Summer outings (No.5 in a six-part series) Today Richard Hayward’s long series of books, over seven of them, all dealing with his journeys into the four provinces and into the mind and imaginations of his countrymen, north and south, are out of print and long forgotten. An Ulster man of many parts, he died in…
One might not think Beethoven could fall victim to Covid-19 but in a way he has. With the closure of our concert venues live performances of his music have either been postponed or abandoned. Unfortunate really as this year celebrates the 250th anniversary of his birth. At the time of writing, the National String Quartet…
John Ferrall: Master of Sligo Workhouse, 1852-66 by Fergus O’Ferrall (Four Courts Press, €9.95/£6.95) This is a valuable account of the life and times of the master of a workhouse. It is a work of pietas. The author indicates that John Ferrall was the brother of his great-grandfather. To care for the sick and indigent, known…
With such grim material in the news and current affairs programmes these days, it’s welcome when they are followed by something lighter. I enjoyed Des’s Island Discs (RTÉ Radio One) last Tuesday after Drivetime when Des Cahill’s guest was Archbishop Eamon Martin. I knew the Archbishop was a fine singer, but learned on the show…
Rodham: a novel by Curtis Sittenfeld (Doubleday, £16.99) Felix M. Larkin Towards the end of this novel (which will make an ideal summer ‘beach read’, if only on Playa de Backgarden), one of the characters speaks about “the sense most of us have that there are other lives out there we could have led”. This novel…
You may have been reading about Fatima, a film that deals with the Fatima apparitions, in recent months. Its release was delayed due to the coronavirus, but this wasn’t seen as a problem by its producer, Natasha Howes. “People have more time to listen to the story now,” she says. Its release in 2020 is…
Summer outings (No.4 in a six-part series) My first visit to Iona was a memorable event in my life. After a long dreary drive across the central valley of Mull, we came down to the little port from where visitors took the ferry to the island. It was now a sunny afternoon. The sea bed…
The news cycle last week was dominated by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the Beirut bombing and the death of John Hume, and in a way they were all connected. As if the people of Lebanon hadn’t enough to put up with, what with political turmoil and the pandemic, that massive explosion earlier in the week…
War, Suffering and the Struggle for Human Rights by Peadar King (Liffey Press, €19.95/£18.95) Anthony Redmond I remember many years ago, when I read Wilfred Owen’s powerful anti-war poem, Dulce Et Decorum Est, how deeply it affected me with its description of the sheer horror, obscenity and cruelty of war. It was a poem that really made…
Adomnán’s Lex Innocentium and the Laws of War by James W. Houlihan (Four Courts Press, €50.00 /£45.00) In this book the ordinary reader will find an account of the roots of the views about the treatments of innocent civilians, clergy and other unarmed folk in time of war. It is a discussion of the Cáin Adomnáin…
Peter Costello
Brendan O’Regan
Aubrey Malone