The Best Irish Lit to Read Now
From James Joyce to Edna O'Brien, Ireland has long punched above its weight when it comes to producing literary talent. This reading list will keep you up-to-date with today’s Irish authors continuing that legacy, including a few of our favorite recent works from both rising stars and established prize winners.

Intermezzo
Sally RooneyThere is no bigger name in contemporary Irish popular literature than Sally Rooney. Her breakout works, which include the Booker Prize nominated Normal People, were well received by critics and readers alike, and her latest novel, Intermezzo, was again received to widespread acclaim. Unlike her previous tales, this story follows two brothers, on seemingly different life paths, as they wrestle with their relationship to each other, and to the people they love amidst a period of grief and despair.


Hardcover, 2024
$29.00$14.50 + Free shipping50% off your first book
The Heart in Winter
Kevin Barry

Hardcover, 2024
$28.00$14.00 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Ordinary Human Failings
Megan NolanMegan Nolan broke out with her blistering 2021 debut, Acts of Desperation – an excruciatingly evocative depiction of toxic love. In February, she released her follow-up act. In Ordinary Human Failings, a child is found dead on a London estate and the tight-knit neighborhood suspects a family of Irish immigrants of being behind it. But the power of the novel relies less on suspense and more on, as CrimeReads’ Molly Odinitz wrote, its “visceral, knowing exploration of human misery and the ways we fail ourselves.”


Hardcover, 2024
$27.00$13.50 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Wild Houses
Colin BarrettPaperback, 2025
$18.00$9.00 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Nesting
Roisín O'DonnellRoisín O'Donnell's Nesting was an instant hit in the UK and Ireland, and thankfully it has finally made its way across the Atlantic. The book follows a young mother who flees a dangerous domestic situation with her two young daughters and struggles to find a stable place to live in a broken housing system. The Guardian was effusive with praise calling it "a moving portrait of life inside the housing system and the courage it takes to try to build a home in society’s cracks" and describing the reading experience as "more akin to devouring a thriller than a work of domestic realism."
Hardcover, 2025
$29.00$14.50 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Long Island
Colm ToibinColm Tóibín is not a new name to the Irish literary scene. He is the author of eleven novels, three of which have been shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Now in his late sixties, Tóibín shows no signs of slowing down. His 2024 novel Long Island was once again received to near universal praise. The story follows an Irish wife living on Long Island, who is placed in an impossible position by her Italian American husband's infidelity. Though technically a sequel to Tóibín's, Brooklyn, Long Island stands perfectly well on its own. If you have not yet discovered the genius of Colm Tóibín, this is a perfect place to start.
Paperback, 2025
$18.99$9.49 + Free shipping50% off your first book
The Rachel Incident
Caroline O'Donoghue

Hardcover, 2023
$28.00$14.00 + Free shipping50% off your first book
The Alternatives
Caoilinn HughesHardcover, 2024
$28.00$14.00 + Free shipping50% off your first book