Fiction in translation: works from Palestine, Catalonia, France, Germany and Sweden
Reissues and new translations of Mourid Barghouti, Pol Guasch, Catherine Axelrad, Ibtisam Azem, Hanna Johannson and Yoko Towada
Mother Naked: Dazzling work of speculative fiction set in 15th century
Glen James Brown uses his mastery of medieval idiom to weave a tale of fear, violence and class tensions
The Coin by Yasmin Zaher: Mad, brilliant novel about a Palestinian woman in New York
Obsessive cleaning and cynicism about designer brands are elements of this debut about a Palestinian woman
Moderate to Poor, Occasionally Good by Eley Williams: Moderate to good, occasionally great
The occasional misfires in this collection are easy to overlook amid so many delightfully comic stories executed with precision and care
Irish First Ladies and First Gentlemen, 1919-2011 by Bernadette Whelan: All the presidents’ spouses
An informative and eminently readable work about an undefined but important role in Irish public life
Ireland out of England: The learned forgetting and remembering of a unionist Brexiteer
Brendan O’Leary gets to grips with John Wilson Foster’s collection of essays
Identity by John Sweetman: a good cop comes clean
Former Garda John Sweetman looks back on his career, both as a mule and a member of the Garda Technical Bureau
Look at the USA: A Diary of War and Home: Truth of photos fuels human sorrow
Peter van Agtmael’s unsettling photographs portray the misery and horror of violent conflict
The Last Sane Woman: Friendship, feminism and the art world
Hannah Regel’s debut novel is wrought with tenderness and a buoyant light touch
Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors: Crackling sibling chemistry
Second novel from the author of Cleopatra and Frankenstein focuses on three sisters
Going Home by Tom Lamont: beautiful, compelling story of male relationships
Despite plot holes, this novel is worth persevering with
Birding by Rose Ruane: Friendship, friction and moments of reckoning
Author’s playful sense of humour adds levity to this moving and uplifting book
The Night-Soil Men: Funny fictionalised history of the Independent Labour Party
Bill Broady’s vignettes use sharply observant but compassionate caricature to illuminate the UK’s political past
Local history: Six books that lift the lid on times past
Abbey Lea: A Killiney History; Hardiman & Beyond: The Arts & Culture of Galway since 1820; Armagh: The Irish Revolution, 1912-23; and much more
Night of Power by Robert Fisk: A masterly work by a unique and gifted ‘historian of the present’
Posthumous book explores the post-9/11 years in the Middle East, setting his reporting against the background of centuries of meddling by western powers
Cross by Austin Duffy: A high-wire act pulled off with almost complete success
This book is not perfect but it will well wroth reading, not least for its crackling dialogue, jet-black humour and characters that are memorable and complex
Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner: Following up Fleishman Is in Trouble was never going to be easy
This is an enjoyable read in the same vein as the author’s best-selling debut, but there is a lingering sense that she is playing it safe
Bodies by Christine Anne Foley: a slippery, shape-shifting story about the indignities of modern dating
Bodies moves away from its realist literary opening into something approaching horror but ends up being a lot of fun
Best crime fiction: Witness 8 is a welcome addition to Steve Cavanagh’s Eddie Flynn series
Also reviewed: Clete by James Lee Burke; ; Anna Pitoniak’s The Helsinki Affair; Eli Cranor’s Broiler; and Havoc by Deborah J Ledford
The Irish Republican Brotherhood 1914-1924: Diarmaid Ferriter on a very personal Fenian story
This book, the culmination of a very personal mission, is based on detailed research and, although it does not engage with some of the wider contextual questions posed of the IRB, is valuable and often insightful
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