English Countess, Irish Earl: the social world of Frances, Countess of Clanricard, 1567–1632, by Bernadette Cunningham (Four Courts Press, €39.95 / £35.00).   his biographical investigation of one woman’s life reveals a very great deal about the dangers, personal, social, political and religious that affected even the lives of  the great in a “glorious” period…

Letter from America 1946-2004, by Alistair Cooke (Allen Lane / Penguin Books, €14.99pb  / £25.00 hb) Here is a most enthralling book that echoes the great days of radio, when a human voice, albeit of a great journalist, could engage people with current affairs in a way that our snippy-snappy media does not in our…

Fountain of Living Water: Poetry, Prayers and Hymns of the Mystics of the Early Church of the East (Gracewing, £12.99 / €15.50) When many people read the gospels they think they are hearing the words of Jesus himself. But the gospels were written in a Greek dialect; Jesus actually spoke Aramaic. Here in Ireland we…

Gothic: Building Castles in post-Union Ireland, by Judith Hill (Four Courts Press, € 50.00 / £45.00)   Castles have an immediate appeal to many people, myself among them. I can still recall as a special moment of my childhood my first visit with my family to Charleville Castle near Tullamore in a now long distant…

The Ox and the Ass of the Manger, by Jules Supervielle, translated from the original French by Sr Elizabeth McGeown (Published at the Carmelite Monastery, Star of the Sea, Seapark, Malahide, €4.99 plus p+p; email rmebodc@gmail.com) This is an unusual little book. Intended perhaps as a Christmas gift, this is a poetic evocation of the nativity…

Ulysses in Limericks, by Tom Matthews (New Island Books, €9.95)   The caricatures of Tom Matthews have been a fixture of Irish and British publications for several decades. His talent is of a partial kind. With great economy of line he can deflate those overblown attitudes which are so common these if only in the…