A Century of Politics in the Kingdom: A County Kerry Compendium by Owen O’Shea and Gordon Revington (Merrion Press, €19.95) This is a comprehensive account of local politics and the democratic process in Co. Kerry across more than two centuries. It covers in fact the rise of modern democracy in Ireland, and its preservation, often against…
The Martins of Lisieux by Michael O’Connell (St Thérèse National Office, 56 Angier Street, Dublin 2, €5.00; contact Pat Sweeney at 086-819-8186) This brochure is a work of pietas by a devotee of St Thérèse. The beautifully illustrated booklet is in two parts, the first concerns the grave of the saint, the second the burial place of the…
The Earls of Castlehaven: Lord Audleys of Cork and Kildare by Michael Christopher Keane (ISBN 9781527230026; obtainable from all branches of O’Mahonys Booksellers, €20.00, tel. +353 – 614-18155; or directly from the author at Farran, Ovens, Co. Cork). The subtitle to this book promises “War & Sex, Corruption & Land, from the battle of Kinsale…
Fireside Miscellany: A collection of Irish Memories, Meanderings and History by Denis O’Higgins (available from Eason Monaghan and other outlets, €10.00) This is a collection of delightful short stories, such as we would expect to find in an issue of Ireland’s Own. They reveal that the author was born and raised on a small farm in…
Stand Up and Fight: When Munster Beat the All Blacks by Alan English (Yellow Jersey Press, €14.00 / £9.99) Presently the Irish team is enjoying first place in the pecking-order of world rugby. This has not resulted from a meteoric rise from rags to riches. For decades rugby has been played in Ireland to a high…
Nano Nagle: The life and the Legacy by Deirdre Raftery, Catriona Delaney, and Catherine Nowlan-Roebuck (Irish Academic Press, €24.95) In 2013 Pope Francis declared Nano Nagle (1718–84), the founder of the Presentation Order, to be venerable. For the nuns of that order, their friends and associates and the countless admirers of Nano Nagle’s work this was…
Waterford Merchants and their Families on Distant Shores: Traders in Spain and France from 1600 to 1800 by Liam Murphy (Kingdom Books, €24.00) This is an account of the Waterford merchants who emigrated to the port cities of Spain, France and the Spanish Netherlands between 1600 and 1800 as well as the history of…
Bodenstown Revisited: The grave of Theobald Wolfe Tone, its monuments and its pilgrimages by C.J. Woods (Four Courts Press, €50.00) Bodenstown is near Sallins in Co. Kildare. Here in the local cemetery Theobald Wolfe Tone was buried in 1798, after cutting his throat on being refused a soldier’s execution. Ever since it has been the…
Plagiarism was the last thing on my mind when, in the winter of 1986, I received a phone call from my friend Fr Michéal O’Doherty. He was then a curate in my native Listowel, while I had a similar appointment in Dublin. He said he had just read a novel entitled Noon-Day by an author named Robert…
Spoilt Rotten: Memoirs of Jack McKenna by Jack McKenna (North Kerry Literary Trust, €15.00; contact St. Johns Arts & Heritage Centre, The Square, Listowel, Co. Kerry; tel: 068-22566) This autobiography, by a novice author as old as the century, is a valuable local history written from an urban perspective. For many years the author was in charge…