Irish Classics

Set in the Northern Ireland of the 1980s, Cal tells the story of a young Catholic man living in a Protestant area. For Cal, some choices are devastatingly simple: he can work in an abattoir that nauseates him or join the dole queue; he can brood on his past or plan a future with Marcella.

Springing out of the fear and violence of Ulster, Cal is a haunting love story that unfolds in a land where tenderness and innocence can only flicker briefly in the dark.

See also: Lies of Silence by Brian Moore

A book about family, selfishness and compassion on Ireland’s Atlantic coast, from the Booker Prize-winner.

Hanna, Dan, Constance and Emmet return to the west coast of Ireland for a final family Christmas in the home their mother is about to sell. As the feast turns to near painful comedy, a last, desperate act from Rosaleen – a woman who doesn't quite know how to love her own children – forces them to confront the weight of family ties and the road that brought them home.

See also: Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle

Shortlisted for the 2015 Costa Novel Award
Longlisted for the 2015 Man Booker Prize

**ONE OF THE GUARDIAN'S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21st CENTURY**

When Michael Dillon is ordered by the IRA to park his car in the carpark of a Belfast hotel, he is faced with a moral choice which leaves him absolutely nowhere to turn. He knows that he is planting a bomb that would kill and maim dozens of people. But he also knows that if he doesn't, his wife will be killed.

See also: Reading in the Dark by Seamus Deane

*A BBC BETWEEN THE COVERS BOOKER PRIZE GEM*
WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 1993

Paddy Clarke is ten years old.

Paddy Clarke lights fires. Paddy Clarke's name is written in wet cement all over Barrytown. Paddy Clarke's heroes are Father Damien (and the lepers), Geronimo and George Best. Paddy Clarke knows the exact moment to knock a dead scab from his knee. Paddy Clarke hates his brother Francis because that’s the rule. Paddy Clarke loves his Ma and Da, but it seems like they don't love each other, and Paddy wants to understand, but can't.

This is the story of a haunted Irish childhood.

The setting is Derry in the Northern Ireland of the 40s and 50s, fraught with political hatred, family secrets and lethal intrigue. As a young boy tries to make sense of life, poverty and violence shift and obscure the facts; meanwhile his night-time reading of Irish legends weaves enchantment through reality. Claustrophobic but lyrically charged, breathtakingly sad but vibrant and unforgettable, this is one of the finest books about growing up – in Ireland or anywhere – that has ever been written.

See also: The Green Road by Anne Enright