Irish Nurses in the NHS: An Oral History , by Louise Ryan, Gráinne McPolin and Neha Doshi (Four Courts Press, €17.95pb) Anthony Gaughan In the second half of the twentieth century, thousands of Irish girls migrated to the UK to train as nurses. They were subsequently employed in hospitals throughout England, Scotland and Wales. …
Lower than the Angels: A History of Sex and Christianity, by Diarmaid MacCulloch (Allen Lane, £41.96 / €42.99 ) Robert Marshall Diarmaid MacCulloch is emeritus Professor of the History of the Church at Oxford University. He has written extensively on the history of the Church and its Reformations. Lower than the Angels, running to…
Journey Without Maps, a travel book by Graham Greene (Vintage Classics. £14.99) At the end of January President Trump issued a proclamation on Black History Month promoting to all officials and members of the public that it might concern, naming as he did so a short roster of notable Black Americans. But it is…
Hope: the Autobiography by Pope Francis, with Carlo Musso, translated by Richard Owen (Penguin / Viking, £18.99 / €23.00) I want You to Be Happy, by Pope Francis (Hodder & Stoughton, £16.99 / €20.50 ) Pope Francis, it must be always kept in mind, even by his critics, is a unique figure. For the…
Gutenberg’s Cradle : Incunables at Marsh’s Library, Dublin, a catalogue compiled by Sara D’Amico (Marsh’s Library with the support of the Consortium European Research Libraries and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, €20.00; can be ordered directly from information@marshlibrary.ie) We are continually told that living as we do in an era…
All Time Belongs to Him: Seasons and Feasts of the Lord, by Hugh Gilbert OSB (Gracewing, £20.00 / £23.99) This book is quite a contrast to the spiritual adventures of Ben Harrison. The author Hugh Gilbert OSB has been a Benedictine monk of Pluscarden Abbey near Elgin, in Moray in northern Scotland. This is,…
A Song for the Way, by Ben Harrison (Dominican Publications, €12.00 / £10.00) Over the years parts of this book have appeared as articles in journals, but being brought together here they provide readers new to the author’s work with a very vivid reading experience. In a strange way it recollects the Beat Generation…
The First World War Centenary Roll of Honour and Essays, edited by Ronan McGreevy and Emer Purcell, associate editor Tom Burnell, (National University of Ireland / Four Courts Press, €30.00 / £24.95) This is an important book, but of the kind that will be important to read not as a narrative, but to use for research…
A Vanishing World: The Irish Country House Photographs of Father Browne edited by Robert O’Byrne, (Messenger Publications, €25.00 / £17.99) This is the latest album of images to be culled from the astonishing Fr Francis Browne Collections; it is also by far the best. The images, derived directly from the digitalised negatives, are crisp and…
Highways and Byways: A European Pilgrimage. by Nicholas Schofield, (Gracewing, £15.99 / €18.99) The author Nicholas Schofield, aside from being a parish priest in Uxbridge, has also been an historian and antiquarian and a long time columnist of the Catholic Times. He has previously written Highways and Byways: discovering Catholic England. In this book spreads…