From the Earth to the Moons and Around It, by Jules Verne (Aladdin Books / Simon & Schuster, €16.50 / £14.50; many other editions also available) The successful voyage around the moon by the crew of Artemis II brought to my mind this pioneering novel by Jules Verne, who is rightly described as the “inventor of…
Census 1926: The opening of the family files of the newly independent Ireland’s first headcount
The big event in Ireland in recent days has been the release by the National Archives of the online version of the digitalised forms filled in by every household in the country on April 18, 1926 forming the first census since 1911, a census which now presents us with a picture of the then Irish…
The visionary eyes and spiritual imagination of William Blake revealed
William Blake: The Age of Romantic Fantasy, by Alice Insley, Anne Hodge and Christina Morin (National Gallery of Ireland / Tate Gallery, €40.00 / £35.00) Exhibition organised by NGI in collaboration with the Tate Gallery, London, curated by Alice Insley and Anne Hodge. Runs to July 19, 2026; Rooms 6-10. Tickets online from €0 – €16. …
Michael Davitt: A man for all people
Exhibition in The Long Room, Trinity College Library, open now, continuing to June 30, 2026. For details, visit visittrinity.ie/book-of-kells-experience. Entrance charge. Booking essential; visit tcd.ie/visitors/. Character is Better than Wealth: The Enduring Legacy of Michael Davitt’ is the broad title of an exhibition currently on display in the Long Room of Trinity College Library. Drawing on…
What ‘The Angelus’ really shows
Over the last half-century or so, art history has become one of the most popular subjects to be pursued at universities. This trend has produced large numbers of people to provide new insights both into the lives of artists and how art is conceived and made. This is all to the good. Yet sometimes there…
The Cosmic Aspect of Human Nature
The Miracle of the Universe: Science, Christian Faith and Personal Experience, by Jim O’Connell, MHM (London St Pauls Publishing, €11.99 / £10.95) The author of this book is a Mill Hill Missionary, who has spent many years in Kenya, as well as at home, teaching and editing. This is his third book, and again…
Love the Heart of all things
The Living Image: Returning to the Heart, by Anna Burke (Messenger Publications, €9.95 / £8.95) Turning from Jim O’Connell to Anna Burke is to encounter a very different apprehension of the human and divine; yet what she has to say seems to grow out from what he writes in a living way, underlining the connectivity…
Secret agents of the faith?
Vatican Spies, from the Second World War to Pope Francis, by Yvonnick Denoël (Hurst and Company, £25.00 / €32.99) This book first appeared in French back in 2021, so it is about time that an English language version appeared, for it will certainly be of great interest, not only to Catholics of all kinds, but also…
The Suitable Man with the Monocle
Dad, by Aubrey Malone (Penniless Press Publications, £.7.99; a print-on-demand book from the publisher Ken Clay at pennilesspress.co.uk; for residents of Ireland, through aubreypmalone@hotmail.com; or locally at the Book Stand, Tone Street, Ballina, Co. Mayo, F26 VF30; tel.: (096) 60370.) Aubrey Malone will be familiar to readers as the film critic of this paper, though he…
The varied career of a now forgotten Irish Jesuit
Robert St Leger SJ, by Thomas J Morrissey SJ (Messenger Publications, €12.95 / £11.50) When one considers the huge number of Irish men who answered the call of a priestly vocation, over the last three centuries it is inevitable that most of them will now be either forgotten or little known. The author of…

Peter Costello







