Searingly honest reflection on personal crises and eventual arrival at self-acceptance

It’s a mixed bag this week. There’s fiction from a new writer and from an old hand, both of whom have produced engrossing crime novels. There’s a book full of interviews with our best-known writers. There’s a memoir from a woman whose first memoir hit the bestseller lists, and there’s a true crime horror story, the kind you really couldn’t make up.

Hungry, Katriona O’Sullivan, Hachette, €16.99

Katriona O’Sullivan’s first memoir, Poor, was a bestseller and was adapted for stage. Her account of being brought up in the UK by Irish parents who were addicts and neglected their responsibility is a tough read. In this, her second memoir, she takes on the challenge of her body. Because she sees her body as a real challenge in this world where self-image and beauty is everything, and poor self-image or not being beautiful or thin, can have serious impacts on a woman’s life and on her choices. We tend to view those who are obsessed with their image as a brainless, shallow, self-obsessed bunch of idiots. But these tags don’t fit easily on a scholar with a PhD who’s written her second book. This is a searingly honest reflection on O’Sullivan’s own life, her personal crises and on her eventual arrival at a level of self-acceptance.

A Hosting, Ed Martin Doyle, Lilliput Press, €21.95

This is a collection of interviews with some of Ireland’s finest writers, edited by the Irish Times books editor Martin Doyle, and I must say whoever came up with the idea was inspired. Interviews with all the big names in Irish literature are here, from 1991 up to last year and who isn’t curious about what makes the writers they admire tick? Such a thing is in fact the lifeblood of the myriad book and writers’ festivals that take place countrywide throughout the year, attended by massive audiences. The trick with this book is you don’t have to leave home to find insightful interviews with the likes of Claire Keegan, Roddy Doyle, Maeve Binchy, Paul Murray, John Banville, Donal Ryan, Anne Enright… the list goes on and on, the names are printed on the back cover and this book proffers hours and hours of engagement, where you can dip in and out over your cornflakes or your nightcap, to get a real sense of what it is to be a recognised Irish writer.

All the Old Clocks, RP O’Donnell, New Island, €16.95

Emma Daly used to be a member of the gardaí, but she’s ended up being a librarian back home, in the fictional little town of Kilcraven in West Cork. She’s a big fan of Arthur Conan Doyle and knows all of the Sherlock Holmes stories practically by heart. It was those stories that led her to seek her dream job in the gardaí, but it didn’t work out. Intrigued? Yes indeedy, it’s a good hook. Storm Cordelia sweeps through the town in 1988, leaving devastation in its wake. That’s when Emma witnesses a murder. And then witnesses the local gardaí arrest the wrong guy. She is compelled to act, with the help of a handful of locals of similar mind, and there are things you can do with a story set in 1988 that you can’t do if it’s set in the wake of the internet. That’s not the only smart move with this story, it’s full of ‘em. You have the local Big House, the owner of which is murdered, you have an ex-priest who hasn’t been seen in 30 years accused of the murder, you have a dodgy village solicitor and an even dodgier village cop. There’s a host of other characters too in this enjoyable murder mystery.

A Deadly Episode, Anthony Horowitz, Century, €17.99

In his Hawthorne crime series of novels (all of which can be read as standalone novels), Horowitz casts himself as a kind of contemporary Dr Watson to Hawthorne, who’s a kind of contemporary Sherlock Holmes. And the idea of a writer including themselves as a character in their own metafictional crime novel would be, for most writers, career suicide, but somehow Horowitz pulls it off. The setting is a film set where an adaptation of a previous Horowitz novel is being filmed. When the actor playing Hawthorne is stabbed, Hawthorne feels he needs to step in and investigate. The list of suspects is, however, daunting. And it dawns on Hawthorne that maybe it was him, rather than the actor playing him, who was meant to be the victim. It’s audacious and mad but it’s great fun too. Horowitz fans, and they are legion and ever-growing in number, will hoover it up.

Buried Secrets, Barry Cummins, Gill, €14.99

There can’t be many people about who don’t recall the Tina Satchwell murder, where her loving husband spent years repeatedly appealing for witnesses to come forward, in attempting to help him find his ‘missing’ wife. Years later, it wasn’t an actual person who found her, it was a cadaver dog, who sniffed her out under the stairs in her own home, where her loving husband had buried her years before. And then of course came his court case, which was almost more bizarre than his previous TV ‘appeals’. But we only get snatches of a story like this in the news, be it broadcast or in print. There is always a much bigger story and this excellent book by Barry Cummins delivers the full skinny, the result of exhaustive research and many exclusive interviews. This is the tale of a heinous crime, but it’s also an extensive look into the life of a woman trapped in the nightmare of coercive control, who paid the ultimate price before she could escape.

Footnotes

Hinterland 2026 is happening in Kells on June 25-28 and there’s a stellar line-up this year, a lively mix of returning guests and newbies. The newbies may be new to Hinterland, but they’re not new to the public eye. The full programme is on hinterland.ie and the big events book out fast, so don’t waste any time.

The Bloomsday Festival is on June 11-16 this year and there’s a huge variety of events on offer throughout the capital. See bloomsdayfestival.ie for details.