March has come in like a lion here in Michigan (as usual), so another month of cozy reading by the fire may be in order. While you're at it, why not check out some of these recent novels set in Ireland? It's the perfect way to keep warm, and celebrate St. Patrick's Day at the same time!
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Time of the Child |
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Daughter of the Otherworld Over a hundred years after she went missing, Isolde, born to the family of a famous Irish king and a powerful immortal, inexplicably reappears. Her mother's kin, the Descendants, are one of the two magical races of Ireland. But no Descendant can understand the reasons for Isolde's disappearance, and worse yet, she is giftless - born with no magical ability, a dangerous thing when the magic-rich Fomorians, ancient enemies of the Descendants, are growing in strength. The Fomorians no longer control any Irish kingdoms, but they still desire control over the mortal world. They seek to spread their dangerous webs wider by manipulating England's Norman lords to invade Ireland. Not yet eighteen, Isolde's world is about to change for ever. But when death and destruction seem inevitable, her true worth will show itself, for Isolde is far more than she seems. |
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Death at an Irish Village With six months left to fulfill the provisions of Uncle Nevin's will and save the fixer-upper castle she and her cousin inherited, Rayne McGrath and Ciara Smith's bridal venue venture is finally bringing in money. To unite the reluctant villagers, some who'd vehemently protested their efforts to modernize the village, they agree with Father Patrick's idea to create a group of volunteers to clean the old cemetery behind the beloved church. When a body is found by one of the historic tombstones, the cousins must work overtime to solve the newest case. The plot thickens and an unsolved crime from the past is unearthed when it's discovered that the body was on top of a fake grave that has connections to Rayne's ancestors. With two weddings scheduled at the castle and her mother on the way, Rayne fears she won't be able to balance it all, yet she rolls up her sleeves and dives into old family journals in hopes of puzzling out not one but two mysteries. |
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Heart, Be at Peace In a small town in Ireland, the local people have weathered the storm of economic collapse and now look to the future: The jobs are back, the dramas of the past seemingly lulled, and although the town bears the scars of its history, new stories have begun to unfold. But an insidious menace now creeps through back-alley shadows and into the lives of the townspeople. Old grudges fester and new ones arise. Young people are lured by the promise of fast money while the generation above them tries to hold back the tide of an enemy beyond their control. And the peace of this town is about to be shattered in an unimaginable way. A stunning, lyrical novel told in twenty-one voices, Heart, Be at Peace reveals a community that together looks to overcome the betrayals, secrets, and grudges that can divide families, neighbors, and entire generations.
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No Comfort for the Dead 1988, West Cork, Ireland. Emma Daly has returned to her tiny little village in Ireland, a quaint and peaceful town where everybody knows everybody. She’s looking to escape a devastating love affair and the subsequent scandal that prevented her from becoming a cop by single handedly revitalizing her local library. But when the richest man in town is murdered and the culprit seems to be the long lost son of a local family, Colm, her charming small town life is turned upside down. |
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The Alternatives The Flattery sisters, four brilliant and very different girls raised in a small town south of Dublin, were plunged prematurely into adulthood when their parents died in a tragic accident. Now, in their thirties--each unmarried, each holding a PhD--they are striving to make an impact on an increasingly volatile world. The four lead disparate, distanced lives, from classrooms in Connecticut to fancy catering gigs in London's Notting Hill, until one day their oldest sister, a geologist haunted by a terrible awareness of the earth's future, abruptly vanishes from her home. Together for the first time in years, the Flatterys descend on the Irish countryside in search of a sister who doesn't actually want to be found. Sheltered in a derelict rural bungalow, coaxed along by the colorful denizens of a local pub, they reach into their common past, confronting both old wounds and a desperately uncertain future |
