Books

Tana French’s The Wych Elm is this Saturday’s Irish Times Eason offer

A sneak preview of Saturday’s books pages

Martin Doyle's face
Martin Doyle
Thu Sep 26 2019 - 12:26

The Wych Elm by Tana French is this Saturday's Irish Times Eason offer. When you buy the paper, you can also buy the bestselling thriller for just €4.99, a saving of €7. Read our review and our interview by Anna Carey to whet your appetite. French's Dublin Murder Squad series has been adapted for television and is coming to our screens next month.

Waterford writer Megan Nolan has signed a two-book deal with Jonathan Cape, publisher of Anne Enright and Roddy Doyle. Acts of Desperation, her debut novel to be published in spring 2021, tells the story of a young woman as she relives her past affairs – in particular, one intensely toxic relationship with a beautiful but cruel man.

Emma Donoghue will be in Trinity College Dublin on October 3rd to read from her new novel, Akin, and to do a Q&A. Michael Harding will be discussing his new book, Chest Pain, in the Helix, Dublin, on October 2nd and in the Hotel Meyrick, Galway, on October 4th.

The Irish-language poet Dr Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh is the winner of the Michael Hartnett Poetry Award 2019 with her collection Tost agus Allagar, published by Coiscéim. “Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh is one of the best and most exciting poets to have emerged in recent years,” the judges Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill and Gabriel Fitzmaurice said in their citation.

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In Saturday’s books section, Gerald Scarfe talks to Séamas O’Reilly about his memoir, Long Drawn Out Trip; Helen Cullen interviews Suede frontman Brett Anderson about his book, Afternoons with the Blinds Drawn; Denis Staunton talks to Ian McEwan about his Brexit satire, The Cockroach; Rosita Boland talks to the sister of Renia Spiegel, author of Renia’s Diary: A Young Girl’s Life in the Shadow of the Holocaust; and we publish September’s New Irish Writing winning poem and short story.

Reviews include Niamh Donnelly on Republic of Shame by Caelainn Hogan; Suzanne Lynch on The Education of an Idealist by Samantha Power; Matthew O’Toole on For the Record by David Cameron; Helen Cullen on A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier; Anthony Roche on In A Harbour Green: Celebrating Benedict Kiely and two collections of his short stories; Carole Holohan on The Irish Abortion Journey: 1920-2018 by Lindsey Earner-Byrne and Diane Urqhart; Sarah Gilmartin on Daughter of the Storm by Tina Callaghan; Claire Hennessy on the best new YA; and Rob Doyle on Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion.