New titles from Jojo Moyes and Eimear McBride, a debut novel from Garrett Carr, and a special anniversary edition of Val Mulkerns’ A Time Outworn are among the most exciting Irish books being published this February.
The Glass House, by Rachel Donoghue (6 Feb, Corvus)
A suspenseful thriller from Dublin author Rachel Donoghue, The Glass House is a captivating and compelling tale of two sisters and their secrets, of love, regret and vengeance. Moving from the West of Ireland to Dublin, London, Florence, and back, the tale makes clear that a window to the past can never be closed.
1963: At the stark and isolated modernist mansion of controversial political philosopher Richard Acklehurst, the glittering annual New Year party has not gone quite as planned.Considered a genius by some, and something far darker by others, by the end of the evening Acklehurst will be dead in mysterious circumstances, casting a long shadow over the lives of his teenage daughters, Aisling and Stella.
1999: Richard Acklehurst’s remains are defiled in the country graveyard where they have lain undisturbed for over thirty years, forcing his daughters to return to their childhood home where they must finally confront the complex and dark dynamic at the heart of their family.
Tenterhooks, by Claire-Lise Kieffer (6 Feb, Banshee Press)
A short story collection from Franco-German author Claire-Lise Kieffer (who currently lives in Galway), Tenterhooks presents an Ireland both strange and achingly familiar, animating our collective past, present and future. Humorous, off-kilter, savage and surreal, she depicts the bonds that hold couples, families and communities together with a sharp, humane and deeply original slant.
An eerie discovery at a building site triggers a crisis for a garda and his family. A grieving woman comes to believe that she is being possessed by the spirit of her mother, and seeks an unusual exorcism. A brave new world is established as Galway City disappears slowly underwater. And a young woman experiences the morning after the night before in a strange, condemned midlands town.
The Morrigan, by Kim Curran (6 Feb, Michael Joseph)
Dublin-born author Kim Curran brings a bold and powerful new voice to the table with this electric retelling of Ireland’s mythic goddess of war.
From an ancient, storm-tossed sea, a tribe of gods reach the rocky shores of Ireland. Among them, a strange, hungry, red-haired girl. A girl who can change shape, from bird to beast to goddess. A girl who dreams of battle, of blood, of death and power.
She does not know yet that her journey will take a thousand years. That her name will be remembered for a thousand more. She is The Morrigan: a girl with rage coiled in her chest. Beautiful, powerful, ravenous rage. A rage that will live forever.
The Naming of the Birds, by Paraic O’Donnell (6 Feb, Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
Irish writer of fiction, poetry and criticism Paraic O’Donnell will release his new title The Naming of the Birds this month. Set in London in 1894, the story introduces us to inspector Henry Cutter, who happens to be in an unconvivial temper. Then the murders begin. The first to die is Sir Aneurin Considine, a decorated but long-retired civil servant, is found dead amongst his beloved orchid collection, killed by a wound inflicted with surgical precision. Soon, other victims suffer similar fates. More men in powerful positions; more murders that are gruesome but immaculately orchestrated.
The perpetrator comes and goes like a ghost, leaving only carefully considered traces. Hot on the tails of this invisible adversary are Inspector Cutter, along with his hapless but endlessly enthusiastic sidekick, Sergeant Gideon Bliss. But as the pressure mounts, victims will start to look like perpetrators, murderers like truth-tellers, long-hidden failings will come resurface, and not even their very selves are safe from suspicion.
‘Some wrong was done long ago. It can never be righted, and it has not been forgotten. Someone remembers it.’
Moving On, by Roisin Meaney (6 Feb, Hachette London
Kerry-born, Limerick-based bestselling author Roisin Meaney has a great many title under her belt already, and she’s adding to it an uplifting love story that’s been described as One Day meets The Flatshare.
Three great loves. Two very different countries. One step closer to finding her way home. As a new decade begins, hopeless romantic and big dreamer Ellen is finally moving on from her hometown. In Galway she takes a job in a bookshop, and somewhere between the dusty bookshelves and the quiet afternoons, a bookseller named Ben finds a place in her heart.
Fast forward, and the bright lights (and cosy flats) of London are calling Ellen’s name. There she meets Leo, a charming, attentive city banker who’s everything she’s ever wanted. And wherever she goes, her heart beats in time with her childhood friend, Danny – though they never seem to be in the right place at the right time. If home is where the heart is, where will Ellen’s lead her?
The Boy From the Sea, by Garrett Carr (6 Feb, Pan Macmillan
Described by Louise Kennedy as “compassionate, lyrical and full of devilment”, The Boy from the Sea is a beautifully written debut novel from Belfast author Garrett Carr. The year is 1973. In a close-knit community on Ireland’s west coast, a baby is found abandoned on the beach. Named Brendan by Ambrose Bonnar, the fisherman who adopts him, the boy will become a source of fascination and hope for a town caught in the storm of a rapidly changing world.
Ambrose, a man more comfortable at sea than on land, brings Brendan into his home out of love. But it is a decision that will fracture his family and force this man – more comfortable at sea than on land – to try to understand himself and those he cares for. This is a novel about a restless boy trying to find his place in the world. It is an exploration of the ties that make us and bind us, as a family and community move irresistibly into the future.
We All Live Here, by Jojo Moyes (11 Feb, Michael Joseph)
Beloved New York Times bestselling author Jojo Moyes is an expert at crafting fresh, contemporary stories about love. Lila Kennedy has a lot on her plate. A broken marriage, two wayward daughters, a house that’s falling apart, and an elderly stepfather who seems to have quietly moved in.
