The Irish are known for their gift of gab, thanks to Ireland’s rich oral tradition. Luckily for us, that oral tradition eventually led to people writing their stories down. Notable Irish authors include James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, W.B. Yeats and more modern examples like Sally Rooney, Colum McCann, Emma Donoghue, and Anne Enright.
Ireland also boasts a wonderful literary scene with book festivals in Dublin and Belfast, the fabled Long Room at Trinity College Dublin (pictured below), the Museum of Literature Ireland, the C.S. Lewis Trail in Belfast, and so much more. It’s fitting us for us to make this country our next literary tourism stop—though, of course it was hard to narrow down the books!
Whether these titles call to mind memories of your own time in Ireland or you hope to travel there someday (raises hand), I hope this list will make you even more excited about your next trip or provide an accessible and affordable means of escape via armchair travel in the meantime.
To send you off on your literary adventure, I’m sharing seventeen books that I’ve read and loved or that are on my To Be Read list. There’s no way to include every book set in Ireland on this list. That’s where you come in: we’d love to hear your recommendations in the comments section!
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“This is a female text.” These beginning words are repeated, over and over, throughout. This book is unlike anything I’ve ever read: part memoir, part meditation on the female creative process, part biography of a long-dead Irish poet, plus a translation of the poet’s best-known work. If you’re stirred by the offer of gaining a glimpse inside the mind of a modern Irish poet grappling with her brilliant predecessors, read this immediately—and strongly consider listening to Siobhán McSweeney’s pitch-perfect narration. This went straight on my Best of the Year list, and I’ve been recommending it non-stop ever since. More info →
This dystopian novel with echoes of The Dog Stars and The Road is set in the not-too-distant future, where fires have ravaged the globe and religious extremists have seized control of governments. Lark, a teenage refugee, fled Maine with his family hoping to find sanctuary in Ireland, the last country rumored to be accepting refugees—only to discover upon arrival that the borders have closed and his perilous journey has only just begun. Dejected, starving, and alone, he sets out for Glendalough, the “thin place” his mother told him about before she died. Along the way he befriends Seamus, a trustworthy beagle who somehow managed to survive even after dogs were eradicated, and encounters others who wish to both help and harm him. This is a departure for House; those who have enjoyed his past work may especially appreciate the wistful prose and LGBTQ love story. More info →
This tender story is at once heartbreaking and life-affirming, and though it’s a short story, it’s lush, full, and packed with life. It begins on a hot summer day in rural Ireland, when an anxious child is taken by her father to live with a distant relative for a time, in order to ease the burden on her mother as she prepares to deliver another child. The story is just under a hundred pages but Keegan takes you on quite the journey: I read this with my heart in my throat, and found it to be a true testament to what a gifted writer can do in a small space. More info →
While this 1997 debut novel from the Dublin-born Williams isn’t terribly old, it feels decidedly old-fashioned. The story unspools slowly; the plot is anchored by four life-changing letters written decades apart. First we meet 12-year-old Nicholas Coughlan, whose father announces he’s received a calling from God to quit his job and become a painter, with tragic and unforeseen consequences. In another part of Ireland, young Isabel Gore is a poet’s daughter, whose life is upended when her beloved and talented brother suffers a terrible seizure that makes his planned future impossible. We know the two are destined to connect, and Williams methodically (perhaps miraculously?) weaves their paths together. One of my favorite books of 2021 was Shirley Hazzard’s The Transit of Venus; the tone of Williams’s story reminded me very much of Hazzard’s. More info →
This reads like a warmer, wittier Sally Rooney, perfect for fans of introspective first-person literary fiction. Rachel is living in London, happily married and pregnant, when she hears the news that one of her long-ago college professors is in a coma. This discovery prompts her to recall a pivotal year in her early twenties, when she lived in Cork, Ireland and met her best friend James while working at a bookstore. Their lives soon became enmeshed with those of the professor and his wife. A provocative novel with an enticing plot that thoughtfully interrogates themes of power, class, art, and the queer experience. I’ve been recommending this book nonstop ever since I first read it. More info →
The third standalone book in the Dublin Murder Squad series follows detective Frank Mackey and the demons from his past. His dysfunctional family lived in a small flat on Faithful Place in Dublin’s inner city but he yearned to get out and even planned to run away to London with his girlfriend Rosie, except she never showed the night they planned to leave. Frank assumed she changed her mind and left without him. But 22 years later, Rosie’s suitcase is found hidden in their planned meeting spot. The cops don’t trust Frank to be unbiased in his childhood neighborhood but the neighborhood doesn’t trust cops, period—not even one of their former own, which leads Frank to take up his own unauthorized investigation. He never got over Rosie, and he’ll do whatever it takes to uncover what happened. This is a sad, sad story, but it’s such a good one. Please note that, as with all the Dublin Murder Squad books, this contains much profanity and violence. More info →
The publisher’s descriptions of this Booker-shortlisted book are quite misleading, as they made the book sound considerably warmer than I found it to be. (And “funny,” what?) Instead expect a multi-generational family saga about the unrelenting and unending troubles and ultimate demise of the ill-fated Barnes family. I listened to the full cast audiobook narration, and while audio isn’t my best reading format for discerning style and structure, it’s still easy to see that character development, structure, and symbolism are brilliantly done. If you can believe it, the book’s 700 pages felt like a page-turner closer to half that long, all the way up to the jaw-dropping ending. This is a book that would well reward a re-read, if you can bear it. Please note countless content warnings. More info →
