New titles from Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Douglas Stuart and Ana Kinsella are among the best book releases coming up this May.
Prestige Drama, by Séamas O’Reilly
May 7, Fleet
Derry is already abuzz with news that famous American actor Monica Logue has flown to the city and will be starring in a new series set during the Troubles. And then she goes missing… All eyes are on Diarmuid, the flaky scriptwriter who was the last to see Monica alive. From budding young actors hoping for a role to grieving parents whose story forms the backbone of the narrative, newspaper editors covering the mystery to taxi drivers hearing all the news from their clients, Prestige Drama follows the city’s cast as they all try to locate themselves in Monica’s disappearance.
Other People’s Lives, by Kathleen MacMahon
May 7, Sandycove
As schoolgirls, Justine and her best friend Iseult dreamed of a future that revolved around marriage. They saw it as a happy ending, never imagining for a moment that the reality would be more complicated. Coming up to fifty, they’re still best friends. Justine has been married to Iseult’s brother for twenty-five years and lives in her childhood home. Iseult has spent her adult life abroad, her marriage clearly unhappy for reasons she won’t discuss. When Justine’s daughter suddenly announces her engagement, Justine is thrown into planning a big family wedding. Afraid that her daughter is making a mistake, she finds herself questioning the choices she and Iseult made decades earlier. This crisis of confidence tests Justine in new and unexpected ways.
Frida Slattery As Herself, by Ana Kinsella
May 7, Scribner UK
When Frida Slattery and John Reddan meet in a Dublin pub in 2006, neither can imagine how they will come to shape and define each other’s lives. Frida is struggling to launch her acting career, while John is already gaining a name for himself as a director. They see in each other potential and the chance to create work that matters, though the lines between collaboration and exploitation, friendship and desire will prove dangerously slippery. With the financial crisis looming, the next 15 years take them from Dublin to London, New York and LA, and through success and disappointment, joy and heartbreak. Their connection is tested and stretched to the point of rupture, but something remains that outlasts their work and the shifting perceptions of the period.
Murder on Lough Derg, by Cormac Quinn
May 7, Mercier Press
All journalist Jack Myers wants is a relaxing Irish holiday. Retreating from his demanding job as a foreign correspondent, he thinks he’s found the perfect escape – the stately St Peter’s Manor, perched on the edge of Lough Derg in County Tipperary, just in time for Ireland’s longest heatwave. But when a mysterious drowning occurs during the annual Midsummer Ball, Jack’s instincts tell him something isn’t quite right. Asking questions politely but persistently, he uncovers intriguing whispers: a commodore who vanished a decade earlier, a tight-knit group of childhood friends harbouring old secrets, and motives as tangled as the lakeside reeds. As an unprecedented heatwave presses down on this tranquil corner of Ireland, tensions rise, and Jack’s summer escape has become a deadly puzzle. In a small village where everyone has something to hide, the truth may be the most dangerous discovery of all.
Runaway Road, by Sue Divin
May 7, First Ink
Runaway Road is a moving story of family and belonging set in contemporary Northern Ireland. Ezra is 16 and no stranger to crossing the line, but this time it’s really bad and there’s no going back. His only hope of escape is to cross another line, the Northern Irish border, but that will mean leaving behind the only thing that really matters, his little sister, Evie. Evie is 9 and sees it differently. Ezra took her into care and safety the last time they ran away. Why shouldn’t she go on the run with him now?
One Year, by Susan Bennett
May 7, Gill Books
Susan Bennett and her husband Chris are living normal, busy lives until their mid-thirties when a shock diagnosis of multiple sclerosis is delivered to both of them – in the same week, in the same hospital. This is one in a series of final straws that nudges them to follow their dream, simplify their lives, and take to the road for a year in their trusty camper van, Hans. One Year charts their journey around western Europe and Scandinavia. Engine breakdowns, Spanish flu, French doctors and many hours spent getting lost – freedom does not come without its challenges. But slowly the fog of bereavement and burnout begins to lift as they determine to carry on regardless; the unknown road reveals unexpected life lessons such as how to recover a sense of awe and look up at big skies, how to stop and breathe, and how to find the courage to live life to the beat of your own drum.
Honey, by Imani Thompson
May 7, The Borough Press
A debut that’s been described as comic, sexy, addictive and unpredictable, Honey launches Imani Thompson as an exciting new voice in fiction. The first time, Yrsa doesn’t intend to kill but the Cambridge professor sitting opposite has manipulated her friend and stolen her research. When she flicks the bee into his Sanpellegrino, she thinks he’ll get a nasty sting. Then he’s dead. And Yrsa, who—let’s face it—has been bored for a while, is alive. It’s a sweet feeling, finally having some control.
Love Scene, by Anna Carey
May 7, Hachette Books Ireland
Writing for an iconic soap opera was supposed to be a dream come true. But Annie’s boss is a tyrant, the actors are out of control, and there are rumours that Northside will soon be cancelled. The worst part of all of it: Annie has to share an office with her nemesis, Art Sullivan. Talented-and-he-knows-it Art was once the Next Big Thing with a promising Hollywood career. So why is he back in town, writing for a show he’s never seen a single episode of? Annie tries to ignore Art, but when she suspects someone’s sabotaging Northside, she realises she’ll need Art’s help to stop them. If they can quit arguing long enough to work together, there might just be another plot twist ahead.
