Top o' the List: Good Irish Reads - Books, Movies, & More

In the Woods
by Tana French

Twenty years after witnessing the violent disappearances of two companions from their small Dublin suburb, detective Rob Ryan investigates a chillingly similar murder that takes place in the same wooded area, a case that forces him to piece together his traumatic memories.

Love and Summer
by William Trevor

Living an unfulfilling existence at the side of a tragic husband, shy orphan Ellie Dillahan begins an affair that forces her to choose between an uncertain future with the man she loves and the desolate life she has built for herself.

The Book of Lost Things
by John Connolly

Taking refuge in fairy tales after the loss of his mother, twelve-year-old David finds himself violently propelled into an imaginary land in which the boundaries of fantasy and reality are disturbingly melded.

Transatlantic
by Colum McCann

A tale spanning one hundred fifty years and two continents reimagines the peace efforts of democracy champion Frederick Douglass, Senator George Mitchell, and World War I airmen John Alcock and Teddy Brown through the experiences of four generations of women.

Room
by Emma Donoghue

A 5-year-old narrates a riveting story about his life growing up in a single room where his mother aims to protect him from the man who has held her prisoner for seven years since she was a teenager.

Brooklyn
by Colm Tóibín

Leaving her home in post-World War II Ireland to work as a bookkeeper in Brooklyn, Eilis Lacey reluctantly parts with her sister and fragile mother and discovers a new romance in America with a charming blond Italian man before devastating news threatens her happiness.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
by John Boyne

Bored and lonely after his family moves from Berlin to a place called "Out-With" in 1942, Bruno, the son of a Nazi officer, befriends a boy in striped pajamas who lives behind a wire fence.