The First Rose of Tralee A novel by Patricia O’Reilly (Poolbeg, €15.99) The fact file on ‘The Rose of Tralee’ claims that the words of the song were composed by Edmund Mordaunt Spencer, the music by Charles William Glover. However local tradition claims that it was written by William Pembroke Mulchinock, a wealthy Protestant, who…
Angels: A Visible and Invisible History by Peter Stanford (Hodder & Stoughton, £20.00) “Angels and ministers of grace defend us!”: when Hamlet encounters the ghost of his father on the parapet of Elsinore he appeals to the angels to preserve him, which is quite in keeping with the Catholic cast of Shakespeare’s imagination, poised as he…
Live While You Can: A memoir of faith, hope and the power of acceptance by Fr Tony Coote (Hachette Books Ireland, €15.99 / £13.99) Dancing to my Death with the Love Called Cancer by Daniel O’Leary (Columba Books, €16.99 / £14.99) It has often been said that in polite western society death is the…
Richard Devane SJ: Social Commentator and Advocate, 1876 – 1951 by Martin Walsh (Messenger Publications, €19.95) Thomas J. Morrissey This is a welcome tribute to a man of great zeal and energy, of strong social and religious commitment, who influenced many people, but alienated some by his impatience to bring about change. Born and educated in…
Mainly About Books By the books editor The other day there came into my hands a unique book, quite unknown I think to readers outside Italy. It is called Monte Cassino under Fire: War Diaries from the Abbey, by Eusebio Grossetti and Martino Matronola, edited by Faustino Avagliano (Abbazia di Montecassino, 2018). My father…
The Badly Behaved Bible: Thinking again about the story of Scripture by Nick Page (Hodder & Stoughton, £16.99) This is a book which many people really need, but do not realise that they do. Anyone truly interested in the power of the Scriptures should read it. I suspect that for many people it may have a…
What Have the Irish ever Done for Us? by David Forsythe (Currach Books, €14.99). This is an interesting collection of brief biographical accounts of Irish people who have made a significant impact on the world at large. The author defines an Irish person as one born in Ireland, or residing in the country, or identifying as…
The History and Heritage of St James’s Hospital Dublin by Davis Coakley & Mary Coakley (Four Courts Press, €40.00) These days the site at St James’s Hospital has become a controversial place due to the development scheme for the National Children’s hospital, which has in recent times been taking up so much space in the newspapers.…
Shaping Ireland: Landscapes in Irish Art National Gallery of Ireland, Merrion Square, Dublin Beit Wing Rooms 6-10, Exhibition runs to July 7 These days, when everyone is so conscious of the world around them and with environmental matters, it will come as a surprise to many to discover that the admiration of landscape is quite…
A Broad Church: the Provisional IRA in the Republic of Ireland, 1969-1980 Gearóid Ó Faoleán (Merrion Press, €19.95 / £16.99) Felix M. Larkin The controversial – and, for some, uncomfortable – argument of this book is that, to quote from it, “there was a sizable though ultimately immeasurable [sic] body of tolerance, if not support, for militant…
Peter Costello