From a long-awaited sequel to Colm Tóibín’s Brooklyn to a new title from Marian Keyes, 2024 is shaping up to be quite the year for Irish writing.
If, like me, you’ve already been overly ambitious with your 2024 reading challenge on Good Reads, this lengthy list of new titles being released throughout the year will make you very excited to get stuck in.
While this list primarily focuses on Irish authors, both well-established and making their grand debut, we’ve also peppered in some international names that may ring a bell. RuPaul, Kiley Reid, Stephen King, the list goes on.
So, prepare to mark your calendars and cancel any and all socialising, because it looks to me as though 2024 will be best spent with your head buried in a book.
Breakdown by Cathy Sweeney (18 January, W&N)
From the author of short story collection Modern Times comes a novel following an ordinary middle-class woman waking up on a day like any other in contemporary Dublin as she gets up, walks out the front door, and never comes back. Leaving her husband and teenage children sleeping in bed, she finds herself facing up to what she has been ignoring inside herself, her family, modern society: signs of breakdown.
Wild Houses by Colin Barrett (25 January, Penguin)
Described by Sally Rooney as “strange and beautiful… A book to live inside”, Wild Houses tells the story of a simmering feud turned violent overnight. Set in Ballina on its biggest weekend of the year, this book is dripping with intrigue.
Come and Get It by Kiley Reid (30 January, Bloomsbury)
If you loved Such a Fun Age, you’ll be very happy to hear that Kiley Reid has another novel on the way, this one following a residential assistant and her messy entanglement with a professor and three unruly students. Described as a fresh and intimate portrait of desire, consumption, and reckless abandon, Come and Get It is a tension-filled story about money, indiscretion, and bad behaviour.
Fourteen Days: An Unauthorized Gathering, edited by Margaret Atwood and Douglas Preston (6 February, Chatto & Windus)
Set in a New York city apartment building in the early days of the pandemic, neighbours gather on the rooftop to exchange stories — the twist? Each character in this diverse, eccentric cast has been secretly written by a different, major literary voice—from Margaret Atwood and Emma Donoghue to John Grisham and Candace Bushnell.
The House of Hidden Meanings by RuPaul (5 March, HarperCollins)
Prepare for a revealing, stripped back, intimate version of drag superstar and pop culture icon RuPaul. Described as a brutally honest, surprisingly poignant, and deeply intimate memoir of growing up Black, poor, and queer in a broken home, this introspection tracks the importance of performance, found family, and self-acceptance. A self-portrait of the legendary icon on the road to global fame and changing the way the world thinks about drag, this is one many of us will devour in a single sitting.
I’m F*cking Amazing by Anoushka Warden (21 March, Trapeze)
Could this book possibly be the new Bridget Jones for the Fleabag generation? Incredibly big shoes to fill, the description certainly sounds promising. Tracking the life of a 30-something woman trying to get her sex life back on track now that she’s found The One in the form of ‘Serious Boyfriend Number Three’. From doctors to drugs to completely unorthodox methods, she embarks on a journey of desperation and self-discovery.
My Favourite Mistake by Marian Keyes (11 April, Penguin)
The one and only (extremely beloved) Marian Keyes returns this year with what is described as a funny, absorbing, touching tale. Following the enviable Anna, who’s been living it up in NYC to the naked eye, but doesn’t enjoy her high flying beauty PR job all that much. Trading it all in to return home to Ireland for a PR role at a super-high-end coastal retreat, it isn’t all smooth sailing there either. Turns out, you can’t escape your mistakes, and the book begs the question: when do we stop making the same one over and over again?
Reality Check by Vicki Notaro (11 April, Sandycove)
Former magazine editor Vicki Notaro is giving us a glimpse behind the curtain of celebrity culture with Reality Check, a story that follows TV writer Portia as a bombshell throws her life of perfect obscurity into obscurity, forcing her to move home from LA to Kerry, where more scandal awaits with her reality show mother and social media famous sisters.
The Amendments by Niamh Mulvey (18 April, Picador)
Delving into the lives of three generations of women, The Amendments is an extraordinary novel about love and freedom, belonging and rebellion — and about how our past is a vital presence which sits alongside us. A story that takes us into the heat of teenage years in the early 2000s, as Ireland was unpicking itself from its faith and embracing the hedonism of the Celtic Tiger, to 1983, when Nell’s mother Dolores was grappling with the tensions of the women’s rights movement.
Hagstone by Sinéad Gleeson (11 April, ?Fourth Estate)
The haunting debut novel from beloved, no. 1 bestselling Irish author, Sinéad Gleeson, Hagstone takes in the darker side of human nature and the mysteries of faith and the natural world. On a wild and rugged island cut off and isolated to some, artist Nell feels the island is her home. When a letter arrives from the reclusive Inions—a commune of women who have travelled there from all over the world— inviting her into the commune for a commission to produce a magnificent art piece to celebrate their long history. In its creation, Nell will discover things about the community and about herself that will challenge everything she thought she knew.
The Alternatives by Caoilinn Hughes (16 April, OneWorld)
The Alternatives tells the story of four brilliant Irish sisters, orphaned in childhood when their parents tragically passed, as they scramble to reconnect when the oldest disappears into the Irish countryside. Together for the first time in years, the Flattery sisters descend on the Irish countryside in search of a sister who doesn’t want to be found. Sheltered in a derelict bungalow, they reach into their common past, confronting both old wounds and a desperately uncertain future.
