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The award winner – Milkman by Anna Burns
Since Milkman won this year’s Man Brooker Prize, making Anna Burns the first Northern Irish author awarded the accolade, it has routinely been sold out in bookshops across the country. Set in Belfast during the 1990s, although the place or characters are never named, Milkman has been praised for its fresh interpretation of the Troubles.
It looks less at historical significance and more so at characters in a broader sense. Protagonist and main character “middle sister” becomes inadvertently involved with Milkman, making her interesting in places where you ought not to be.
Christmas read – The Visitor by Zoe Miller
Zoe Miller’s The Visitor is the perfect book to kick-back with over the festive season (is it too soon to mention the C word? I think not). The novel tells of Izzie Mallon, who looks to spend Christmas alone following her husband’s tragic death months earlier.
However, a knock at the door, a man purporting to be her husband’s long-time friend, shrouds the story in mystery. Overall, this 10th novel from the Dublin based author is a feel good read and enjoyable to relax with.
Dip in and out – Roar by Cecelia Ahern
Since she blasted to fame in 2004 with her debut PS I Love You, Cecelia Ahern has churned out a novel almost every year since. In 2018 she decided to do something a little different in Roar, the author’s “passion project” written across five years. Roar is collection of 30 short stories each titled ‘The Woman Who…’.
The stories include The Woman Who Was Kept on the Shelf and The Woman Who Was Swallowed Up by the Floor and Who Met Lots of Other Women Down There.
This collection gives readers a sense of familiarity and also another’s perspective, which they may never have considered.
Food for thought – Madam Politician by Martina Fitzgerald
Martina Fitzgerald is well-known around the halls of Leinster House as RTÉ’s political correspondent. Arguably being up there with the best of them in terms of hours clocked in Kildare Street, if there was someone needed to tell the story of women around the cabinet table, Martina was the one to do it. Only 10% of seats at the cabinet table in the past 100 years have been occupied by females and in Madam Politician, Martina interviews many of these women as they tell of sexism, focus on appearance and balancing a career with family life.
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