A fine trilogy of whimsical mid-20th century novels centring on a single mother and her child
Category: Books
Trent’s Last Case by EC Bentley – detective fiction’s first satire
EC Bentely’s classic doesn’t meet expectations, while remaining a diverting read
The Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden – Innocence and experience
Godden peels back the veil of childhood innocence through attention to character, subtle humour and an ability to create a mood without describing it
The works of Frank Duff – Marian theology for the modern man
Duff was a thoroughly modern Catholic rooted in Church’s ancient mysteries, with an especial love for Mary
The End of Irish Catholicism? – an incisive cultural history
Fr Twomey’s provocative and ambitious cultural study packs an awful lot into a small book.
Ruadhán and Seanan’s favourite books of 2021
What you will find below is a pleasant mix of fact and fiction; loquacity and punchy prose; light reading and heavy.
A Doctor’s War by Aidan MacCarthy
The memoirs of Irish Doctor Aidan MacCarthy of his service in World War II make for remarkable reading
The Word is Very Near You by Fr Wilfrid Stinissen OCD
In this eminently readable book, Fr Stinissen leads us through the Bible in all its complexity, calling us to a personal relationship with the Word
The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante
Ferrante’s flashes of brilliance are undermined by long and tedious sections in this modern classic
The Golden Bowl – a divisive American classic
James’ ability to dramatise the interior lives of a small group of people in such detail, and yet with beauty and pathos, is a marvel