At this time of the year the bookshops are filled with books of all kinds, a great many simply produced for immediate seasonal sale, with little hope that they will be of any lasting value to anyone in the months, let alone the years to come.  However, among these daunting piles of printed paper for…

It is As it Is: a True Story of Hope Loss and Friendship by Malina Stahre-Godycka (Veritas, €14.99)

“Ancient Sweet Donoughmore”: Life in an Irish rural parish to 1900 by Gerard O’Rourke (Redmond Grove Publications, €35.00 including p+p)

A True Symbol of the City of Dublin – The Ha’penny Bridge Dublin by Michael English and others (Dublin City Council, €24.95pb / €34.95hb)

The Catholic Church and the Campaign for Emancipation in Ireland and England by Ambrose Macaulay (Four Courts Press, €40.00)

All Out War: The Full Story of How Brexit Sank Britain’s Political Class by Tim Shipman (William Collins, £25)

Creating Space: The Education of a Broadcaster by Andy O’Mahony (Liffey Press, €22.95)

The World of Books

“A Failed Political Entity”: Charles Haughey and the Northern Ireland Question 1945-1992 by Stephen Kelly (Merrion Press, €24.99 pb / €75.00 hb)

Aristotelian Interpretations by Fran O’Rourke (Irish Academic Press, €29.99)