Múinteoir Mollie has a book to encourage the cúpla focail

This week there’s just one work of fiction but plenty of non-fiction.

Organ Voluntary, Christopher Fitz-Simon, Lilliput, €15.95

This delightful anthology of short stories dispenses with the current taste for ‘pared back’ and ‘sparse’ prose and instead lavishes these marvellous vignettes with rich language in all its glory that will leave the reader in awe. These are stories from a bygone age, mostly in rural Ireland north and south of the border, before mobile phones (some before phones at all), all of them elegantly wrought with humour, pathos and tenderness. The title story contains an Easter church pageant that’s easily as uproarious as the Nativity scene in John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meaney. But there are more sombre stories too, for example A Snowman in July, where a middled-aged bachelor teacher befriends an ex-pupil of his, now a successful student in Queen’s, and their alliance, based on mutual interests, goes sadly awry. There’s a young working girl holidaying with her excessively devout mother in Catolica, Italy, the destination chosen simply because of its name, and in another a young boy loses a half-crown but gains some small insight into the cycle of life and death. The six counties’ border is here, of course, but as a shadow rather than an affront. A humane and wry glance back at small lives lived in gentler times.

Unseen, Breda O’Toole, Gill, €18.99

Along with Dr Tony Bates, Breda O’Toole has written a searing indictment of a mental health system in this country so badly broken it reads as some kind of horror fiction. Or one wishes it was fiction, but it sadly isn’t. After a childhood where she suffered abuse and neglect, O’Toole was taken into a convent where life wasn’t much better. She looked for help and was subjected to 23 years of the best help the Irish mental health system could provide, which was an absolute nightmare. Among the various humiliations she endured were 29 rounds of electric shock treatment and 11 days in a straitjacket. She was misdiagnosed repeatedly over the years, a young woman searching for healing and instead being subjected to punishment. Subtitled ‘A Memoir of Trauma, Ireland’s Psychiatric System and a Lifetime Spent Healing’, this testament is not for the faint-hearted.

Under Their Roof, Kathleen Richards, Sphere, €18.99

This is another memoir that’s not for the faint-hearted. Kathleen Richards lived for a time in the house of Fred and Rosemary West, Britain’s most notorious serial killers, who tortured their victims before murdering them. Kathleen spent 18 months in the Wests’ home, as the couple rented out cheap rooms to young girls who had nowhere to go. Richards and her sister, having been reared in a neglectful and abusive family environment, were happy to get away, although still only in their mid-teens. There they met Shirley, another teenager described as ‘Fred’s lover’ and obviously pregnant. It’s when Shirley disappeared that Kathleen realised she had to get out. We all know bits and bobs of the Wests horror story, but this book, co-written with author Ann Cusack, reminds the reader of just how macabre the pair really were.

Speaking My Mind, Leo Varadkar, Penguin Sandycove, €23.99

It’s possible this book will only appeal to Varadkar fans and Fine Gaelers, but it does offer some insight into the man who was, for a time, the Taoiseach. And being biracial and gay had not up to then made him a likely candidate to run the country. But Ireland’s all grown up now, thank goodness, and love him or hate him, he was at the helm when several bad situations struck and led the government with a degree of calm, particularly during the pandemic. This book mostly chronicles his career from 2011 until he bowed out, and does, to some extent, give us an insider’s view of the arena in which Irish politics is played out. But it’s also supposed to be a personal testimony and as a reader, one doesn’t get any ‘up close and personal’ vibes from this book. Some have said his book is premature, that he should have waited a few more years before producing it, although it’s unclear if his views would be in any way changed if that had been the case. There’s a bit of defending and explaining and you know what they say; if you’re explaining you’re losing. But it’s an engaging read, if somewhat lacking in introspection.

The Gaeilge Guide, Mollie Guidera, Hachette, €17.99

The recent loss of Manchán Magan will be keenly felt for a long time, he was such a fine ambassador for our language and culture. But there are others out there too, possibly not of his stature but nonetheless enthusiastic Irish speakers, who are reaching out to a wider audience. For some of us, the memories of being clattered for our ineptitude with a language nobody spoke still reverberate. However, for younger generations there’s certainly an appeal. And why not? As long as we never equate the language with any kind of nationalism or politics, something Magan abhorred, it seems a harmless pursuit. Guidera, who uses social media platforms to connect, has put this book together to encourage the cúpla focail among us, providing a fun and accessible way into to our native language. Ever practical, this guide has a fresh and breezy style, aimed at modern readers. For those of us who remember the black felt board with Seán and Úna, not to mention Peig Sayers, it might be a tad too late. But it’s definitely worth a read.

Footnotes

Antonia’s Bookshop in Trim and The Maynooth Bookshop have both made it to the longlist of most favoured indie bookshops in the country, in the An Post National Book Awards. You can vote for them to make the shortlist here.

Belfast International Arts Festival is back for its 63rd edition from October 14 to November 9. Experience a new season of world class theatre, dance, music, visual arts, literature and film, with performances from the best international artists and homegrown talent. See belfastinternationalartsfestival.com for details and tickets.

The Cork Jazz Festival runs from October 23 to 27. For details and tickets see guinnesscorkjazz.com.