What were the stand out books of 2023?
Newstalk has put together a handy list of the best novels and memoirs that were published this year.
Rough Beast by Maria Cahill
The history of Ireland is not just the story of politicians and soldiers. In fact, what happens to ordinary Irish people is just as compelling to read about - and often far more insightful.
Which is why Rough Beast by Maria Cahill will be read for years to come. Born into a republican family, her great-uncle Joe Cahill was a senior member of the Provisional IRA. Gerry Adams was a family friend and she was asked to join the organisation on a number of occasions.
The book gives the reader frank view of growing up in a republican community but also the shocking ordeal of her rape at the hands of senior Belfast IRA man when she was just 16.
Ms Cahill writes in harrowing detail of her treatment by Sinn Féin when she went public and why she feels let down by the PSNI. For all those with an interest in how society treats women, republicanism or modern Irish politics, this book is a must read.
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
What would Ireland be like under a fascist regime?
Booker Prize winner Prophet Song by Paul Lynch imagines an Ireland where the sinister National Alliance seizes power, the protagonist's husband is spirited away by the secret police and the country is engulfed by a brutal Civil War.
It is award winning fiction but if you watched news footage from the Dublin riots, it might be a little bit too close to the bone.
The Woman in Me by Britney Spears
What’s it like being the most famous teenager in the world?
Not fun, it would seem. Lots of people dream of the money, fame and adulation but would really want the most intimate details of your personal life picked over in excruciating detail by the press and social media users?
It is impossible to read The Woman in Me and not feel sad and angry at the way Britney has been treated.
Britney Spears appears at the 29th annual GLAAD Media Awards in Beverly Hills. April 12 2018. Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File.Not just by the public - but by the legal system and her own family. Under a bizarre system called a conservatorship, she lost almost all the autonomy adults enjoy in a free society.
For 13 years, she could not see her own children without someone else’s approval. She was banned from drinking tea and coffee, could not choose her own meals and was not allowed to take out a contraceptive intrauterine device (IUD).
Now 41, Britney is finally free and ready to tell all in his gripping memoir.
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
The tale of a well-off Irish family forced to grapple with the horrendous implications of the financial crash, The Bee Sting by Paul Murray was shortlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize.
Weighing in at over 600 pages, it is not for the faint hearted, but the reader is rewarded with a novel that is both funny and insightful.
The Bee Sting is a tour de force that weaves Irish folklore, small town life and the fall out from the Celtic Tiger into a novel of spellbinding prose.
In Memoriam by Alice Winn
Does the world really need to read another story about British public schoolboys having a miserable time during the First World War?
Yes, it would seem. In Memoriam by debut novelist Alice Winn is a Top Five Sunday Times bestseller and the film rights have already been scooped up.
We're delighted to see In Memoriam by Alice Winn named Novel of the Year by @Waterstones!
It's impossible not to take this incredible book straight to your heart! pic.twitter.com/QH0HUel8ph— Viking Books UK (@VikingBooksUK) November 30, 2023
Henry Gaunt and his best friend Sidney Ellwood are madly in love with each other - but neither have not the faintest idea. When Britain and Germany go to war, Gaunt’s aristocratic Prussian mother convinces him to sign up to spare her from social stigma.
Ellwood soon follows and the pair are plunged into a Hellish world where they must finally acknowledge their true feelings towards each other. In Memoriam is a love story of breathtaking depth and emotion.
Main image: An adult and child reading by a bookshelf. Picture by: Alamy.com
