Summer is upon us - but the big question is, what book should you have close to hand while sheltering from the sun (or in Ireland's case, a likely mix of sun, rain, wind, hailstones and possible snow)?
Happily, there’s a plethora of top-class Irish books en route for publication over the coming months. So whether you find yourself in a tizzy when presented with too many options at the airport bookshop or are simply in the market for an engrossing tome, here are ten Irish books that you need to read this summer.
1. Anna Carey - Love Scene (Out now)
Anna Carey was previously known as a children’s and YA author, but Our Song, her debut novel for an adult audience, was a big hit with readers in 2025. While Our Song followed a love story set around the music industry, Love Scene - as its title suggests - is set amidst the screenwriting department of a fictional Irish soap. When writers and nemeses Annie and Art are forced to pull together to figure out who may be sabotaging the soap - and their careers - neither of them foresee an unexpected twist in their own plot…
2. Emer McLysaght & Sarah Breen - Our Deadly Summer (Out now)
They conquered the world of Irish publishing with their superb 'Aisling’ series, leaving readers bereft when everyone’s favourite modern Irish heroine departed (in book-form, at least) after five novels. Thankfully, Sarah Breen and Emer McLysaght are back with their first non-Aisling book, a story about "friendship, young women and bad men" that sees former friends Laura and Dee reconnecting twenty years after they buried a body together during their college summer in the US. As you do.
3. Patrick Freyne - Experts in a Dying Field (June 11th)
If you’ve read Patrick Freyne’s journalism, you’ll know just how funny a writer he is. His debut essay collection OK, Let’s Do Your Stupid Idea (2020) was by turns insightful, profound and hilarious. Now, Freyne has published his debut novel, which draws upon his background as a musician as it follows fictional band The Heathens, who reunite two decades after experiencing a tragedy to "lift the lid on mysteries from their shared past". It’s being described as "a paean to friendship, forgiveness and the power of music."
4. Colin Morgan - The Ballad of Ronan McCoy (June 16th)
We’ve been here before - famous actors penning novels for a quick cash-in, regardless of quality. Rest assured that The Ballad of Ronan McCoy does not fall into that category. The debut novel by Northern Irish thespian Colin Morgan (Merlin, Humans, Belfast) is a tender coming-of-age story that follows polar-opposite teenage best friends, the confident Ronan and the anxious Brendan - and how Brendan is forced to navigate a new reality when his friend is not around to protect him. Morgan’s writing has already been compared to David Nicholls and Douglas Stuart - high praise, indeed.
5. Catherine Ryan Howard - Buyer Beware (July 16th)
Catherine Ryan Howard has become one of our foremost proponents of crime fiction and a guaranteed crafter of page-turners since the mammoth success of her twisty Covid thriller 56 Days (since adapted for TV by Amazon) shone a well-deserved light on her work in 2022. The Cork-born author’s latest novel was inspired by the idea of people buying houses with violent pasts - and when a woman called Ellie purchases such a property, she soon realises that she has inherited more than a mortgage and the deeds.
6. Séamas O’Reilly - Prestige Drama (Out now)
Séamas O’Reilly had already proven himself as a newspaper columnist of note, while his 2021 memoir Did Ye Hear Mammy Died? was a bestseller and his story about meeting Mary McAleese while high on ketamine has gone down in Twitter lore. Now, the Derry man has added ‘novelist’ to the many strings of his bow, with Prestige Drama telling the story of a Hollywood film crew that comes to Derry to film a TV drama about the Troubles - but things go awry when the glitzy lead actress goes missing.
7. Doireann Ní Ghriofa - Said the Dead (Out now)
If you’ve read Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s A Ghost in the Throat, you’ll already be aware of what a visceral writer the poet and essayist is. Her eagerly anticipated new novel is picking up a huge amount of buzz; Said the Dead has been described as "part-history, part-ghost story", following a protagonist (a woman who passes a former Victorian mental hospital in Cork, due to be redeveloped as apartments) who becomes obsessed with uncovering the voices and stories of the women who were confined there.
8. Sally Hayden - This is Also a Love Story (June 16th)
A renowned journalist and foreign correspondent, Sally Hayden’s last book My Fourth Time, We Drowned (2022) documented irregular migration from the point of view of Libyan migrants and won an array of accolades. The Dubliner’s new book, This is Also a Love Story, puts a new spin on the concept of a traditional love story, documenting tales of love and resilience in the face of catastrophe - from a Nigerian mother saving her daughter from militants, to a Ukrainian couple wrenched apart by the Russian invasion.
9. John Connolly - A River Red with Blood (Out now)
There’s nothing better than immersing yourself in a good yarn on your holidays - even if it’s one as gruesomely-titled as this one. John Connolly is a masterful storyteller, and the latest installment in his Charlie Parker series follows a rural community in Maine that is rocked by two tragedies: a young man’s body which turns up in the Kennebec River, and a teenage girl’s disappearance. It’s up to Parker to find the link - and as a reader, you can bet you’ll enjoy his journey, too.
10. Sarah Gilmartin - Little Vanities (Out now)
She has tackled themes including dysfunctional families, sexual abuse, power dynamics and consent with no little panache in her previous novels (2021’s Dinner Party: A Tragedy and 2023’s Service), but Sarah Gilmartin’s third novel tackles friendship, ego and the confines of life. It follows a trio of friends who have been cast adrift since their college days - but when one of them, aspiring actor Ben, lands a plum role in a production of Harold Pinter’s play Betrayal, it re-ignites old jealousies and forces them to confront both each other and their own prejudices and assumptions. Gilmartin is a superb writer of characters, so this ought to be as juicy as it is keenly observed
