By Sean O’Driscoll

FICTION

Tar and Feathers 
Author: Dorothy Nelson. Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press 

The insensitive father, the trampled mother, statutes of the Virgin Mary, the IRA, repressed family life. It’s all very familiar. 
If I was an Irish dictator I’d ban any book that refers to Ireland before 1995, just to see if anyone came up with a new dea. 
However tired the territory, Tar and Feathers is brilliantly written, very gripping, and the dialogue is excellent. It’s a dark take of abuse and its consequences. 
Not happy Christmas reading, but definitely worth reading for its convincing narrative. 

FICTION

Thomas Kelly
Author: Thomas Kelly. Publisher: FSG

A tale of Irish immigrants in New York based around the Great Depression and the construction of the Empire State Building. 
The central character, Michael Briody, works on the Empire State Building, while stocking up on weapons to send back to the IRA. 
By contrast, Jimmy Farrell denies his Irish roots to advance his career, while Grace Masterson is a bohemian artist who falls in love with Briody, all set to the corruption, power and greed of the time. 
A third novel from former construction worker Kelly, and likely to be as well received as his first two.