“These motocross bikes are going up and down the streets outside their houses because normally they'd have somewhere to go, now they've nowhere to go.”
For some, life is an inherited ache to leave Vietnam and half-remembered stories and unprocessed feelings embodied in what their grandparents said, or didn’t say, about the past.
Bryan Fanning tells the stories of arrivals in Ireland by everyone from Celts to Vietnamese, painting the contours of the big picture with broad strokes, zooming in on individual stories, and keeping an eye on government policy.
Teenagers turn their hand to banking in Emma Quigley’s debut novel, which captures the complications of adolescence in dialogue that fizzes with energy.
When writers produce material that incorporates or is influenced by their own working-class background, it seems they still face an uphill battle to be recognised, writes Daniel Seery.
Trevor White’s new biography of Alfred Byrne tells the story of “the most popular Dublin-born politician of the twentieth century”, in all his complexity, writes historian Donal Fallon.
Roddy Doyle’s latest novel has the pitch-perfect dialogue and quiet moments of genius that mark his other works. However, it stumbles, and ultimately collapses, writes Sean Farrell.
Many of the themes Elske Rahill tackled in her debut novel Between Dog and Wolf – relationships, fertility, sexuality, motherhood – are once again present in her new short-story collection In White Ink, writes Jan Carson.
In this book, which offers lessons for Dublin, Peter Moskowitz looks at the growing inequality of American cities – and how planning and housing policies have pushed aside the poorest.
Brian Flanagan and Lily Power want Marrowbone Books to be a meeting place as well as a bookshop. “If you’re someone who likes books – and I think these people exist – then we will have something for you,” says Flanagan.
Richard Florida, author of 2002’s “The Rise of the Creative Class”, is back with a follow-up that looks at soaring housing prices in the world’s most successful cities, and offers some solutions.
