We asked critics for the best Irish novels published in the past 15 years.
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Its a truism that the Irish cast a long and influential shadow over English-language literature.
Last year, four of the five writers longlisted for the Booker Prize were Irish.
The Pluck of the Irish
Still, the time period is admittedly arbitrary.
But success has many parents, failure is an orphan!
That also explains some entries by more than one author and the presence of one or two short-story collections.
And the breadth of talent.
Tomi Obaro
25.A Ghost in the Throatby Doireann Ni Ghriofa (2021)
25.
Or rather, its about the act of translation understanding your life through someone elses.
Ailbhe Malone
24.Days Without Endby Sebastian Barry (2016)
24.
This novel deals with one of Irish literatures enduring preoccupations: the search for a better life in America.
Were a long way from Colm ToibinsBrooklyn,however, as we follow the life of Thomas McNulty.
Cameron Yule
23.My Fathers Houseby Joseph OConnor (2023)
23.
Sarah Gilmartin
22.Academy Streetby Mary Costello (2015)
22.
Costellos evocative, wonderfully observed debut novelAcademy Streethas overtones of ToibinsBrooklyn.
Before this we see her formative years in rural Ireland.
Sarah Gilmartin
21.Conversations with Friendsby Sally Rooney (2017)
21.
But her first book remains the most purely Rooney.
Their bizarre love quadrangle is both genuinely moving and comic.
Emma Alpern
20.City of Bohaneby Kevin Barry (2012)
20.
Martin Doyle
19.Solaceby Belinda McKeon (2011)
19.
Niamh Donnelly
18.The Secret Placeby Tana French (2014)
18.
The squabbles and obsessions of queen bees and lesser insects become downright menacing in her hands.
Maris Kreizman
17.Hamnetby Maggie OFarrell (2021)
17.
That it was written by an Irish woman speaks to the breadth and heft of Irish writing today.
(Born in Derry, she relocated to the U.K. at a young age.
And she does so by zeroing in on a mother and her grief.
Those who have not yet read this powerful work should brace themselves for its perfect closing lines.
N.D.
16.Brooklynby Colm Toibin (2009)
16.
But its the restraint and subtlety ofBrooklynthat make it so exquisite.
N.D.
15.Solar Bonesby Mike McCormack (2017)
15.
14.The Rachel Incidentby Caroline ODonoghue (2023)
14.
There, she developed a close friendship with closeted co-worker James and an infatuation with her professor, Fred.
Throughout, there is a sort of metatexual awareness of the throw in of book shes not writing.
Its a winningly original dart of comic fiction that showcases ODonoghues skill.
Seamas OReilly
13.Nothing Specialby Nicole Flattery (2023)
13.
WereNothing Specialjust another Andy Warhol book, it might feel cliched, but Flattery neatly swerves familiar territory.
N.D.
12.Nora Websterby Colm Toibin (2014)
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In small-town 20th-century Ireland, the concept of boundaries only ever applied to the land.
S.G.
11.Exciting Timesby Naoise Dolan (2020)
11.
With her debut novel published when she was 27, Dolan arrived fully formed.
An Irish woman teaching English as a foreign language in Hong Kong is the storys central fulcrum.
The year is 2016.
By day, she teaches the Kings English to a group of rich Hong Kong children with western names.
N.D.
10.Actressby Anne Enright (2020)
10.
Enrights talent is her mastery of interior life.
There is a casual brilliance to her descriptions of near-imperceptible emotions.
InActress,Norah is the daughter of Katherine ODell, the famous Irish actress of the novels title.
9.The Spinning Heartby Donal Ryan (2014)
9.
From there, however, more strands emerge.
8.A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thingby Eimear McBride (2014)
8.
A reader might be forgiven for hesitating at the prospect of inscrutable fragments and hypersubjectivity.
She brings a feminist perspective to this tradition, examining the Catholic Church and patriarchy with an unsentimental frankness.
Brandon Sanchez
7.The Bee Stingby Paul Murray (2023)
7.
Murray manages to create a state-of-the-nation novel inside a family drama within a biting satire of post-crash Ireland.
6.Skippy Diesby Paul Murray (2010)
6.
Pere Vert, the dodgy French teacher.
It sprawls without becoming slack, akin to Bolanos2666or PynchonsGravitys Rainbow.
5.Young Skinsby Colin Barrett (2015)
5.
One character strikes out after discovering his on-again-off-again lover is engaged.
An ex-boxer balances his duties to his autistic son and his enforcement duties for the local drug dealer.
Two men skive off the funeral of a woman they both loved.
Violence simmers, then rises to the surface.
An unlikely heat presses down.
Barrett flexes his descriptive muscle in this richly atmospheric book.
N.D.
4.Fosterby Claire Keegan (2010)
4.
S.G.
3.The Green Roadby Anne Enright (2015)
3.
An expansive, funny, shrewd story about family ties that both anchor and restrain.
S.G.
2.Milkmanby Anna Burns (2018)
2.
The Booker Prizewinning success ofMilkmanwas therefore game changing.
The novel is set in an unnamed city that is recognizably the authors native Belfast.
The eponymous Milkman, a much older, predatory paramilitary, continually stalks her.
1.Small Things Like Theseby Claire Keegan (2021)
1.
Has Keegan ever written a bad sentence?
It is 1985 in New Ross, a small port town in County Wexford in Irelands Southeast.
Christmas is coming, and Bill Furlong, a local coal merchant, is out of sorts.
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