My Irish Jeweler's Summer Reading Recommendations, 2025.

How are you? Welcome to Notes From Home!

We hope your summer has started well. May was sunny, warm, and golden here in Ireland, but June began grey, soggy and, honestly, it's a little uninspiring. We're hoping that will blow over soon.

On a positive note, it's the start of vacation season, so before you pack up to head off on your hollibobs this year, we're taking it upon ourselves to suggest some of our favorite Irish books to include in your TBR pile. Of course, these will work just as well in your backyard, a local park, or even a sunny seat at home as they will on the beach or by the pool!

So pick up your favorite beverage, and settle back with one - or a couple - of these books by Irish writers. And a big thank you to Jane for the excellent idea. As it was her idea, she got to go first!

Jane's Picks:

Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan: I loved how the story of a small rural Irish community was told through the voices of 21 different narrators. This is one of two books I read in the last year that I couldn't put down.

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan: I haven't seen the movie that's been made of this, starring the wonderful Cillian Murphy, but it must be great if it's half as good as the book. This is the second un-put-down-able book from the last 12 months.

That They May Face the Rising Sun by John McGahern: It's just a beautiful book, one of Ireland's modern classics, and it should be on everyone's TBR list. I read this years ago, but it's stayed with me. It's the story of a couple who leave London and come to Ireland looking for a different way of living.

Wheels Within Wheels by Dervla Murphy: Her travel novels will be much better known, but as an aspiring adventurer myself, I found her autobiography and how she came to be someone who could bike solo to India in the 1960s amazing. She was an incredibly impressive person.

Cowboys & Indians by Joseph O'Connor: My early 20-something self thought it was hilarious… No idea how it would read now, so pick it up at your peril! I gave it to Ciarán during our first Christmas together as a couple!

The Turning of the Year: Lore and Legends of the Irish Seasons by Eithne Massy: I love this book and refer to it regularly. It's a brilliant book to dip in and out of as the mood takes you, and its sections are just the right length for a leisurely cup of coffee.

Gemma's Picks:

The Happy Pear cookbooks: I love to cook, and although Ireland's now pretty welcoming and accommodating of vegans and vegetarians, it wasn't always so. Luckily, two twin brothers from Co. Wicklow had a dream back in 2003 to change how Ireland eats, and The Happy Pear was born. Their cookbooks are well-used in our kitchen, and I still enjoy using them as much as I did when I bought them.

The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne: Most people will be more familiar with John Boyne's The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, which was made into a film and was a bestseller, but I really enjoy him as an author. This was an interesting take on the topic of Ireland gradually modernising and becoming equal for minorities. It will surely tug on your heartstrings and shows how profoundly Ireland has changed in the last 70 or 80 years.

Under the Hawthorn Tree by Marita Conlon-McKenna: This historical novel, set during the famine, is about three siblings who have to show real courage and make difficult decisions to survive. It's the first book of a trilogy. Marita was one of my favorite authors when I was a child. Also, as a random fact, despite being first published in 1990, this remains one of Ireland's best-selling children's books with a very special place in Irish children's literature.

Frankie by Graham Norton: Graham's known for being the best chat show host of possibly several generations, and Ireland's very proud of him. However, he's also been writing books for years, and this is the first one I've read. I absolutely loved it! It was a timely reminder that the older members of our community often have astonishing stories to tell if we only take the time to listen.

Ciarán's Picks:

Strumpet City by James Plunkett: I read this when I was in college, and you will find it on most Irish Classics lists for literature. It's a free-wheeling ride through a troubled Dublin city in 1913, with colorful characters aplenty.

Holding by Graham Norton: I read this one a while ago. It's Graham's first novel. It was described as a story set in a perfect little Irish village where a has-seen-better-days Guard (police officer) has to sort through all of the place's hidden secrets and stories to solve a possible murder. It was a good page-turner, and he has an easy writing style.

Ulysses by James Joyce: It's one of those books you must start, even if you don't quite finish it.. It's one of the world's most important pieces of literature, and when you know Dublin well enough, it's fascinating to read the older descriptions and trace the journey. And, of course, you can do that on Bloomsday too!

Margaret's Picks:

The Country Girls by Edna O'Brien: This was a favorite of mine; she is one of my favorite authors. I would have come across Edna in my late teens, but the book was first published in 1960 before I was born. It was banned in Ireland at the time, which made it very controversial. I have a collection of her books that I must dust off and read again. Edna died last year at the wonderful age of 93.

Down All the Days by Christy Brown. I remember reading this in the '70s and being fascinated by Christy's writing. The book was later made into the film My Left Foot.

A Reluctant Memoir by Robert Ballagh. A few books have been written about one of my favorite Irish artists, but this is in his own words. I was lucky enough to meet Robert on many occasions through mutual friends, and later, I found out that he collaborated with my Uncle Peter on postage stamps for the Irish Postal Service.

Ruth's Pick:

Dracula by Bram Stoker: Maybe not a terribly original choice, but for a horror fanatic, it does not disappoint! Plus, there's a whole festival dedicated to it in Dublin every year! For all that there have been loads of movies made of the story, the book is the original and best.

Jill's Picks:

Foster by Claire Keegan: I loved this story set in rural Ireland about a young girl whose parents send her to live with an Aunt and Uncle for the summer because they already have enough mouths to feed and another baby on the way. The experience proves to be an awakening for the young girl when she realizes that not every home is like her own. I love the simplicity of Claire Keegan's writing.

The Crocodile by the Door by Selina Guinness: This is a memoir of the author's new life after she and her partner move in with an elderly uncle and have to learn a whole new way of life on a farm that has been lost in the past and needs to be brought into the present, a steep learning curve for everyone involved. My interest in this book was originally piqued because the house and farm are located up the mountain behind where I live.