Her career is in freefall and her love life is… complicated. So when her real dad—a man she has barely seen since he ran off to Hollywood thirty-five years ago—suddenly appears on her doorstep, it feels like the final straw. But it turns out even the family you thought you could never forgive might have something to teach you: about love, and what it actually means to be family.
The City Changes Its Face, by Eimear McBride (13 Feb, Faber & Faber)
So, all would be grand then, as far as the eye could see. Which it was, for a while. Up until the city, remembering its knives and forks, invited itself in to dine.
An intense story of passion, jealousy and family from the trailblazing, award-winning Eimear McBride, The City Changes Its Face is an absolute must read for 2025. It’s 1995. Outside their grimy window, the city rushes by. But in the flat there is only Stephen and Eily. Their bodies, the tangled sheets. Unpacked boxes stacked in the kitchen and the total obsession of new love.
Eighteen months later, the flat feels different. Love is merging with reality. Stephen’s teenage daughter has re-appeared, while Eily has made a choice, the consequences of which she cannot outrun. Now they face a reckoning for all that’s been left unspoken – emotions, secrets and ambitions. Tonight, if they are to find one another again, what must be said aloud?
Love rallies against life. Time tells truths. The city changes its face.
May All Your Skies Be Blue, by Fiona Scarlett (13 Feb, Faber & Faber)
From the author of the beloved debut and international bestseller, Boys Don’t Cry, comes an unforgettable story of love, loss, regret and the indelible marks one person can make on your life. Limerick-based Fiona Scarlett’s May All Your Skies Be Blue contains a powerful truthfulness.
Summer, 1991. Dean: sun-stung and sticky with cool ice-pop juice, walks to the middle of The Green to get a good gawk at the new salon. And at the owner’s kid. Hands deep in his pockets, his jet-black mop of hair hides the tension in his face at the thought of going back home.
Shauna: stands well hid behind her ma – her eyes dark and haunted like the rest of her. The salon is theirs, a fresh start. The smell of her ma’s Body Shop perfume clings to her jumper – Shauna can’t be anywhere else other than here.
Instantly inseparable, their friendship blooms. But as time passes and tell-tale blushes and school fights develop into something deeper, conflicting responsibilities threaten to pull Shauna and Dean apart. When all seems lost, will they find each other under the same blue sky?
The Wardrobe Department, by Elaine Garvey (13 Feb, Canongate)
A debut novel from Sligo-born short story writer Elaine Garvey, The Wardrobe Department centres around Mairad, who works all hours in a run-down West End theatre’s wardrobe department. Her whole existence is made up of threads and needles, running errands to mend shoes, fixing broken zips and handwashing underwear.
She must also do her best to avoid groping hands backstage and the terrible bullying of the show’s producer. But, despite her skill and growing experience, half of Mairéad remains in her windy, hedge-filled home in Ireland, and the life she abandoned there. In noughties London, she has the potential to be somebody completely new – why, then, does she feel so stuck? Between the bustling side streets of Soho, and the wet grass of Leitrim and Donegal, Mairéad is caught, running from the girl she was but unable to reveal the woman she’d hoped to become.
Told with rare honesty and equal measures of warmth and bite, The Wardrobe Departmentis a story about reckoning with the past, finding the courage to change the present – and asking what comes next.
Frogs for Watchdogs, by Seán Farrell (14 Feb, New Island Books
Sligo-based author Seán Farrell’s Frogs for Watchdogs has been described as a ‘quintessentially Irish’ debut, told in the unique voice of a wild boy with a ferocious imagination who will stop at nothing to protect his family from the darkness on the edges of their unstable rural life.
After years of moving from place to place, a young family finds shelter in an isolated house in the Irish countryside. Their father is missing, mum is a healer and B a formidable big sister. In his strange new territory, a wild little boy gives voice to his experience.
Jerry Drain, a local farmer, is stealing hay from the barn, someone is making nasty phone calls to the house at night and darkness is gathering at the edges of their lives. With his ferocious imagination the boy will do everything in his power to protect his family. But Jerry will not go away and Mum seems to be falling under his spell. It will be a year of major wins and baffling defeats for the boy, as Jerry’s true nature insists on revealing itself.
A Time Outworn, by Val Mulkerns (14 Feb, 451 Editions)
Val Mulkerns is a renowned Irish writer whose contribution to Irish literature includes work in fiction, children’s books, journalism and broadcasting. She was among the first elected members of Aosdána. Her first novel, A Time Outworn, was published in 1951, and her tenth title, Friends With The Enemy, a memoir, was published just months before her death in 2018, when she was 93.
Now, a special anniversary edition of her debut will be published to celebrate the centenary of her birth, 14 February, 1925. The book features a foreword by Carlo Gébler and an introduction by Maev Kennedy.
When Maeve Cusack falls short of the marks required for a university scholarship, her immediate prospects are unclear, complicated by her relationship with the bookish young Diarmuid. An intelligent and fiercely independent soul, Maeve’s decisions are life-changing and highly atypical for the times. As much a portrait of post-war Irish society as of its distinctive heroine, it’s a compelling fiction debut.
The Language of Remembering, by Patrick Holloway (25 Feb, Époque Press)
Returning from Brazil with his wife and daughter, Oisin is looking to rebuild a life in Ireland and reconnect with his mother, Brigid, who has early onset Alzheimer’s. As her condition deteriorates, she starts to speak Irish, the language of her youth, and reflect on her childhood dreams and aspirations.
Mother and son embark on a journey of personal discovery and as past traumas are exposed, they begin to understand what has shaped them and who they really are. The Language of Remembering is a debut novel from Irish writer of fiction and poetry Patrick Holloway that asks how we connect to the people we love and how we move on from the past to find meaning in the present.