Instead of celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with green beer and corned beef, why not listen to a story by one of Ireland’s great writers? Here are a few recommendations:
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Max Morden, a middle-aged, recently widowed Irishman has moved back to the seaside town where he spent his summers as a child. It is a retreat from the grief, anger, and numbness of life without his wife. But it is also a return to the place where he met the Graces, the well-heeled vacationing family with whom he first experienced the strange suddenness of both love and death.
Listen to an excerpt THE SEA
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Biting and darkly funny, The Glorious Heresies is the unforgettable vision of a city plagued by poverty and exploitation, where salvation awaits in the most unexpected places.
Listen to an excerpt THE GLORIOUS HERESIES
In the 1980s Jimmy Rabbitte formed the Commitments, a ragtag blue-collar collective of Irish youths determined to bring the soul music of James Brown and Percy Sledge to Dublin. Time proves a great equalizer for Jimmy as he’s now approaching fifty, with a loving wife, four kids, and a recent cancer diagnosis that leaves him feeling shattered and frightened.
Listen to an excerpt GUTS
One night an eighteen-year-old Irish girl, recently arrived in London to attend drama school, meets an older man—a well-regarded actor in his own right. She is naive and thrilled by life in the big city, and he is haunted by more than a few demons. The clamorous relationship that ensues risks undoing them both.
Listen to an excerpt THE LESSER BOHEMIANS