Eileen Dunne

RTÉ newscaster and radio presenter

Expectation author Anna Hope (pic: Laura Hynde)

Reviewed: Expectation by Anna Hope

Eileen Dunne urges us to read Expectation, 'a great holiday read' concerning a group of long-time female friends who meet up after six years to find in fact that all three are still struggling.

Books • 20 Aug 19

Joseph O'Connor's novel begins in Dublin in 1878 and takes in the Oscar Wilde trial en passant

Reviewed: Shadowplay by Joseph O'Connor

Eileen Dunne welcomes Joseph O'Connor's period tour de force, set in Bram Stoker's Dublin, detailing the relationship between the Dracula author, the actor Henry Irving and the actress Ellen Terry.

Books • 04 Jul 19

Writer Polly Devlin (photo Jonathan Goldberg)

Book Review: Writing Home Polly Devlin

Eileen Dunne welcomes Polly Devlin's collection of pieces from Vogue and The Gloss and other sources. She met everybody, sort of, and early in her career she was on a flight to Crete to interview John Le Carre's wife, no less.

Culture • 10 Jun 19

John Boyne's new novel for young adults couldn't be more timely

Reviewed: My Brother's Name is Jessica by John Boyne

I think this book can help start conversations, and (hopefully) lead people onto transgender authors, writes Eileen Dunne of John Boyne's latest novel, My Brother's Name is Jessica.

Books • 29 Apr 19

Niamh Boyce: tale of witchcraft in Kilkenny

Reviewed: Her Kind by Niamh Boyce

Niamh Boyce was named Newcomer of the Year at the Irish Book Awards in 2013 for her novel The Herbalist, followed now six years on by Her Kind which Eileen Dunne finds compelling.

Books • 18 Apr 19

Diane Setterfield: exploring the borders between worlds on the longest night of the year

Reviewed: Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

Settle in, it will shorten a few of those long winter nights, writes Eileen Dunne of Diane Setterfield's atmospheric novel, which opens on the winter solstice of 1887, the longest night of the year.

Books • 15 Feb 19

Reviewed: When All is Said by Anne Griffin

'This is a little peach of a book, and I loved it from the get-go…' Eileen Dunne reviews the debut novel by Anne Griffin.

Books • 28 Jan 19

Markus Zusak: Bridge of Clay is his first novel since 2005

Reviewed: Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak

`Intriguing' - that's Eileen Dunne's word for Bridge of Clay, the latest novel from Markus Zusak, the the best-selling Australian author of The Book Thief which has sold by the truck-load since it first appeared in 2005.

Books • 27 Nov 18

Rick Gekoski: McCarthy-era paranoia infects his characters in A Long Island Story.

Reviewed: A Long Island Story by Rick Gekoski

Despite the promise of his much-acclaimed fictional debut, Darke, Rick Geksowski fails to deliver in his second novel, writes Eileen Dunne.

Book Review • 08 Nov 18

To Russia with Love: Conor O'Clery (picture Paul Sharp)

Review: The Shoemaker and his Daughter by Conor O'Clery

The Shoemaker and his Daughter tells the story of how the veteran Irish journalist Conor O'Clery met his Russian wife Zhanna, with fascinating insights into Russian and Armenia and a marriage of more than twenty years. Eileen Dunne has been absorbed.

Book Review • 19 Sep 18