122 HealtH Matters
reaDinG
HEAlTH MATTERS
BOOK REvIEWS
There are quite a few new Irish books both out now and soon to be
skippy Dies
released. Health Matters picks the best of the bunch.
this is the second
novel from Irish
novelist Paul Murray.
His first, An Evening
Designer genes series of books has proven to be massively of Long Goodbyes
Ireland’s newest author, successful, establishing Bruen as a crime was shortlisted for
emma Hannigan, has writer comparable to Ian rankin and has the Whitbread First
arrived on the scene drawn praise from other crime writers such Novel award 2003
with an impressive first as George Pelecanos, novelist and co- and nominated for
book, Designer Genes. writer of HBO’s The Wire. this breakthrough the Kerry Irish Fiction Award. Seven years
taking a look at the novel won the award for best novel at the later, Murray is back with a bang and a
world through the 2004 shamus awards for detective fiction tragi-comic tale of adolescence, adulthood
eyes of two women, and has been reissued to coincide with and death. set in the fictional seabrook
this book takes you the filming of The Guards, starring Ian Glen College, a private boys’ school in the south
on a journey of very real (Tara Road, Song for a Raggy Boy), due for Dublin area and run by the Holy Paraclete
life experiences. emily, a happily married release in 2010. Fathers, Skippy Dies introduces a cast
mother of two, has her world turned upside of characters with numerous interwoven
Penance Room FINAL AW final 26mm 22/01/2010 14:30 Page 1
down when she discovers she is the carrier narratives from students and teachers
of a dangerous cancer gene. she struggles the penance alike. squeezing in an education on robert
to deal with the challenges arising before rOOm Graves, World War One, M-theory, string
Broken Hill Nursing Home is a house laden do
now settled in wn with secrAustralia b ets,
ut living out their tr
its residents
oubled liv
her, making life and death decisions. Her
es trapped in the past
From Carol Coffey,
.
Thirteen-year-old Chr
istopher, whose par
self-appointed guardian. ents run the home
theory and the origins of the universe,
Deaf since c
, is its
hildhood,
accident, his foot sehe notices wha vered in a hor
t other rs miss ific. Isolated and ignor
friend and psychologist, susie, supports the author of
with helping these damaged souls find the peace theed,
The
he is obsessed
y crave.
He befriends the beautiful y Skippy Dies is ambitious to say the least.
oung Maria whose strange sadness puzzles him,
then gains an ally when a m
ysterious y
extraordinar
oung man ar
emily in her time of need, but has demons Butterfly State
y liv
riv
es of the ag
es to record the
ing immigrants. Chr
transfor
istopher eagerl
mations he expects will r
,
y awaits the
esult from these ‘confessions’. However, Murray rises to the challenge
But will delving into the past disturb the r
open up a P
esidents’ frag
of her own to wrestle with. this book will comes this
andora's bo
ile mental sta
x tha
te and
t was best left closed?
And can Chr
himself sur istopher vive their ter
rible disclosures? and delivers a cult read that will hold your
'Beautifully written,
this novel should
take you on a rollercoaster of emotions fantastically written
not be overlooked!'
U magazine
attention to the 661st page.
as emily and susie embark on their book. It is based
978-1-84223-408-2
individual voyages that are both around a
poolbeg fiction
Ideal fo
r your B
ook Club discussion
heartbreaking and hilarious! generation of the village
characters that lived through The Village, the third in
worldwide conflict but is seen through the the series of books by
the guarDs eyes of 13-year-old boy Christopher who alice taylor, is now
Set in Galway, The lives in Broken Hill Nursing Home. available in a new
Guards is the first of Christopher has been deaf since childhood edition, republished by
Ken Bruen’s award- and also lost his foot in an accident at a train Brandon Books. Alice
winning Jack taylor track. the book takes us on an adventure taylor is renowned for
crime novels. It tells with Christopher as he meets friends such her successful series
of taylor, a disgraced as Maria, a young, beautiful melancholic of memoirs detailing
policeman, and girl; and a young man who arrives to the delicacies of Irish rural life, her
his entanglement document the lives of the nursing home's experiences of the Irish countryside, its
in a high-powered immigrant residents. Carol Coffey has used traditions, and many of the quirky yarns and
conspiracy following a drunken encounter her extensive background in disabilities to characters that populate this past world.
with a mysterious woman. throughout, bring the world of special needs to the Following on from her other books To School
Bruen creates memorable characters wider population through her writing and Through the Fields and Quench the Lamp,
infused with edgy, disturbing and this latest book is a fine example of that. The Village recounts her move to
occasionally comic qualities as taylor’s this book is intensely poignant and original Innishannon, Co. Cork, where the newly-
booze-addled, dishevelled and disruptive and it will take you on a journey of great married taylor and her husband represent
persona forces his way into their lives. this emotional and atmospheric depth. incremental change in early sixties Ireland.
HM Iss6.1 p71-128.indd 122 12/03/2010 15:29:41
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