Lydia: A Story by Paula Gooder (Hodder & Stoughton, £16.99 / €19.99) A couple of weeks ago, over a Saturday lunch, we were discussing with a friend in her large rural garden, the question of those recent novels which mix history and fiction. The case in point was Colm Tobin’s book on Thomas Mann. I…
For opera aficionados at home and abroad October means only one thing – Wexford Festival. The brainchild of local general practitioner and music lover Dr Tom Walsh (1911-1988), and on the go since 1951, the now expanded event brings three neglected operas to the town’s Theatre Royal under artistic director Rosetta Cucchio. With its policy…
It’s awful when it happens but last week’s news and current affairs programming was dominated by funerals. For the media it was a week of fallout from the Creeslough explosions, for the families it will be a lifetime. Local priest Fr John Joe Duffy has had “a week like no other”, as Mary Wilson described…
The tenure of Dr Sean Rainbird at the National Gallery ended in September. During his reign he was active in bringing to the Merrion Square Gallery a series of European derived exhibitions which were of immense interest, lively Continental experiences for visitors to enjoy. The Board of the Gallery announced back in August that the…
In the School of Saint Benedict: Benedictine Spirituality for Every Christian by Dom Xavier Perrin OSB (Gracewing, €11.99/£9.99) The author of this little book is currently the superior of Quarr Abbey, beautifully situated overlooking the sea on the Isle of Wight. This was where the Benedictines of Solesmes in Sarthe in the Pays de Loire…
Orpen at War: a novel by Patricia O’Reilly (The Liffey Press, €22.95/£19.95) This is an illustrated biographical novel featuring dozens of Sir William Orpen’s paintings and drawings largely of the Western front in the Great War, in which he was engaged as an official war artist. Orpen, even then recognised as one of Ireland’s most…
“Your Word is a Lamp on my Path”: Reflections on the weekday readings for the liturgical year 2022-2023 by Martin Hogan (Messenger Publications, €19.95/£18.95) Martin Hogan is the curate at Finglas, Finglas West and Rivermount. Readers can imagine just how busy he must be in his pastoral work. The service to the city comes after…
The weight of tragedy was particularly heavy last week. Nine News (RTÉ One, Friday) led with the explosion at the filling station in Creeslough, Co. Donegal, and such a cloud hung over this small community. At that stage the enormity of the disaster was just filtering through, and though there were no casualty figures the…
The Horse of Selene by Juanita Casey, with an afterword by Mary M. Burke (Tramp Press, €16.00/£12.99) We are so flooded these days with works of modern genius, that all too many books once admired, or widely read, or necessary in some way, are driven down into forgetfulness. These books from the past are the…
We’re in America. A singer stands before an audience. She looks like an extra-terrestrial with her shaven head. People start to cheer. Then they boo. She recently refused to sing at a venue if the American National Anthem was played. She’s also torn up a photograph of the Pope on live TV. The camera flashes…
Peter Costello
Brendan O’Regan
Aubrey Malone