Finishing a book by a favourite author can feel like a period of mourning, so for those who have turned the last page on Intermezzo, here’s a trio of young Irish authors who can help fill the void
From left: Nicole Flattery, Louise Nealon and Naoise Dolan
My dad, who is in his late 70s, has always been someone who read a little non-fiction from time to time, mostly music and history. A few years ago he was poking through a pile of books destined for the charity shop when he came across what was then the most recent Inspector Rebus book by the Scottish crime writer Ian Rankin, and thought he’d give it a go. Little did I know where that would lead.
He loved it and worked his way through the series starting with the first, Knots & Crosses. He read every single one chronologically. I was thrilled at his bold new horizons and when he ended up back where he had started with no new Rebus book in sight, I thought I’d slide some other contemporary crime writers his way.
He gave me a sigh and informed me with the passion of a man who will only eat the finest Beluga caviar that it was Rebus or nothing. He’s just started the recently released Midnight and Blue and will go back to quietly sulking until the next one comes along once he’s finished.
I was talking to a couple of people recently who were similarly mourning because they’d read the new Sally Rooney novel, loved it, and know it might be years until the next one comes along. We’re going through the most extraordinary era of early career Irish women writers so I suggested books that I thought they might like. Their work differs to Rooney, but I like to think that their characters might have been at a house party with some of hers. All of these three debuts from the last few years might help with any Intermezzo hangover.
Snowflake by Louise Nealon was deservedly the One Dublin One Book choice last year. Debbie grows up on a dairy farm in Kildare with a mother suffering from mental health issues and an uncle living in a caravan in the garden who takes her up on to the roof at night to show her the constellations. When she’s accepted to Trinity College, she finds it intimidating, starts to fall behind and takes to forms of self-sabotage.
What starts as a fish-out-of-water story mutates into something warm, human, complex and slightly magic. By the end, I didn’t want to leave any of the characters. It’s a book about place, class and that uncomfortable period we all go through if we’re lucky enough to go to college. It’s a really impressive debut.
The characters in Nicole Flattery’s brilliant short story collection Show Them a Good Time have almost definitely brushed shoulders with Rooney’s, just perhaps in an alternate universe. A young Irish woman dates a famous comedian in New York, a series of online dates happen in a bizarre restaurant, an ex-model goes home and applies for a job working in a petrol station that only appears to be a petrol station. Don’t expect dullness or normality in any of these stories; they’re different to anything else you’ve read in recent years. They’re sharp (“At 70, after suffering several disappointments, the first being my mother, the second being me, my father died”) and funny. Funny “ha ha” and funny peculiar, a combination that’s hard to pull off.
One of the debuts I liked most by an Irish author in recent years was Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan. Eva is a young Irish woman in Hong Kong, where she meets wealthy British banker Julian. They have a relationship, of a sort, that becomes complicated when Eva meets and falls for Edith, a Hong Kong lawyer, while Julian is away on business. The ensuing triangle of connections means that Eva must evaluate what she wants, who she wants and where she wants to be. I adored it for so many reasons. Dolan’s picking apart of colonialism, class (there it is again!) and Irish-British relations (and relationships) are spot on.
Finally, the Leaves Festival of Writing and Music starts on Wednesday across Laois with a top notch line-up including Donal Ryan, Niall Williams and Paul Muldoon. I get to talk to the authors of two of my favourite books of the year — The Alternatives and Breakdown. Come see me with Caoilinn Hughes and Cathy Sweeney this Thursday evening in Portlaoise Library. Tickets are free, details on the festival website — leavesfestival.ie
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