Escapism: 5 of The Best West of Ireland Books To Add To Your Shelf
There’s no better time than now to curl up with a good read. While the dark nights set in and the rain pelts against the window, why not grab a book from your shelf and embark on an armchair adventure for the night? Of course, you could go somewhere far-flung like Italy or India in Eat, Pray, Love, or conflict-stricken Afghanistan in A Thousand Splendid Suns, but there’s also the option to keep it local.
Ireland has served as the inspiration and backdrop to many novels. In particular, the West of Ireland, with its dramatic landscapes and rugged coastlines – not to mention the hustling cobblestones of Galway’s Latin Quarter. From spine-tingling family disputes to an artistic portrayal of modern working-class rural Ireland, here are five books set in The West to add to your TBR pile.
Where I End by Sophie White
If you’re on the hunt for something on the macabre side, you can stop searching. Set on an isolated island off the Irish coast, believed to be heavily influenced by the Aran Islands, Where I End is a horror story of sorts that tells the tale of family dynamics at their very messiest.
In the story, we meet three generations of Irish women living in the same home. Aoileann, the youngest of the women, helps to care for her mother alongside her grandmother. Aoileann’s life on the island is very small, dedicated primarily to caring for her mother; however, this is not work done lovingly. The backdrop plays a huge part in the story, adding to the isolation and suspense of our main characters as they navigate their difficult day-to-day lives.
The Ruin by Dervla McTiernan
If crime is your genre of choice, it doesn’t get much better than this. Written by the brilliant Irish/Australian author Dervla McTiernan, The Ruin spans over a twenty-year period and follows Detective Cormac Reilly as he investigates two decades-old deaths. Set primarily in Galway and its surrounding areas, this is a complex and character-driven story that delves into corruption and asks the question – who will protect you when the authorities don’t?
The Colony by Audrey Magee
The Aran Islands serve as inspiration for authors once again, as Audrey Magee’s The Colony is set on a windswept island off the west coast of Ireland. As the title suggests, this is a story about colonisation, exploring the social, political, cultural and economic journey of Ireland.
In the novel, it’s 1979, and as violence erupts on mainland Ireland, two outsiders, an English artist and a French linguist, arrive on this small island and call it home. Their presence creates tension and uproots the island’s ecosystem, drawing on themes of neocolonialism and cultural preservation.
In The Forest by Edna O’Brien
Based on real-life events, this brooding book is set in the countryside of the West, telling the story of a young man who shoots three people dead in a forest glade.
The Forest is one of Edna O’Brien’s most striking works, as the Clare writer cleverly takes a true event and turns it into a compelling fictional tale. Taking place in the 90s, the wild forest backdrop is key to the story as we see a man become a forest dweller, entrapped by its wilderness as he slowly descends into a life of violence and segregation.
Young Skins by Colin Barrett
Irish-Canadian author Colin Barrett draws on his Mayo roots to set the short stories in Young Skins in the fictional town of Glanbeigh in County Mayo. The six short stories are compelling and moreish in their prose, exploring the lives and loves of young men and women from childhood to old age.
Easily devoured in one sitting, don’t be fooled by the book’s size, as it still packs a punch. Delving into simmering tensions and the difficulties many young people can face living in small-town life, these stories show us a raw version of working-class life in modern Ireland.
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