This collection was inspired by our colleagues who commented that recently many of their favourite reads were courtesy of Irish women. Explore our full collection of Irish authors we love or browse some of the more recent and beloved releases below.

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell

'Set during the Italian Renaissance and based on true events, The Marriage Portrait tells the story of Lucrezia De Medici's doomed marriage to Alfonso d'Este, the Duke of Ferrara. Given in marriage to the man her dead sister was expected to wed, headstrong Lucre chafes under the repressive rule of her mercurial new husband. With her survival and safety entirely reliant upon her ability to secure the Duke's reign by providing him with an heir, the sixteen-year-old Lucre tries to make a place for herself in a hostile court. But time is ticking, and the duke is becoming impatient ...

Gorgeously rendered, and complusively paced, this evocative work of historical fiction transports readers to the dangerous and volatile world of 16th century Europe, introducing them to a protagonist so vivid she seems to be standing over your shoulder.'

– Lian Hingee, digital marketing manager

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

In a quiet 1970s Irish town, as the snow gently falls to herald in the oncoming Christmas, coal merchant Bill Furlong steadily goes about his fuel deliveries. But a discovery during a job at the convent forces him to question his past and the unspoken, insidious power dynamics of the village.

Claire Keegan has created a small object of wonder, with delicately rendered details of everyday life and human behaviour. Small Things Like These is also a Christmas novel, full of heartbreak and compassion for regular folk who endure hardship and precarity even as they create small, bright pools of hope for people around them. Read this book and you will want to shake up each scene like a snow globe, marvelling at its perfect, miniature beauty.

Voted a best read of the last year by our booksellers.

The Colony by Audrey Magee

Irish writers are having a well-deserved moment, and Audrey Magee's The Colony, set on an island off the west coast of Ireland, is a stunning example of the day.

Over the summer of 1979, an English painter and a French linguist vie to capture the island's beauty and language and, in turn, build their own fortune and fame. The island folk watch warily, but ultimately are left changed by the summer, the visitors and the violence reverberating across the country that punctuates their days. Magee masterfully builds a story out of small moments, character and news snippets, that in its layered simplicity will leave you stunned, breathless and more knowing than before.

Voted a best read of the last year by our booksellers.

Trespasses by Louise Kennedy

'The debut novel from the 50-something Kennedy, is a book of tremendous insight, tenderness and emotional intelligence. While the basic premise makes it sound conventional, maybe even clichéd – Belfast, 1975, a 24-year-old Catholic woman has an affair with an older, married Protestant man – it’s the way Kennedy paints inside and outside this central, sensual and completely believable relationship that brings the story to life. Cushla and Michael are beautifully drawn, fully flesh and blood characters, and Kennedy is deeply sensitive to everything that hurts them and makes them feel alive.

Their relationship unfolds amidst the Troubles, making it feel doomed from the start; but it’s so stunningly and intimately observed that every moment between them feels like a bomb going off. Kennedy is so good on the small daily betrayals that come with life in an occupied city – how difficult it is to remain kind, compassionate, and good in the midst of all these compromises. I love this book and I’ve been evangelising about it all over the shop to whoever will listen.'

– Joanna DiMattia, Readings Carlton bookseller