Books | Business Post

‘How had one small thing caused such misery when it had so easy a solution?’ – essay by Rory Gleeson

Irish author Rory Gleeson offers an acute take on one man’s battle with life, laziness and an unstoppable, indestructible bleep . . .

The Local Heron by John Kelly

The poem by the broadcaster and writer John Kelly is extracted from Space, his new volume of poetry, published by Dedalus Press

‘Ambition or talent? Neither. Tenacity and hard work’ – Aingeala Flannery, journalist and broadcaster

The author of The Amusements on growing up surrounded by newspapers, the uselessness of celebrity and the importance of hard graft

The Ballast Seed: A moving memoir of parenthood, depression and the therapeutic power of plants

An unexpected pregnancy and subsequent crisis threw journalist Rosie Kinchen’s life into disarray, from which she emerged after discovering the simple pleasures of horticulture

The Seawomen: Powerful novel depicts the persistence of women under patriarchal and religious rule

Chloe Timms’s compelling debut about an island where women suffer under an oppressive regime is essential reading for dystopian fiction fans

Cathal Brugha: The complex man behind the fanatical revolutionary caricature

Daithí Ó Corráin and Gerard Hanley’s exhaustively researched and engaging biography reveals an intelligent, but ultimately flawed figure in Irish history

London in Black: A frighteningly plausible dystopian debut

Jack Lutz’s tension-filled first novel follows a series of deadly terrorist attacks in the British capital, and a tough but traumatised detective determined to solve a related murder

Edith: Tender portrait of a half-forgotten Irish literary figure

Martina Devlin’s new novel looks at the life of Edith Somerville, the co-author of The Irish RM with her second cousin Violet Martin

Grow as you go: how to get the most from your outdoor space, all year round

Summer is a time when our thoughts naturally turn to the garden. In this extract from their new book, Gardening Together: A Month-By-Month Guide to Getting the Most from Your Outdoor Space, Diarmuid Gavin and Paul Smyth offer some principles of planting and suggest the best herbs to cultivate

Jennifer Egan: ‘Data is useless if it tells us very little about each other'

The acclaimed author’s new novel, The Candy House, looks at contemporary America through the addictive but often destructive prism of social media

Lapvona – Dark medieval fairytale confounds at every turn

Ottessa Moshfegh’s latest novel is just as opaque and bewildering as its three predecessors

The Last Days of Roger Federer – A fine rhapsody against the dying of the light

A contemplation of the ageing process and its effects on creativity lies at the heart of Geoff Dyer’s new collection of essays

His Name is George Floyd – The hard life and sad death of one man who became a civil rights icon

Murdered in Minneapolis in May 2020 by a police officer, George Floyd became an emblem of a community’s refusal to accept state oppression. A new book looks at the man behind the symbolism

Chums – The elitist breeding ground that spawned Britain’s modern-day ruling class

Simon Kuper of the FT takes a deep dive into the culture of the upper-crust public schools and university that produced Boris Johnson and ten others of the UK’s 15 post-war prime ministers

The best children’s book ever – and how to write it

Nadine O’Regan asks nine of Ireland’s most popular children’s authors to put pen to paper – and offer their take

Children’s books: All that’s glorious about reading and writing

Young readers will be delighted to discover this selection of children’s books that cover from the earliest ages to those confident enough to read on their own

The Shortest History of the Soviet Union – a nimble guide through 74 tumultuous years

Australian historian Sheila Fitzpatrick recounts a hugely complex story in an accessible way without sacrificing any of the accuracy

The assassination of Sir Henry Wilson – the spark that lit the flames of Ireland’s Civil War

Journalist Ronan McGreevy skilfully lays out the repercussions felt in Ireland after the murder of an Anglo-Irish MP by the IRA in London in 1922

People Person: A breezy second novel filled with wit, charm and darkness

Queenie author Candice Carty-Williams scores again with a sharp, sparkling tale of half-sibling solidarity

Living with My Century: A deeply humane memoir from a trailblazing female academic

Eda Sagarra, a former Professor of German at Trinity College Dublin and the first-ever registrar at an Irish or British university, has written an intelligent account of her upbringing, travels and life in academia