characters
Novel is filled with a street lyricism that mines masculinity in a manner reminiscent of Jim Carroll or Robert McLiam Wilson
The Visit by Neil Tully: Lyrical debut novel asks what happens to those left behind
A once insular Wexford community casts its gaze outwards as it prepares to welcome JFK
The News from Dublin by Colm Tóibín: Stories by a writer with complete command of the craft
New short story collection ranges over territories familiar to Tóibín’s readers: Wexford, Catalonia, Argentina and the US
Fiction in translation: City Like Water; Women Without Men; X is Where I Am; You Are the Fuhrer’s Unrequited Love
A nightmarish cityscape that is identifiably Hong Kong; a classic of oppression in Iran; a celebration of queer lives; and a stark exploration of Albert Speer
James Joyce - A Political Life by Frank Callanan: Depth and detail over a wide historical canvas
Book’s raison d’être is to magnify the effect of Charles Stewart Parnell and his downfall on Joyce for the whole of his career
Book reviews in brief: A Better Death; Wilderness of Mirrors; The Throats of Birds
New releases cover assisted dying, race in South Africa and Ireland reimagined as a surrealist dystopia
What We Tried to Bury Grows Here by Julian Zabalbeascoa: traumatic Spanish Civil War impact captured
Everything is torn apart in this moving novel: families, lovers, decency and indeed the narrative itself
Our Martin and All the Dead Voices: two republican takes on three decades of violence
Jim McVeigh writes the apologia for Martin McGuinness’s life, while Sinn Féin figure Danny Morrison revises and updates his memoir
Muskism: essential to understanding where we are and how we got here
A convincing case that Muskism has been possible only because our culture celebrates gross inequality and derides empathy and the common good
Elemental by Arthur Snell: how climate change influences who holds world power
A tough read, but a valuable one. Snell presents us with some fascinating geopolitical nuances
We Need to Talk about Roy by Dave Hannigan: Game effort, but Roy Keane is no Katie Taylor
Interesting observations on the Corkman’s influence on Irish rugby and tabloids
As If by Isabel Waidner: the absurdity of living with your shadow self
Review: Comically intricate layers slowly reveal themselves in the fifth novel by Goldsmiths Prize-winner Isabel Waidner
Crosswords & Puzzles
Crosswords & puzzles to keep you challenged and entertained
Common Ground
How does a post-Brexit world shape the identity and relationship of these islands
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