A vital collection of essays soaked in pain and experience

In tandem with Sinéad Gleeson’s personal story, the author tells a wider historical tale of Irish women from the 1960s right up to 2018’s repeal of the Eighth Amendment

Sinéad Gleeson: translucent, engaging prose Pic: Bríd O’Donovan

Essays: Constellations: Reflections From Life, By Sinéad Gleeson, Picador, €19.55

There is a lot of pain in the 241 pages that comprise this collection of essays. This is not the existential pain of a writer searching for a voice nor the torment of creativity; nothing so prosaic as that.

Irish author, broadcaster and journalist Sinéad Gleeson has been plagued by ill health for most of her life. Hers is the agony of bones ...