Old Romantics by Maggie Armstrong (18 April, Tramp Press)
An acutely observed and hideously entertaining collection of linked short stories, Maggie Armstrong’s narrator navigates a world of awkward expectation and latent hostility. Longlisted for a 2023 Irish Book Award, Maggie Armstrong’s work has appeared in the Dublin Review, The Stinging Fly, Banshee, and elsewhere.
Funny Story by Emily Henry (23 April, Penguin)
Known for her New York Times bestselling romance novels, Emily Henry returns with a shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common. Daphne always loved the way her fiancé Peter told their story. He really was good at telling it… right up until the moment he realised he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra, which is how Daphne begins her new story: Stranded in beautiful Michigan, her proposed roommate is the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.
The Coast Road by Alan Murrin (9 May, Bloomsbury)
It’s 1994 in Donegal, and everyone is talking about Colette Crowley – the writer, the bohemian, the woman who left her husband and sons to pursue a relationship with a married man in Dublin. But now Colette is back, and nobody knows why. Brilliantly observed from a sharp new literary talent, The Coast Road is a novel about a closed community and the consequences of daring to move against the tide.
You Like It Darker by Stephen King (21 May, Scribner)
From legendary storyteller and master of short fiction Stephen King comes an extraordinary new collection of twelve short stories, many never-before-published, and some of his best ever. King writes to feel “the exhilaration of leaving ordinary day-to-day life behind,” and in You Like It Darker, readers will feel that exhilaration too, again and again.
Exile by Aimée Walsh (23 May, John Murray)
Fiadh’s life is turned completely upside down on a night out in Belfast. Pretty soon everyone has heard about what happened; it is impossible to keep the rumours from spreading, the gossip from spiralling out of control. Her nights revolve around random hook ups, fuelled by drink and drugs. Without the tight knit group of friends at home, Fiadh’s life in Liverpool quickly descends into chaos, a chaos that nearly costs her everything.
Long Island by Colm Tóibín (23 May, Pan MacMillan)
The long-awaited sequel to Colm Tóibín’s prize-winning, bestselling novel Brooklyn, Long Island is Colm Tóibín’s masterpiece: an exquisite, exhilarating novel that asks whether it is possible to truly return to the past and renew the great love that seemed gone forever. A man with an Irish accent knocks on Eilis Fiorello’s door on Long Island and in that moment everything changes. This stranger will reveal something that will make her question the life she has created.
Hey, Zoey by Sarah Crossan (23 May, Bloomsbury)
A provocative, tender and darkly funny novel that explores the painful truths of modern-day connection, and all the complicated and unexpected forms that love can take in a lifetime, Hey, Zoey is a propulsive story of love, family, and trauma in our tech-buffered age of alienation, as strange as it is familiar. Imagine discovering an animatronic sex doll hidden in the garage. What would you do?
Mouthing by Orla Mackey (30 May, Penguin)
An acerbic, unsentimental love letter to rural Irish life, where everyone knows everyone else’s business and everyone has an opinion on it – where ‘community’ is both a lifeboat and a life sentence, Mouthing is a multigenerational portrait of a hotbed of gossip and intrigue masquerading as a sleepy village. The good people of Ballyrowan delight in twisting the knife, in tormenting one another, in perfecting the art of schadenfreude. And, it becomes clear, none of them are entirely reliable witnesses.
The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry (6 June, Canongate)
Award-winning writer Kevin Barry’s first novel set in America, The Heart in Winter is a savagely funny and achingly romantic tale of young lovers on the lam in 1890s Montana. Described as a love story for the ages—lyrical, profane and propulsive—Kevin Barry demonstrates himself to be a master stylist, an unrivalled humourist, and a true poet of the human heart.
The Life Impossible by Matt Haig (29 August, Canongate Books)
The remarkable next novel from Matt Haig, the author of #1 New York Times bestseller The Midnight Library, comes a story of wild adventure, deep transformation and gloriously heart-warming characters. Grace Winters is a widow and retired maths teacher whose life seems to be getting smaller and smaller. She keeps out of the way of people and passes time watching the birds in her garden and doing crossword puzzles. But when a long-lost friend dies in strange circumstances and leaves her a house on the Spanish island of Ibiza, Grace’s solitary drastically changes.
Our London Lives by Christine Dwyer Hickey (5 September, Atlantic)
1979. In the vast and often unforgiving city of London, two Irish outsiders seeking refuge find one another: Milly, a teenage runaway, and Pip, a young boxer full of anger and potential who is beginning to drink it all away. Dark and brave, this epic novel offers a rich and moving portrait of an ever-changing city, and a profound inquiry into character, loneliness and the nature of love.
The Women Behind the Door by Roddy Doyle (3 September, Viking)
Picking up where he left off with the eponymous Paula Spencer from his 2006 novel, who first appeared in The Woman Who Walked into Doors, Roddy Doyle brings us back to Paula, now in her 60s, having forged a life that allows her to escape the past and finally enjoy the present. That is until her eldest daughter, Nicola, turns up on her doorstep.
The Drowned by John Banville (1 October, Hanover Square Press)
From the renowned Booker Prize winner and nationally bestselling author of Snow comes a richly atmospheric new mystery about a woman’s sudden disappearance in a small coastal town in Ireland, where nothing is as it seems. Set in 1950s rural Ireland, a loner comes across a mysteriously empty car in a field. Knowing he shouldn’t approach but unable to hold back, he soon finds himself embroiled in a troubling missing person case, as a husband claims his wife may have thrown herself into the sea.
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