This alternately heartwarming and heartbreaking tale about McCourt’s childhood won the Pulitzer Prize and landed at the top of the New York Times bestseller list. (Mary Karr cited it often as a stunning example in her book The Art of Memoir.) He was born in Depression-era Brooklyn to Irish immigrant parents, who returned to the slums in Limerick when he was 4 years old. His mother tried to care for the children despite having no money, as his alcoholic father rarely worked and drank his wages when he did. McCourt’s brogue, humor, and gift of gab makes the story of poverty and near-starvation leap off the page. More info →
In this wistful literary standalone sequel set in the 1970s and 2024 Summer Reading Guide selection, Tóibín returns to his beloved character Eilis Lacey from his 2009 novel Brooklyn. Now in her forties with two teenage children, Irishwoman Eilis is still married to Tony, and still feels like an outsider amongst—and sometimes a prisoner in—his large Italian family. When a stranger appears at her door with a staggering revelation about her husband’s life and choices, Eilis finds herself at a crossroads in her life and marriage, and escapes from Long Island to her small Irish hometown after a decades-long absence to contemplate her future. The neighborhood dynamics are both utterly prosaic and heavy with meaning: this is the kind of book where a bit of gossip whispered by one neighbor to another makes you gasp aloud. More info →
Ahern’s bestselling debut women’s fiction follows 30-year-old Holly after the death of her husband Gerry. Devastated, her life is at a standstill until she receives a package containing ten letters Gerry wrote before he died. Each message sends her on an adventure with the help of her friends and family, as she figures out how to live without him. The movie adaptation stars Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler. More info →
Investigative journalism at its finest, this examines the IRA’s abduction of Jean McConville, a mother of ten, from her Belfast home in 1972 during The Troubles. Her family never saw her again. A little more than thirty years later, human bones are found on a beach and later identified as McConville. The case serves as an example of the violence, fear, and paranoia during that time, as well as a jumping off point to explore the IRA’s goal for a united Ireland, the repercussions of guerrilla warfare, and whether their ends ever justified the means. A riveting and heartbreaking read, this was recently adapted into a TV miniseries on FX. More info →
This is one of my all-time favorite books. Family stories are commonplace in fiction, but O’Farrell tells this one in interlocking scenes from different viewpoints, occurring between 1944 and 2016. It’s the story of an unlikely but successful marriage between a floundering American professor and a British film star who hated the limelight so much she faked her own death and disappeared. But then an unexpected bit of news, twenty years old but newly discovered, threatens to unravel the life the couple has built together in Ireland. I love this story for its intricate plotting, nuanced characters, true-to-life feel, and ultimate hopefulness. More info →
An engaging sapphic YA novel about Nishat and Flávia, immigrant teen girls living in Dublin. After Flávia transfers to Nishat’s all-girls Catholic high school, they become rivals when they both start henna businesses. They both secretly have crushes on the other but neither is out, making it difficult to tell whether a spark is there. Nishat’s parents don’t handle her coming out as lesbian all that well, worried about what their Bengali relatives will think and believing you can’t be Muslim and queer. Luckily, her sister Priti is on her side, helping her make sense of it all. This sweet love story delves into racism, homophobia, and the power of claiming one’s identity. More info →
I didn’t think Sally Rooney was for me. But because I recorded a What Should I Read Next episode with a guest who called Rooney her favorite author, I sampled this one—and then I didn’t want to stop reading! I was captivated by Rooney’s skill at portraying the quietly devastating interactions between Connell and Marianne, Irish teenagers who begin an on-again, off-again relationship (though they wouldn’t call it that) in high school and whose paths continue to cross when they move on to university in Dublin. Her unusual style suits the story, and the acuity with which she probes friendship, trauma, and mental health is striking. More info →
This historical fiction was my gateway to the beloved Irish author’s work. Childhood friends Benny and Eve grow up in tiny Knockglen, determined to head to Dublin one day. Upon arrival at University College, Dublin, they become inseparable with fellow students Nan and Jack. The freedom college offers has both benefits and costs, leaving none of them the same. Take note: the movie adaptation starring Chris O’Donnell and Minnie Driver changed the ending. Content warnings apply. More info →
This mystery puts a modern spin on Agatha Christie’s classic And Then There Were None, setting a destination wedding on a remote Irish island, accessible only by boat, with guests whose lives are connected in ways they never could have guessed. When a magazine publisher weds a handsome reality tv star, she wants her wedding to be magazine-worthy: the designer gown, the atmospheric location, everything perfect to the last detail. But when the guests arrive, including old colleagues, boarding school friends, unreliable family, and untrustworthy friends—things begin going wrong, as long-buried secrets threaten to burst forth at exactly the wrong time. And then they find the dead body. Told in rotating points of view, this was cleverer than I’d expected, and I especially enjoyed the audio version I listened to. (The accents!) I would have appreciated a content warning for self-harm; a murder mystery is certain to have triggers but that one took me by surprise. More info →
I wish I could remember what led to the big Leon Uris kick I went on in high school! I loved this book then; I hear it holds up and would be curious to see for myself. This sweeping historical fiction epic examines three generations of a family living in 19th century Ireland. Their day-to-day lives are set against a backdrop of Catholic-Protestant hatred and violence, imperialist British rule, famine, love, and danger. More info →
Do you have any favorite books set in Ireland? Please share in the comments.
P.S. 65 recommended reads for those traveling to England, 12 recommended reads for those who dream of traveling to Scotland, and more literary tourism.
