The most recommended books about the Republic of Ireland

The book highlights the little known history of a female 16th century Irish chieftain who resisted English rule and fought her local enemies during a time when women were socially repressed. The colorful and turbulent history of Ireland during the Tudor expansion is examined within the context of O’Malley’s struggles and triumphs. Her audience with Queen Elizabeth I as an equal is a fascinating highlight of this excellent work of non-fiction.

This is a lovely and well-written young adult book of a girl who explores her sexuality and faces the many challenges of being a teenager in modern Ireland.

There are no holds barred in the telling of some of the incidents, and the protagonist Lauren ends up facing every teenage girl’s worst nightmare. Acceptance of difference is a strong theme through the novel and recent Irish referendums on Equal (Same Sex) marriage and legislation to legalise abortion in Ireland are seen from a young person’s valuable point of view.

In Dublin Hanged, Henry paints an evocative picture of the turn-of-the-eighteenth-century Irish capital collapsing under rising property crime, food shortages due to series of particularly inclement winters, and political unrest. He also vividly captures the events that led to the organisation of the first metropolitan uniformed police in the British Isles, which came to be widely unpopular. Henry shows, the organisation of the force was costly and in order to fund the new police, the household tax ‘skyrocketed’ virtually overnight. Henry’s analysis reveals there was a marked decline in the frequency of rape and violent assaults in the years following the introduction of the police in October 1786, indicating a degree of effectiveness of the new police despite the lack of its popularity.

In January 1919 the newly elected Sinn Fein MPs in Ireland met in Dublin and set up Dail Eireann, the assembly of the self-proclaimed independent Irish republic. As the new government, they took control of the local authorities, the administration of justice, the tax system, and other aspects of government, and ruled Ireland as if it were totally independent of British rule. Charles Townshend tells the remarkable story of the early years of the Irish Republic, and how the parallel Sinn Fein state came to effectively run the new country.

I’m onto my second copy of this little book, as the first copy fell to bits from so much use. Though it’s a field guide, it’s not only easy to read and understand (even with my unscientific mind) but also full of useful little titbits of information.

Every spring, I can’t wait to take it off the bookshelf and use it to identify the enormous queen bumblebees emerging from hibernation in the garden. 

I bought this on impulse in a bookstore in Wexford, Ireland. It’s a spare wee book without a wasted word. After I finished reading it, I don’t think I moved for an hour; I just let it ripple through me.

Because her mother is once again pregnant and life is too much for her parents, a young girl is sent away for the summer to live with her mother’s cousin and her husband, who recently lost a son. Afforded attention and care, she blossoms in teeny, tiny, heartbreaking ways.

This is a writer who believes in the intelligence of her readers, allowing us to make inferences that are quietly understated but that create such an enormous effect. They made a movie of this, called The Quiet Girl, which is also beautiful. I then went out and read everything else by Keegan, which is all wonderful, but this book is… show more.

Nine-year-old Ronan O’Mara was the hero of this story for me. Witnessing his youthful delight in an old storyteller and then developing his own passion to learn the lore and history of his homeland was endearing. Set in the 1950s, itinerant storytellers who once were somewhat commonplace and who combed the country were now becoming a remnant of the past. As custom has it, the old man moves on much to Ronan’s dismay. He spends his years into early adulthood searching for the man and as he does, Ronan becomes quite the storyteller himself.

Rich in both history and that of fables, I learned about the Emerald Isle in a way that no history book could, and it was through both the eyes of old and wise and that of the young and eager. It was winsome, engaging and heartfelt and shows the power of a story.

I love this book because it is a compilation of first-person accounts of major events throughout the history of Ireland. From St. Patrick to the raids of the Vikings, the rebellions of former rebels, and all the way to the civil war of 1923-24. Each selection is from extant works located in libraries and institutions around the country.

We hear the wild stories told with awe and wonder, with shock and abhorrence, as if we are sitting in a pub listening to the author whisper his witness in astonishment or regret. Suddenly, we understand the Irish rebels, the generations of rebels through the centuries, and we find ourselves full of admiration for those men and women who endured and fought and finally found freedom for their countrymen.  

A few years ago, I spent a week in the hospital recovering from surgery. When my husband came to visit, I would fill his ears with tragic and/or hilarious tales of my ward-mates. He kept saying, “Write it down. This is novel material.” He was right. But I didn’t. 

Looks like Elaine Feeney did. Her novel, mostly set in a hospital ward, is uproariously funny as well as deeply sad and very wise. 

I grew up near Elaine’s home town in east Galway. So, though I don’t know her, I do know the society she is writing about. And she gets it spot on!

I loved this fast-paced, witty, moving account of Ireland’s recent history.

O’Toole is the kind of narrator you want to spend more time with. I admired the style of this fascinating memoir: O’Toole tracks the history of Ireland over the course of his lifetime, weaving together the personal with the political, economic, and cultural.

I’ve conducted research in Ireland since 2016. It’s a remarkable place, changing rapidly, full of contradictions and grappling with the darkness of its recent past. I loved O’Toole’s book because he made sense of these contradictions in lively and nuanced ways.

This book is the best of memoir, blending together a person’s experiences with their wider context to provide a rich narrative of a life.