CELEBRATING YOUR FAVOURITE IRISH BOOKS OF THE LAST 20 YEARS

A Ghost in the Throat

Doireann Ní Ghríofa

In this stunningly unusual prose debut, Doireann Ní Ghríofa sculpts essay and autofiction to explore inner life and the deep connection felt between two writers centuries apart. In the 1700s, an Irish noblewoman, on discovering her husband has been murdered, drinks handfuls of his blood and composes an extraordinary poem. In the present day, a young mother narrowly avoids tragedy. On encountering the poem, she becomes obsessed with its parallels with her own life, and sets out to track down the rest of the story. A devastating and timeless tale about one woman freeing her voice by reaching into the past and finding another’s.

A Ghost in the Throat

Explore the other titles in the list

Asking For It

Louise O'Neill

Fia and the Last Snow Deer

Eilish Fisher, illustrated by Dermot Flynn

Girls Who Slay Monsters

Ellen Ryan, illustrated by Shona Shirley Macdonald

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

John Boyne

Holding

Graham Norton

Normal People

Sally Rooney

Room

Emma Donoghue

Small Things Like These

Claire Keegan

The Bee Sting

Paul Murray

The Importance of Being Aisling

Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen

The Secret Scripture

Sebastian Barry

The Spinning Heart

Donal Ryan

Trespasses

Louise Kennedy

Unravelling Oliver

Liz Nugent

Ninety-Nine Words for Rain (and One for Sun)

Manchán Magan, illustrated by Megan Luddy

We Don’t Know Ourselves

Fintan O'Toole

A Ghost in the Throat

Doireann Ní Ghríofa

Country Girl

Edna O’Brien

Poor

Katriona O’Sullivan

Atlas of the Irish Revolution

John Crowley, Donál Ó Drisceoil, Mike Murphy and John Borgonovo

Don’t miss a chapter…

Sign up to our newsletter for campaign updates, book reveals, voting news and more as we celebrate 20 years of Irish stories.