The Deep End: A Journey with the Sunday Gospels in the Year of Matthew by Tríona Doherty and Jane Mellett (Messenger Publications, €14.95/£12.95) Some readers may be familiar with the authors from their first book written together. Jane Mellett is an experienced pastoral worker, while Tríona Doherty is currently the editor of Reality magazine. God…
The National Concert Hall’s International Concert Series brought our near neighbour, Manchester’s Hallé Orchestra, on a welcome return visit last month. Formed in 1858, the orchestra’s first Dublin event was on October 26, 1878, when it gave two concerts at the Exhibition Palace, now the NCH, conducted by its founder, German-born Charles Hallé, who was…
God in No 10: The personal faith of the Prime Ministers, from Balfour to Blair by Mark Vickers SPCK, €28.99/£25.00 This is a remarkable book, one which goes where historians have in the past been reluctant to go. It is, even more remarkably, written by a working parish priest in London. As the religious beliefs of…
Ask A Historian: 50 Surprising Answers to Things You Always Wanted to Know by Greg Jenner Weidenfeld and Nicolson, €19.99/£16.99 This is a quirky book, but it could be very useful for one organising a pub-quiz. It records a history professor answering 50 questions from his students. The questions range across all the ages and even into…
Occasional Prayers for the School Year by Gráinne Delaney Messenger Publications, €12.95/£11.95 This is an interesting book, and one which parents as well as school chaplains will want to read. Gráine Delaney is Chaplain in Crescent College Comprehensive SJ for the last twenty years. A native of Dundalk she was educated in St Vincent’s Secondary…
It Is In Us All (15) begins with London-based Hamish (Cosmo Jarvis) travelling to his native Donegal to prepare his deceased aunt’s house for sale. On the way he has a car accident. A boy from the other car is killed. Another one, Evan (Rhys Mannion), survives. Hamish self-treats his injuries like a Buncrana Rambo.…
I’d suspect most people’s experience of TV dramas, especially on the streaming services, includes a long list of disappointments – especially series that were started but then abandoned after one or two episodes. These thoughts were prompted by my lack of enthusiasm for the new Star Wars series Andor (Disney+). This is a prequel to…
If These Stones Could Talk: the History of Christianity in Britain and Ireland Through Twenty-One Buildings by Peter Stanford Hodder and Stoughton, €12.99/£10.99 Published two years ago in hardback, this book aimed at a popular readership now appears as a paperback and so becomes accessible to many who might have missed it. It runs from…
Thirty-Two Words for Field: Lost Words of the Irish Landscape Manchán Magan (Gill Books, €19.99) To the country folk of Ireland even smallest piece of land is important, and today as in the past can give rise to bitter conflict. Witness J. B. Keane’s classic play The Field. This attitude often carries into the city.…
The Saint Mary’s Book of Christian Verse Chosen and introduced by Edward Short , with a foreword by Dana Gioia (Gracewing, £20.00 / €23.50) Edward Short is a writer and teacher who lives in New York City, and is already well known for his books relating to St John Henry Newman. This book sees itself…
Peter Costello
Aubrey Malone
Brendan O’Regan