Irish Fiction

Set against the backdrop and turmoil of Indian Independence and the decline of the British Empire through to the swinging 1960s, this is the story of a young woman called Grace, who courageously navigates the trials and turbulence of her life and uncovers shocking family secrets. What are these secrets?

This is the most astonishing piece of writing, lyrical in its emotion and spare in its construction ... Toibin has crafted an unmissable read' Sunday Herald

This sharp and stylish biography redefines the woman George Bernard Shaw once described as `the greatest living Irishwoman' - Augusta Gregory.

It is impossible to read Toibin without being moved, touched and finally changed' Independent on Sunday

It is Ireland in the early 1950s and for Eilis Lacey, as for so many young Irish girls, opportunities are scarce. So when her sister arranges for her to emigrate to New York, Eilis knows she must go, leaving behind her family and her home for the first time.

Nora Webster lives ia small town, looking after her four children, trying to rebuild her life after the death of her husband. She is fiercely intelligent, at times difficult and impatient, at times kind, but she is trapped by her circumstances, and waiting for any chance which will lift her beyond them.

From the young Pakistani immigrant who seeks some kind of permanence in a strange town to the Irish woman reluctantly returning to Dublin and discovering a city that refuses to acknowledge her long absence.

For Mary, her son has been lost to the world, and now, living in exile and in fear, she tries to piece together the memories of the events that led to her son's brutal death. To her he was a vulnerable figure, surrounded by men who could not be trusted, living in a time of turmoil and change.

THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER From one of our greatest living writers comes a sweeping novel of unrequited love and exile, war and family. The Magician tells the story of Thomas Mann, whose life was filled with great acclaim and contradiction. He would find himself on the wrong side of history in the First World War, cheerleading the German army, but have a clear vision of the future in the second, anticipating the horrors of Nazism.

A difficult and honest love story by Colm Toibin.