Athens-based author and journalist Sofka Zinovieff has turned to fiction for her third book, which traces Greek twentieth century history through a compelling family saga. Paddy Kehoe has been reading the author's brilliant first novel.
Publisher: Short Books, paperback
Price: ****
This is How it Ends by Kathleen MacMahon
Paddy Kehoe is charmed by the debut novel from the RTÉ journalist turned author
Paddy Kehoe has been reading The Fall of The Stone City, from veteran Albanian writer Ismail Kadare, who won the first Man Booker International Prize in 2005. Translations of Kadare's novels have appeared in more than forty countries.
A soothing read and a celebration of how one person got through what they were going through
A Short History of Western Thought by Stephen Trombley
Author and Emmy Award-winning film-maker Stephen Trombley used to wake in a sweat after recurring nightmares about a task in which he had to summarise philosophy since ancient Greece. Now he's gone done it, as Paddy Kehoe discovers.
Amateurs in Eden: Nancy and Lawrence Durrell by Joanna Hodgkin
As the 100th anniversary of writer Lawrence Durrell's birth occurs this year, his first marriage to the artist Nancy Myers is recalled in a new memoir from her daughter, reviewed here by Paddy Kehoe.
Murder in the Front Row by Harald Oimoen and Brian Lew
Guaranteed to make you feel younger with the turn of each page - and to appreciate even more those magical nights of your own.
To A Mountain in Tibet by Colin Thubron
Paddy Kehoe is absorbed by Colin Thubron's best-selling account of a demanding pilgrimage to the sacred mountain of Kailas in Tibet, now available in paperback.
Colm Tóibín New Ways to Kill Your Mother: Writers and Their Families
Colm Tóibín's revealing new collection of essays investigates the tangled family relationships of writers as various as Barack Obama, JM Synge, Jane Austen and WB Yeats, through their literary works.
It's Fine By Me by Per Petterson
Young Audun is sensitive but tough too, and you have to be tough in the high rise flats on Oslo's outskirts, where city meets forest. Paddy Kehoe discovers this fine 1992 novel from Per Petterson, the author of the best-selling Out Stealing Horses.
Tim Robinson's three books on Connemara perfectly evoke the magic and rich heritage of this storied place. Paddy Kehoe takes a look at the veteran author's trilogy on 'the Little Gaelic kingdom.'
The Chosen grabs the readers' attention right from the opening pages and the sharp, unpredictable plot refuses to let go.
The Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm
The perfect gift for adults and children - both parties can look forward to adventure-filled memories of unforgettable tales, read aloud
What are the consequences if you see a young woman being strangled from your apartment window on Christmas Eve and do not report it? That is the premise of Dag Solstad's 1996 novel, newly translated into English from the Norwegian.
This cookbook is as inviting as the food, presented in simple, informal yet homey style - the perfect Christmas stocking filler.
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