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. …
The Catholic Mom’s Prayer Companion. A Book of Daily Devotion, edited by Lisa Hendey and Sarah A. Reinhard (Ave Maria Press, $16.95; available online) There cannot be these days a more harassed set of people than the Catholic mothers of the world. This book is as the title suggests, of North American origin. That said…
About Being Normal: My life in Abnormal Circumstances by Desmond Fennell (Somerville Press, €20.20 / £17.00) This memoir provides an interesting account of the life and writings of Desmond Fennell, who has long been a striking voice in modern Ireland. Fennell was born in Belfast in 1929. After attending the Christian Brothers’ O’Connell School and…
Joe Carroll Nothing Is Written In Stone: The Notebooks of Justin Keating Edited by Barbara Hussey and Anna Kealy (Lilliput Press, €20.00) Justin Keating intended to write a autobiography, but died in 2009 on the eve of his 80th birthday leaving eight handwritten notebooks. His second wife, Barbara Hussey, and Anna Kealy have done their…
The World of Books Every summer some 700,000 people come together in the Breton town of Lorient for the Festival Interceltique, which sees a gathering not just of musicians and singers, but also poets, writers, and community leaders from the Celtic fringe of Western Europe, from Galicia to Galloway. But in all this feast of…
The Legacy of Irish Missionaries Lives On by Matt Moran (OnStream, €15.00) With the apparent decline of priestly vocations, the nature of Irish missionary movement has changed. I say apparent because in reality it may be that the call that was responded to in the past still exists, it is merely that the responses to…
Patrick Claffey The Book of Joy by the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu, edited by Douglas Abrams (Hutchinson, £12.99) A few years ago, taking a taxi into Nassau St to teach a module at Trinity College, the Dublin driver asked me what I taught. That afternoon, I told him, I was to give a lecture…
Time with the Master: Reflections on the Life of Jesus by Seamus Devitt CSsR (Messenger Publications, €7.95) Though Christmas seems to dominate the annual round, Easter Sunday has always been for Chrstians the central feast day of the year. As we celebrate next Sunday this little book by Fr Devitt will remind many people that…
Youghal Celebrates 1916 ed. Kieran Groeger (Youghal Celebrates History, €10; address Mary’s College, Emmett Place, Youghal Co. Cork; email: ytta@eircom.net) This booklet marking Youghal’s contribution to the 1916 celebrations includes a number of interesting articles, one of them relating to Sir Roger Casement. Patrick Cockburn writes about a link between his grandfather, Jack Arbuthnot, a…
The World of Books On January 20, 1947, The Times of London carried a short report: “NEW YORK. At 10.15 a.m. yesterday Mayor O’Dwyer, of New York, received a telegram from Mr John McCann, Lord Mayor of Dublin, which read as follows: ‘Poet Eoghan Roe Ward dying. Bananas may save life. Is it possible send…