Modern classic in the making

Conversation with the Sea, by Hugo Hamilton. Published by Hachette Books Ireland, €16.99.

Since the publication of Hugo Hamilton’s latest work, Conversation with the Sea, I have been interested to see how it has been received outside Ireland. However, it seems as though it has passed unnoticed by many, failing to be reviewed by most of the British press, and yet it is already being spoken about here in Ireland as a modern-day classic.

All new books carry blurbs from fellow writers to help draw attention to what is between the covers, and can be a powerful marketing tool. When you are able to enlist renowned scribes such as Anne Enright, Colm Tóibín, Donal Royal and Paul Lynch to do so, and with such powerful words, then you know that you are about to embark on a journey.

Lynch summed it up best when he said Conversation with the Sea is “truly a book for our time”, while Enright says it is an “epic story about how love and history intersect”. “Profoundly beautiful, powerful; this is a book of everything,” wrote Ryan, while it is fitting to leave the last word to Tóibín, who said that “for the rest of his life, people will want to talk to Hugo about this novel”.

In light of this, do I need to tell you that I wholeheartedly recommend it? This is a book that will speak in some way to every reader, and while he has already become known as one of the great writers of his generation, this is a volume that moves Hamilton up another rung of the literary ladder, to be acknowledged as one of the best of any generation.

With only his journal as a companion, and with a failed marriage in Berlin to escape, Lukas Dorn chooses the west of Ireland, where he honeymooned two decades previously, to revisit. All is not well back in Germany where his former wife is being cancelled at work, and his daughter is arrested while at a street protest.

A meeting in Ireland with a refugee from a recent war zone forces Lukas to confront his past. This is a book that is timeless and timely, explores truth and illusion, is full of pain and still has hope. The contrasts are so beautifully written about by Hamilton that you can picture them in your mind. They will forever remain there.

The Little Book of Miriam, by Miriam Margolyes. Published by John Murray Press, €18.99.

Is there anything not to like about Miriam Margolyes? The 84-year-old award-winning star of stage and screen, has, in more recent times, grown from a British national asset to become an international treasure.

Her mix of fun, most readily enjoyed by audiences with her appearances on The Graham Norton Show and her more recent profound observations on Gaza, demonstrate most clearly why she is so loved.

It is a book to dip in and out of, offering fun in abundance and some moments too that are thought-provoking. It is an A-Z of wit and wisdom, and you can open it at any page and be amused.

As an experiment for this review, I randomly opened the book six times. Among the subjects on the pages were lift etiquette (it is good manners not to fart), Leonardo Dicaprio (he preferred me as a shopping companion), regrets, America (she was not seduced), potatoes (they’re emotional) and wrestling – to name a few.

Love in a Time of Politics: A Memoir of Facing Loss and Finding Hope, by Katherine Zappone. Published by Hachette Books Ireland, €18.99.

Born in Spokane, Washington, Katherine Zappone moved to Ireland more than four decades ago with her then partner, later wife, Ann Louise Gilligan. They were leaders in the movement to establish marriage equality, while Katherine entered politics here.

Appointed to the Seanad in 2011, she won a seat in the Dáil five years later, and went on to become Minister for Children and Youth Affairs in a Fine Gael-led Government. Life was upended when Ann Louise suffered a catastrophic brain haemorrhage and died. All the while, Katherine was embroiled in seeking justice for the forgotten children of Tuam.

More recently, after finding love again and disliking what’s happening in the USA, she moved back to Ireland, and a role in Trinity College Dublin. Life seems to be good again. This is a story told with love, conviction and honesty, and is very moving. It also shows that there is always hope, no matter what.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by CS Lewis. Published by Harper Collins, €16.99.

While driving in England recently I was listening, as I do, to BBC Radio Four. It happened to be the 75th anniversary, to the day, of the publication of one of the greatest pieces of literature, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, a book that would go on to inspire writers, and a genre, up to the present day.

Described as a fantasy for children of every age, it is fascinating that Lewis himself did not have children. “I never appreciated children till the war brought them to me,” Lewis once wrote.

As was common at the time, he had taken in air-raid refugees during the Second World War. One of them was fascinated by an old wardrobe in the author’s house, and that planted a seed that Lewis would nurture into one of the classic works of children’s literature.

That seed also sprouted six additional Narnia tales, but none is as thrilling, magical or memorable as the first. For anyone with young children.