Yes I Said Yes I Will Yes Read Some New Irish Writers  

Travel to Cork in The Rachel Incident and meet Rachel and James as they navigate their early twenties. Together, they face a looming financial crash, relationships and secrets in a way that intertwines their lives with those of Rachel’s married professor and his wife. Achingly funny, this timeless novel, perfect for fans of Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where Are You, immerses you in the quotidian of the city amidst unrequited love and upheaval as Caroline O’Donoghue’s writing illuminates the ups and downs of life in your 20s. 

One of our booksellers, Shannon D, describes Normal People as “a poignant and deeply moving story about identity, friendship and young love. Rooney perfectly captures the loneliness of growing up and the desire to feel understood by peers. Every reader will see a bit of themselves in the vulnerable and fragile natures of Connell and Marianne.” 

From the author of Hamnet and The Marriage Portrait, This Must Be the Place follows an American expat living in Ireland who’s carefully curated Irish country life and marriage to a reclusive ex-film star are threatened by a secret from his past in this engrossing and intricate story. With bracing wit and insight, Maggie O’Farrell paints a kaleidoscopic picture of family and love as we jump from time and place in their lives. 

 Nothing is going well for the Barnes family — Dickie’s once-thriving car business is failing, his wife Imelda is selling jewelry on eBay, his daughter has thrown away her promising future to chase her whims and their son is putting final touches on his plan to run away. A tragicomedy that expertly shifts between the four members of the family, The Bee Sting provides an ominous and empathetic view of the human condition, from the acclaimed author of Skippy Dies. 

Emma Donoghue (Room) returns with an arresting novel set in 1918 Dublin that makes history feel entirely contemporary. Three women work tirelessly in a quarantined maternity ward ravaged by the Great Flu, as they reckon with new life in the face of death, humanity and tenderness. Capturing the adrenaline of being on the front lines of a pandemic, The Pull of the Stars was a B&N Book Club Pick in 2020 and tells a searing story of hope and survival against great odds.  

Spend your day in a small town just outside Belfast during the Troubles with Louise Kennedy’s debut novel, perfect for readers of Claire Keegan. Cushla’s loyalties are torn between her community and her passionate affair with a man from the other side. Trespasses, one of our Discover Picks from last fall, is a layered coming-of-age novel of love and loss that explores class, consequences, and community.  

The author of The Gathering — a Booker Prize winner — returns this fall with a remarkable intergenerational novel about love and inherited trauma. Abandoned by an acclaimed poet, three generations of women grapple with the effects of a beloved poet’s legacy. Anne Enright’s The Wren, The Wren is a compassionate and indelible story of womanhood, sex and messy relationships.  

“Readers of both Sally Rooney and Tana French will be captivated by this electric debut novel. When the remains of a girl who disappeared years ago are found in a small Irish town, three estranged friends find themselves examining their shared pasts as well as their role in her disappearance. This unputdownable book is both a page-turning mystery as well as a nuanced look at the bonds of our youth, and how they echo through our lives.” — Lexie S., Bookseller 

Escape to a picturesque Irish village alongside Cal Hooper, a former Chicago police officer looking to restart somewhere new. When the brother of a missing boy convinces him to look into what happened, Cal starts to uncover layers of secrets that shake his perception of the beautiful community. Following a foreigner, this is the perfect novel to immerse you into small-town Irish life as an outsider. After you’ve spent some time in this village, we recommend traveling to Dublin alongside Tana French with In the Woods, the debut that kicked off her career and launched her Dublin Murder Squad series. 

Like a modern-day Agatha Christie, Lucy Foley (The Paris Apartment and The Hunting Party) strands us on a small Irish island for the wedding of a rising television star and an ambitious magazine publisher. Cell phone service is spotty, the seas are rough, and someone turns up dead, but the question remains: who wasn’t thrilled for the happy couple… and why? The Guest List is an atmospheric mystery that will keep you guessing as it unravels the highly guarded secrets of eight suspects.  

Catherine Ryan Howard first took us to Ireland in 56 Days — a previous Monthly Pick of ours, and now we get to return to Dublin with The Trap. After Lucy’s sister goes missing — the third in three years — Lucy goes searching for answers while another woman, Angela, risks her dreams after the case stalls. This gripping thriller about one serial killer and the people determined to catch him will take your breath away and make your head spin.