Women Writing War: Ireland 1880 – 1922 edited by Tina O’Toole, Gillian McIntosh, Muireann Ó Cinnéide (University College Dublin Press, €30) This is a collection of essays about war written from a feminist perspective. In the opening essay Diane Urquhart focuses on Anna Parnell, an archetypal feminist firebrand. Born in 1852, Anna was a sister…
Good Seed, Fertile Soil: Religious Vocations in Limerick: Biographical Dictionary: I West Limerick by J.M. Feheney (Iverus Publications, €25; copies from the author at jmfeheny@iol.ie, or The Bookstore, Newcastle West) This biographical dictionary features short profiles of almost 1,000 deceased members of the clergy and religious congregations from the 24 parishes in West Limerick. The…
Living Stream of Catholicism: View of the Catholic Church Through the Centuries by Eamon Flanagan (St Pauls, £7.95) The author sets out to highlight the living stream of Catholicism throughout the centuries and this he achieves in prose and poetry. At the outset he divides world history into a number of segments which will be…
Sisters of the Revolutionaries: The story of Margaret & Mary Brigid Pearse, by Teresa & Mary Louise O’Donnell (Merrion Press,€14.99). This is an excellent account of the sisters of Patrick and Willie Pearse. Since the Pearse sisters died some of the politically motivated commentary on them ranged from the overtly negative to the gratuitously offensive. …
My Memoirs by Peter Malone (Kingdom Books, €25.00; all receipts will go to charity; for details contact Loretto Dalton, lorettodalton@gmail.com) This is a delightful memoir by a proud son of Dundalk. Born in 1944, Peter Malone was educated at the Dominican Friary Primary School and St Mary’s Marist College. Both sides of his family were…
Grace: The Remarkable Life of Grace Grattan Guinness by Michele Guinness (Hodder & Stoughton, £9.99) Grace, born in 1874, was the daughter of Charles Russell Hurditch. He was a leading figure in the Protestant sect known as the Plymouth Brethren. However, she was best known as the second wife of Henry Grattan Guinness (1835–1910). Taney-born…
Going Global for God: A Portrait of Ballyheigue’s Missionary Movement by Micheál Ó hAllmhuráin (Ballyheigue History and Heritage Group; phone: (066) 7133110 (during office hours only), email: ballyheigue@dioceseofkerry.ie) This is a splendid tribute to the men and women from the small parish in Ballyheigue in Co Kerry who spent their lives on the missions at…
Winnie & George: An Unlikely Union by Allison Murphy (Mercier Press, €16.99) This is the story of two almost forgotten figures from the troubled Twenties in Northern Ireland. Winifred (‘Winnie’) Carney was born in Bangor, Co Down, on December 4, 1887. Following her education in a Christian Brothers school in Belfast she graduated from a…
Thomás Flynn, Thomas J. Devine (1862 -1941), and The Election of the Snows: The North Roscommon By-Election of 1917 Published by the author; copes from Trinity Books, Carrick-on-Shannon and The Reading Room, Carrick-on-Shannon, €12. For further information: ring 086 067 5283 On February 6, the result of the North Roscommon Bye-Election of 1917 was announced…
Markievicz: A Most Outrageous Rebel by Lindie Naughton (Merrion Press, €19.99 pb / €65hb ) This is a comprehensive account of the many lives of Constance Gore-Booth also known as Countess Markievicz, the defiant aristocratic hero of the poor of Dublin. She was born in London on February 4, 1868. Her father Sir Henry Gore-Booth…