El Generalísimo Franco: Power, Violence and the Quest for Greatness, by Giles Tremlett (Bloomsbury, £30 / €35.00) Giles Tremlett, who lives in Spain, has a deep understanding of that country’s past. He is the author of a remarkable account of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. Here, however, moving on in time,…
Unsurprisingly, quite a few Lent related items featured in the media last week. The News in Depth (EWTN, Friday) covered Pope Leo’s Lenten Message, with its striking call for a worthy type of abstinence – refraining “from words that offend and hurt.” He called for a “disarming” of language, “avoiding harsh words and rash judgement.”…
Two Middle-Aged Ladies in Andalusia, by Penelope Chetwode (Eland Publishing, £14.99 / €17.50) This is the time of the year when we find so many people we wish to contact or speak to have “gone to Spain”. Indeed, the whole Irish people seems to have lost their hearts to Spain. But their Spain is as…
When I was in college, back in the days when the earth’s crust was still warm, we saw Emily Brontë as the preserve of intellectuals. Charlotte, her sister, was for the middle-of-the-roaders. How we knew it all then. Wuthering Heights (15A) has been filmed over forty times. The latest version has Margot Robbie and Jacob…
Uncertain Passage, by Paddy Bushe (Dedalus Press, €12.50pb / €20 hb) Paddy Bushe’s latest book, Uncertain Passage, is a triumph. His poems, like the blackbird in his eponymous haiku, are “So ordinary / Yet still incomparably / The sweetest of all.” Like the goldfinch of another haiku, his wise words illuminate us. A poet…
Converts: From Oscar Wilde to Muriel Spark, why so many became Catholic in the 20th Century, by Melanie McDonagh (Yale University Press, £25.00 / €28.99) Melanie McDonagh is an Arklow woman, educated at Cambridge after school in Ireland, who has had a stellar career in London journalism. Among other accomplishments as a columnist, she has carved…
The Testament of Ann Lee (R) is a visceral, high-voltage musical directed by Mona Fastvold. It stars Amanda Seyfried as the eponymous 18th century founder of the woman-led ‘Shaker’ religious cult. The daughter of Mancunian Quakers, Lee came from a poverty-stricken background. When she was 22 she joined a sect run by ‘Mother’ Jane Wardley,…
Confluences of Law and History. Irish Legal History Society Discourses and Other Papers, 2011-21, ed. by Niamh Howlin & Felix M. Larkin (Four Courts Press, €55.00 / £50.00) Usually, edited collections of historical essays are thematic and derive from papers presented at a conference. However, the papers presented in this edited collection received their original…
So, Lent has begun again and many of us fall into familiar patterns – hopefully we will celebrate Easter as better people, closer to God. Divine Sparks with Aine Lawlor (RTÉ Radio 1, Friday) delved into past and present Lenten practices. Aine Lawlor believed things hadn’t changed much over the years in that respect, especially…
Baz Luhrmann directed an electrifying biopic of Elvis Presley, Elvis, in 2022. While researching it, he discovered a treasure trove of previously unseen footage of Elvis in concert. He couldn’t use this, obviously, since another person (Austin Butler) was playing Elvis in the film. All we saw of the ‘real’ Elvis was a few minutes…
Brendan O’Regan
Peter Costello
Aubrey Malone