Little Vanities, by Sarah Gilmartin
May 21, Pushkin Press
Dylan, Stevie and Ben have been inseparable since their days at Trinity, when everything seemed possible. A glance between them can still conjure their younger selves: dancing beneath pulsing lights, the sharp taste of salt after swims in Dublin Bay. Two decades on, life feels smaller. Dylan, once a rugby star, is stranded on the sofa, cared for by his wife Rachel. Across town, Stevie and Ben’s relationship has settled into a weary routine. Then, after countless auditions, Ben lands a role in Pinter’s Betrayal. As rehearsals unfold, the play’s shifting allegiances seep into reality, reviving old jealousies and awakening sudden longings, as each must reckon with how far they’re willing to go in pursuit of desire.
John of Johns, by Douglas Stuart
May 21, Picador
From Douglas Stuart, Booker prize-winning author of Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo comes a stunning new novel, John of John. Set in the Isle of Harris, the book is a tender and devastating story of love and religion, of a father and son, art and landscape, and the corrosive effects of living a secret life. It confirms Douglas Stuart as one of Britain’s greatest contemporary novelists.
Said the Dead, by Doireann Ní Ghríofa
May 21, Faber
From the prizewinning author of A Ghost in the Throat comes a work of sublime intensity and tenderness that breaks the boundaries between worlds—past and present, imagined and real—to make something lasting and new: an experience full of danger, full of love and full of truth. In Cork, a derelict Victorian mental hospital is being converted into modern apartments. One passerby has always flinched as she passes the place. Had her birth occurred in another decade, she, too, might have lived within those walls. Now, she notices a sign: FOR SALE. It is the first of many signs.
Dirtpickers, by Edie May Hand
May 21, Manilla Press
In a remote valley in Idaho in 1981, a man, a woman and three children stop running to wash the blood from their hands and bodies. They are the few survivors of a terrible tragedy. Their only choice now is, somehow, to become a family. Crossing the border into Canada, Opal, Denny, Maude, little Billy and the baby find refuge in a remote hunting cabin and in the generosity of the widowed Mrs Schweers. Dirtpickers is a heart-swelling beauty of a debut novel of trauma and found family, from an incredible new literary talent.
Enough, by Dawn French
May 21, Michael Joseph
Etta is sixty-eight years old. Happy, healthy and an active participant in her world, she’s gathered her family together for an unforgettable weekend. Tick. At 5am that Saturday morning, Etta wakes her daughter, her granddaughter, her son and her daughter-in-law up to lead everyone down to the beach. To ‘Etta’s Hollow’, where a roaring fire has already been lit. Drowsy but delighted – the sun is just starting to rise for a glorious dawn – Etta’s family bask in the beauty of the moment. A memory to be cherished forever. Tick. Until twenty minutes later, when Etta announces to her assembled beloveds something as shocking as it is alarming. ‘I have brought you all down to the beach this morning to tell you something important. You see, the thing is, today is my last day alive.’ Boom. Over the next twenty-four hours, Etta and her family are about to have the most surprising, affecting and life-affirming day of their lives.
The Midnight Train, by Matt Haig
May 21, Canongate
When your life flashes before your eyes, where would you stop? No one can change the past, but the Midnight Train can take you there. The chance to re-live the moments that meant most. To see what kind of person you really were. For Wilbur his best days were with Maggie, the love of his life. On his honeymoon in Venice. Before he gave it all away. He wishes he could go back and live differently. But to do so risks everything… A magical, time-travelling love story, from the world of The Midnight Library.
Our Deadly Summer, by Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen
May 21, Bloomsbury
They said they’d never let a man get in the way of their friendship… Laura and Dee haven’t spoken since the day they buried a body together. It was supposed to be the best summer of their lives. A break from university, from parents, from wasting their time on Irish boys with farmer’s tans. They’d imagined flirting with Ryan Phillippe on a New York rooftop. Instead, with summer jobs waitressing at a country club on Long Island, pickings are slim. Mikey is a bully. Marco is off limits. Jose is angry. Mr Haight is a sleaze. Josh is too keen. And Other Josh… he’s something else entirely. It’s a miracle only one of them ends up dead. Dee is pretty sure she didn’t mean to kill him. Laura, to her credit, never asked. Not until she sends an email, out of the blue, more than twenty years later. It’s finally time to mend the biggest heartbreak of that summer; Laura wants her best friend back.
The Make-Believe, by Hannah Murray
May 28, Hutchinson Heinemann
In 2017, Hannah Murray was a successful actor whose career had taken her to Hollywood and given her the opportunity to act with A-list stars and Oscar-winning directors. But as the daily costs of acting grew, from the degradations of auditions to repeating violent scenes over and over, Hannah found herself searching for something to make her feel better. One day, a reiki healer promises her a new kind of treatment, a kind of magic, and all of a sudden, Hannah’s life is changed. Back in London, she becomes increasingly involved with the organisation behind the magic, an organisation whose charismatic leader promises of secret knowledge, and increasingly complex rituals are seductive, cult-like, and ultimately destructive, as Hannah finds herself on a week-long course from her friends and family and her sanity falls apart. Detained in hospital, she struggles to understand the difference between what’s real and what’s imagined. The result is a propulsive, shockingly honest, and extraordinarily intimate portrayal of a mind taken over the edge.