There are many titles to add to your reading list this August, including a new work of fiction by Tipperary writer Donal Ryan, an innovative biography of Ireland’s national poet, and an essay collections on love, lust, beauty and vanity.
Finding Mangan: The Lives and Afterlives of Ireland’s National Poet, by Bridget Hourican
Described as an absorbing and innovative biography of Ireland’s national poet by a new literary talent, Finding Mangan resurrects Ireland’s most enigmatic literary figure, restoring his rightful place in the national consciousness. Of the upcoming title, Irish historian and academic Roy Foster notes that Bridget Hourican takes a ‘new, shapeshifting approach to biography’, creating a work that reads like a dream, transporting us between 1849 and contemporary Dublin with ease.
The Irish in the Resistance, by Clodagh Finn and John Morgan
Charting the course of World War II through The Untold Stories of the Ordinary Heroes who Resisted Hitler, these tales remind us of the power of individuals to make a difference. In June 1940, the fall of France prompted General Charles de Gaulle to make an impassioned rallying call to his fellow citizens to fight back against the Germans. His famous radio speech, broadcast from the BBC in London, was later credited with igniting a spark of resistance which eventually grew into a vast underground network of civilians who took a stand against Nazi occupation in Europe. In this collection of real-life stories, we meet the forgotten Irish men and women who joined the Resistance.
Heart, Be at Peace, by Donal Ryan
A novel told in twenty-one voices, Heart, Be at Peace can be read independently, or as a companion to Tipperary writer Donal Ryan’s multi-award-winning novel, The Spinning Heart, which happens to have been voted as the Irish Book of the Decade. In a small town in rural Ireland, the local people have weathered the storms of economic collapse and are looking towards the future. But a fresh menace is creeping in, and the peace of the community is about to be shattered in an unimaginable way. Young people are being drawn towards the promise of fast money, while the generation above them tries to push back the tide of an enemy no one can touch.
There are Rivers in the Sky, by Elif Shafak
A new title from award-winning British Turkish novelist Elif Shafak, There are Rivers in the Sky is the story of one lost poem, two great rivers, and three remarkable lives – all connected by a single drop of water. In the ruins of Nineveh, that ancient city of Mesopotamia, there lies hidden in the sand fragments of a long-forgotten poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh. A rich, sweeping novel that spans centuries, continents and cultures, entwined by rivers, rains, and water drops, this novel is described as a dazzling feat of storytelling from one of the greatest writers of our time.
You’re Embarrassing Yourself, by Desiree Akhavan
You may know the name Desiree Akhavan as a filmmaker, director and occasional actor, as the creator of Hulu’s The Bisexual and Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning The Miseducation of Cameron Post, but her forthcoming essay collection on love, lust and movies will assert her as your new favourite writer. Sharing the stories she was told to shut up about—hilarious, horny, heartbreaking tales of a life in pursuit of art, love, and a better haircut—You’re Embarrassing Yourself contains seventeen essays charting an artist’s journey from outcast to overnight indie darling, to (somewhat) self-aware adult woman.
Scandalous Women: A Novel of Jackie Collins and Jacqueline Susann, by Gill Paul
Slated as being Mad Men meets the publishing world, Scandalous Women revolves around Jackie Collins and Jacqueline Susann, two dynamic, groundbreaking writers renowned for their scandalous and controversial novels, and the beleaguered young editorial assistant who introduces them. Set in 1960s New York City in the aftermath of the release of Valley of the Dolls and The World Is Full of Married Men, when neither author is prepared for the price they will pay for being women who dare to write about sex, the question remains: will the two Jackies clash as they race to top the charts?
Mamele, by Gemma Reeves
A story of unconventional families, cultural inheritance and separation, loneliness and aching desire, Mamele unspools the complicated love between mothers and daughters, the indelible impact of estrangement – and one woman fiercely coming into her own. Edie lives in a crumbling country house in Broadstairs with her partner Joanna. They have spent over a decade together since the death of Harry, the third member of their polyamorous marriage. It’s a quiet, comfortable existence – but conversations about the mother who abandoned her have recently awoken in Edie feelings she long thought buried. Now in her early fifties, she wonders whether there is still time to become the woman she once yearned to be.
Die Hot with a Vengeance, by Sable Young
This highly anticipated essay collection from journalist and former Allure editor Sable Young examines the stigmas surrounding beauty and vanity in the cultural zeitgeist, and how to shift the focus to use both as powerful tools for self-exploration, interpersonal connection, and cultural change. Expect expert analysis of the beauty and wellness industry’s inner workings with the precision of a scalpel and the humour of a stand-up.
Heavyweight, by Solomon J Brager
Contributing to the collective work of Holocaust studies and the chronicle of woven human stories, Heavyweight: A Family Story of the Holocaust, Empire, and Memory provides a moving and provocative graphic memoir exploring inherited trauma, family history, and the ever-shifting understanding of our own identities. Solomon Brager grew up with accounts of their great-grandparents’ escape from Nazi Germany, told over and over until their understanding of self was bound up with the heroic details of their ancestors’ exploits. This book asks us to consider how the patterns of history emerge and reverberate, not as a simple chain of events but in haunting layers.
Tell Me Everything, by Elizabeth Strout
A new title from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Elizabeth Strout, Tell Me Everything is being described as a hopeful, healing novel about new friendships, old loves, and the very human desire to leave a mark on the world. Known for the powerful empathy her writing radiates, this book sees Strout return to the town of Crosby, Maine, and to her beloved cast of characters—Lucy Barton, Olive Kitteridge, Bob Burgess, and more—as they deal with a shocking crime in their midst, fall in love and yet choose to be apart, and grapple with the question, as Lucy Barton puts it, “What does anyone’s life mean?”
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