Reader's Choice

Eugene McCabe's Death and Nightingales (Minerva, £6.99) is a powerful tale of sectarian and domestic vengeance from the late 19th century, which foreshadows the present troubles in Ulster. Set in Fermanagh, the dominant theme is love of place. A mixed marriage, a murderous servant, an unwanted daughter are the cast, with a ritualistic opening and closing as mesmeric as the language in which each express their thwarted passions. On the lighter side, one of the finest scenes, in which sectarian troubles are put aside, is that in which the singer Percy French performs to a packed town hall in Enniskillen.