The Irish writer chooses her favourite books. Her collection of essays, "Constellations", was shortlisted for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and her debut novel, "Hagstone", is out now in paperback.
The Cost of Living
Valentino
Natalia Ginzburg, 2023
This Italian writer, who died in 1991, wrote essays about family, life and craft, but her novellas are so compelling and deft. This short work is about the spoiled only son of an Italian family, and the impact his questionable choices have on everyone around him.
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The Visitor
Maeve Brennan, 2005
Though long-forgotten in Irish literary history, there has been a resurgence of interest in Brennan's work in recent years. This novella (unpublished when she was alive) is brilliant on contemporary issues of housing, and what it means to be able to afford a home.
Things In Nature Merely Grow
Yiyun Li, published next month
Grief is a difficult subject to write about, but this devastating account of the suicides of Li's two sons is clear-eyed and unsentimental. It's a manifesto of living, not dying, and of how we endure the most unimaginable things.
Lolly Willowes
Sylvia Townsend Warner, 1926
This novel turns 100 next year, and remains a feminist classic. The titular character is a bored spinster who moves to the country, fraternises with the Devil – and realises she's a witch. Funny, erotic and timeless.
Dubliners
James Joyce, 1914
Some people fear reading Joyce because of "Ulysse"s (don't), but start with his brilliant Dublin stories. The final story, "The Dead", about a man who realises he is not his wife's first love, is my favourite short story of all time.
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