Flight of the Doves by Walter Macken: This is a book I read when I was in school, and it has never faded from my memory. It's about two children who run away to escape their evil stepfather, and they journey across England and Ireland to try to reach their grandmother. Their journey sucks you in and you feel you are there living every step of it with them.

Money, A Story of Humanity by David McWilliams: This is my current dip-in-and-out-of book. I'm only about 3 chapters in, but McWilliams' anecdotes about ancient civilizations and the evolution of commerce are just fascinating. I love the way he never loses sight of the psychology that underpins economics and markets. In a more Irish economic context, I also loved his book The Good Room , which was a good few years back now.

Vicky's Picks:

Returning Light: Thirty Years on the Island of Skellig Michael by Robert L. Harris: I've started this book, and it's so absorbing that I'm including it in this list even though I haven't finished it. I have a bit of a fascination with the Skelligs, and this book is written by one of the island wardens who lives onsite from May to October each year. He has done so for over 30 years, and his thoughtful, lyrical, and evocative writing beautifully encapsulates much of living in an isolated location and how it affects one's view of the world. I'm only a third of the way in, but it's already a definite recommendation!

Voices from the Desert: The Lost Legacy of the Skelligs by Hugh MacMahon: Speaking of living away from the world, and the Skelligs, I read this book last year because, occasionally, I miss the slightly dry theological books of my university years and want to remind myself that I'm a serious person! <cough>The link to the Skellig Islands in the title is relatively tenuous, but I appreciate the hypothesis. From the cover: 'In 384 AD, John Cassian began his 24 interviews with famous Desert Fathers and recorded them in The Conferences, which had a profound effect on spiritual life in Western Europe, especially in Ireland.' MacMahon's point is that The Conferences directly affected and encouraged the monastic settlement on Skellig Michael and the many monks and saints who travelled from monastery to monastery, teaching, learning, and undertaking pilgrimages. In short, it's a good book to help you understand the prevailing theories of the time. I will also not judge you if you roll your eyes and move right along!

Who Really Owns Ireland? by Matt Cooper: OK, this isn't necessarily prime beach reading, but I found it fascinating. It's a deep dive into Ireland post-financial crash of 2008. Matt Cooper is an Irish broadcaster and journalist, and the sheer investigative work that went into this book is impressive. This is a great place to start if you're interested in modern Ireland and the very real issues the country faces. Several of the books in our list hearken back to older times, but this one was written in 2023, and it's relevant to anyone who wants to understand where we are now. It's not light reading, but it's worth the effort.

A Life Among the Dead: Stories from an Irish Funeral Director by David McGowan: This is an outlier and won't be to everyone's taste, but I'm including it because I found it a very moving and generous book. If you find discussion of death unpleasant or unnerving, this is one to skip. I read it in an afternoon, and then I watched the documentary about David, which you can find below. He explores how attitudes to death have changed now that medicine has advanced so spectacularly, and how community is vital in the aftermath of losing a loved one. Not only does the book tell the remarkable story of how he started in the business of funeral directing (hint: his father bought a pub in a village in Co. Sligo), but it also explores how David's extensive training, the realities of his work, the things he can't explain, and allows him to share his thoughts on the question, "Why do the Irish grieve so well?"

The Well of Saint Nobody by Neil Jordan: Another one from last year's pile, this is the Neil Jordan of film director fame, proving that he has a fine craft of writing his own stories. (He's written many books - this is just the first one I've read.) A lot is going on in this book, but ultimately, it's about how blind we can be to the world under our noses and how miraculous it is when we start to turn away from our disappointments and look around and really see what - and who - is in front of us. And it manages to do that without being remotely Pollyanna-ish. It's beautiful for many reasons, but one of the things I enjoyed most was the clear-eyed depiction of older middle-aged protagonists.

The Charlie Parker series by John Connolly: The Charlie Parker series, written by Dublin-born and raised John Connolly, combines old-school detective noir stories with gradually developing elements of the supernatural, and I love them. They're set in Maine and New York mostly, but I feel there's an inherently Irish sensibility to them. The series follows long arcs for the most part, so you pretty much have to start at the beginning, and I'm warning you, the beginning is not for the faint of heart. Definite warnings for gore, gangsters, and an excellent side of snarkiness!

While we're on the subject of Irish detective fiction, it's worth giving props to a certain Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who, although considered British, was born of Irish parents, and the exceedingly talented Tana French, who Wikipedia classifies as American-Irish!

The Singing Stone by O.R. Melling: For younger readers, this is one my mum gave me when I was about 12! It's an absorbing adventure story of a young woman who starts her journey in Bray, in Co. Wicklow (where I used to live, which is why it was given to me), but who ends up many miles and many centuries from where she started. I re-read this regularly into my late teens, and I always enjoyed it. It's in one of the many still-unpacked book boxes in what will be our library, and thinking about it makes me want to revisit it to see if it was as good as I remember.

If you fancy some poetry, then of course pick up W.B. Yeats, but also Paula Meehan. While Yeats was full of grand themes, dreams, and romanticism, Meehan writes about life's personal, intimate, and grittier bits. I think she's amazing! I recommend Pillow Talk and Dharmakaya.

What's on Your List This Summer?

These are some of our suggestions, and yes, I got carried away a bit! Whether you buy them from your local bookstore or one of the big retailers online, download them to your Kindle, or listen to them, we hope we've offered something for everyone in the audience. And, as ever, we'd love to hear your faves, too. C'mon, don't be shy! Let us know in the comments below your favorite books by Irish authors, or books about Ireland.

Wherever you are, and whatever you're reading, we're sending you our very best wishes from Dublin (and Cavan!) this summer.