Teresa Ball and Loreto Education: Convents and the Colonial World 1794 -1875 by Deirdre Raftery (Four Courts Press 2022) Frances Ball was born in Dublin on January 9, 1794. John Ball, her father, was a wealthy Dublin silk merchant. Although a convert, he was at that time one of the most prominent Catholic citizens of Dublin.…

Limerick: Snapshots of the Treaty City and County 1840–1960 by Tom Donovan and Vincent Carmody, forward by JP McManus, preface by Matthew Potter (Poundlane Publications, €35.00/£30.00) Limerick is a much-storied city which traces its origin back to its establishment by the Vikings in 821. The authors take just a snapshot of that history, zooming in on…

Devotion: A Memoir by Mickey Harte as told to Brendan Coffey (Harper-Collins Ireland , €24.99/£21.99) Owing to his role as manager of the Tyrone senior football team, the face of Mickey Harte is one of the most recognisable in the country. This book leaves one in no doubt about the truly remarkable character of the…

Under fire in Ballymacandy: How ‘the Troubles’ came to an Irish village Ballymacandy: The Story of a Kerry Ambush by Owen O’Shea (Irish Academic Press, €14.95/£12.99) In his latest book Kerry Historian Owen O’Shea provides a dispassionate account of the details surrounding the deadly ambush at Ballymacandy on June 1, 1921 dealing even-handedly with all…

The Crosbies of Cork, Kerry, Laois and Leinster by Michael Christopher Keane (Beechgrove, Ovens; ISBN: 9781527297418; €20.00/£18.00) The author, Michael Christopher Keane, is a practised hand at research and writing, having already written extensively about the Crosbie family. In From Laois to Kerry (2016) he recorded the life and times of Patrick Crosbie (c. 1550-1610) and…

Periodicals and Journalism in Twentieth-Century Ireland 2: A Variety of Voices,  edited Mark O’Brien and Felix M. Larkin (Four Courts Press, €50.00) This new book complements an earlier volume on periodicals and journalism, also edited by Mark O’Brien and Felix Larkin, which was published back in 2014. The two volumes, taken together, offer a comprehensive overview…

Returning Light: 30 Years of Life on Skellig Michael by Robert L. Harris (Harper Collins Ireland, €13.99 / £14.99) This is a tale about a remarkable location, a remarkable monastery and a remarkable person. The remarkable location consists of two huge pinnacles of rock reaching skywards from the sea-bed of the North Atlantic 11 and…

On Dangerous Ground: A Memoir of the Irish Revolution by Máire Comerford Hilary Dully (The Lilliput Press, Dublin, €20.00) This is a fascinating diary written by a republican ‘true believer’. From 1916 until her death in 1982, Máire Comerford was totally committed to the struggle for independence as understood by many of those elected to…

Prison Journal: vol. 2 The State Court Rejects the Appeal by George Pell (Ignatius Press, £14.50 / $19.95) The context in which this journal (one of three) was written is a sobering morality tale. Cardinal George Pell was born in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, on June 8, 1941. He was educated at the Loreto convent school…