BOOKS: Two new Irish page-turners

It is the summer, or so I am told, and there is still plenty of time to lose yourself in some of the latest great books just released. Two books by Irish authors took my fancy this week. In between showers at the first sign of a bit of sunshine, I was out on my days off wallowing in these two brilliantly written page-turners.
‘Kala’, by Colin Walsh, published by Atlantic Books, has been described as a ‘gritty heartbreaker of a thriller’. I have never been a reader of thrillers as such, but some readers absolutely love them – and reading Kala I can see why.
The book is set in the fictional town of Kinlough on the west coast of Ireland. In a sense, if we weren’t told that at the beginning, it could almost be set anywhere. It has an element of surrealism about it. The story is played out in the town where a group of six teenagers once met and became friends. About 15 years later, three of the group Helen, Joe and Mush, are thrown together once again, and through their stories we get to understand the events that led to the disappearance of one of their group all those years ago – Kala. Now two more girls have disappeared, and a body is found in the woods.
Walsh’s story has crime, suspense and anticipation juxtaposed with beauty, love and community all at once. The narrative is perfectly paced, going between the past and the present. There are multiple layers that keep us engaged the whole way through. This is Walsh’s first novel following the publication of his short stories in the Stinging Fly and The Irish Times.
‘The Lodgers’, by Eithne Shortall, also published by Atlantic Books, is coming out this week. This is her fifth novel, and all her books been bestsellers at the bookshop.
Set in Howth in Dublin, ‘The Lodgers’ is a beautiful story and about a woman, Tessa, who decides at the age of 69 to take in two lodgers, Chloe and Conn. They live with Tessa rent free in return for helping to run her very old and enormous home, Hope House.
Tessa has had a fall and is struggling to maintain and keep the house running. It has, for example, no central heating and plumbing that sounds like a brass band playing very loudly. The three characters all tell their stories separately in the first person, which I love. A local Community Centre is also central to the story. Tessa volunteers there, running amongst many things the Radical Activist Group, limping in determinedly with her stick and box of tricks. The members of this group – Malachy, Reggie, Susan, Trevor and friend Maura – could warrant a book all their own.
As the story evolves, we see the importance of community. We see the power that secrets can hold over our lives. We see the problems of contemporary Ireland firsthand, through the effects it has on the characters.
With this book, the uniqueness of Eithne Shortall as an author shines. She tells her very intimate stories about real people all set in Dublin (with one in Cork). We feel we know them, and we do, but Eithne takes us to their very hearts with wit and humour. She navigates familial relations, prejudice, inequality and many other social issues with empathy, beauty and at times laugh-out-loud observations.
We’re looking forward to welcoming Eithne Shortall to the bookshop for her west of Ireland launch of ‘The Lodgers’, on August 12 at 7.30pm. All are welcome!

Bríd Conroy runs Tertulia – A Bookshop Like No Other with her husband, Neil Paul, at The Quay, Westport.