I have visited Ireland twice and it is quite possibly my favourite place in the world. The country is rich in history, culture, tradition and natural beauty and the people exude warmth, wit and charisma. Honestly, I would be on the next flight to Dublin if the opportunity arose! My obsession started when I was a teenager so I have been reading books set in Ireland for more than 40 years and enjoyed the pleasure of a literary escape long before I first set foot on the Emerald Isle.
These are my picks for 40 of the best books set in Ireland – for the purposes of this article I’m including both books set in the Republic of Ireland and books set in Northern Ireland even though they are separate countries.
This list is made up almost entirely of books that I have read over the years although there are a few that I have in my TBR stack. I’ve included my favourites in historical fiction, romance, general fiction, mysteries and thrillers, non-fiction, and classics and I’ll add to the list as I read more books set in Ireland that I enjoy.
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General Fiction Set in Ireland
My picks for literary fiction and contemporary fiction set in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
1. The Sea by John Banville
Setting: A seaside town
In this Booker Prize winning novel, Max Morden, a middle-aged Irishman, returns to the seaside town where he spent his holidays as a child as a means of coping with grief and anger after the recent loss of his wife.
A beautifully-written, character driven work of literary fiction about love, loss and the role that memory plays in the grieving process. It’s a reflective novel filled with sadness and I expect it hits differently depending on where you are in life. I first read The Sea when it was published in paperback in 2006 but plan to read it again soon and presume that it will be a new experience now that I have lost several close family members.
2. Grace by Paul Lynch
Setting: Journey across Ireland
I recently enjoyed Paul Lynch’s latest novel, Prophet Song, which won the Booker Prize in 2023 so have decided to add some of his backlist to my TBR.
Grace is described as a sweeping, Dickensian story of a young girl on a life-changing journey across nineteenth-century Ireland on the eve of the Great Famine. Early one October morning, Grace’s mother cuts off her hair, outfits her in men’s clothing and casts her out. Her younger brother follows her and the two set off on a remarkable journey across a broken land where they witness untold suffering as well as great beauty. A story of the Irish Famine and an epic coming-of-age novel!
3. Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín
Setting: Enniscorthy, Ireland and Brooklyn, NY
Eilis Lacey is a young woman living in a small town in Ireland in the hard years following World War II who decides to leave her mother and sister behind and emigrate to America when an Irish priest from Brooklyn offers to sponsor her. Eilis soon finds work in a department store and then love with a charming young Italian man named Tony but devastating news from Ireland threatens the promise of her future in America.
Partially set in Ireland, Brooklyn is a critically acclaimed coming-of-age novel and story of the immigrant experience in 1950s America from a gifted writer. It had been almost 15 years since I first read Brooklyn but I recently read it again so the story would be fresh in my mind before reading the sequel Long Island (set in Long Island and Enniscorthy) which was even better than expected!
4. At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O’Neil
Setting: Dublin
At Swim, Two Boys takes place during the year leading up to Easter 1916 and the uprising against British rule. Two teenage boys – Jim Mack the son of a shopkeeper and Doyler Doyle the son of Mr. Mack’s old army pal – make a pact that Doyler will teach Jim to swim, and in a year, on Easter of 1916, they will swim from the Forty Foot in Dublin Bay to Muglins Rock to plant the flag of Ireland and claim the island for themselves. All the while Mr. Mack, who has grand plans for a corner shop empire, remains unaware of the depth of the boys’ burgeoning friendship and of the changing landscape of a nation.
Published in 2001 to critical claim, At Swim, Two Boys is a lengthy read of nearly 600 pages but worth the time commitment. It is also a very Irish novel and I found it took a bit of time to adjust to the language and get into the flow of the book.
This is a coming-of-age story about two young men falling in love and coming to realize who they are at a time when gay love was considered a perversion. It’s also a story of Ireland and the struggle for political independence that would culminate in the Easter Rising armed revolt by Irish Nationalists against British rule in Ireland.
5. Freckles by Cecilia Ahern
Setting: Suburbs of Dublin
Allegra (aka Freckles) is a socially awkward young woman from a small island off Ireland’s Atlantic coast trying to find her way in the world while working as a parking warden in the suburbs of Dublin. After a stranger comments that everyone is the average of the five people they spend the most time with, Freckles realizes her father might be her only person and becomes obsessed with finding four more people who will improve her life.
At times heartbreaking, funny and thought-provoking, Freckles is ultimately an uplifting/feel-good coming of age story about loneliness and the importance that connections to people play in all of our lives.
6. The Gathering by Anne Enright
Setting: Dublin
The nine surviving children of an Irish Catholic family are gathering in Dublin for the wake of their wayward brother, Liam, drowned in the sea by suicide. His sister, Veronica, collects the body and keeps the dead man company, guarding the secret she shares with him- something that happened in their grandmother’s house in the winter of 1968.
A beautifully written, moving story of a large Irish family told from the perspective of Veronica who was Liam’s younger sister by about 11 months. As Veronica struggles to deal with this immense loss, she considers how the past affects the present and makes us who we are. Goodreads reviews are decidedly mixed but The Gathering was critically acclaimed and won the Booker Prize (2007). I enjoyed it when I read it about 15 years ago and plan to read it again.
7. Factory Girls by Michelle Gallen
Setting: Small town in Northern Ireland
An enjoyable coming of age novel set in a small town in Northern Ireland in 1994 at the tail end of the time of violent sectarian conflict known as The Troubles. The story is about a brash young Catholic woman named Maeve who is working in the town’s shirt factory for the summer along with her two friends, Caroline and Aoife, while waiting for the result of their A-level exams which will determine what university they can attend.
I’ve read several books that take place during The Troubles but this is the first written from the point of view of a teenager who has grown up knowing nothing else – a world where bombings and murder are commonplace. It was that perspective that I enjoyed most about this novel.
Thank you to NetGalley and Algonquin Books for sending a digital ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
8. The Making of Her by Bernadette Jiwa
Setting: Dublin
A poignant and thought-provoking debut novel about an Irish woman who receives a letter in 1996 from the child she gave up for adoption 30 years earlier. In 1996, Joan lives an outwardly successful life in Dublin with her husband, Martin, and their daughter, Carmel. Thirty years earlier, however, she was a young factory girl from the council estates who had fallen in love with a young man from a well-off family that owned a thriving business he was expected to take over.
The story’s dual timeline helps the reader see Joan in a more sympathetic light, showing what she went through as a pregnant and unwed teen in the ’60s before making her heartbreaking decision and how that decision has haunted her life ever since. The second timeline effectively alternates between Joan’s point of view as well as her two daughters – the one she raised and the one she gave up.
The novel shines a light on the agonizing decision faced by women with limited options who were forced to give up children or be ostracized by a church-controlled society and the lifelong impact of those decisions on the mothers as well as the children who were given up. The Making of Her is an engaging story of family secrets, heartbreak and loss but there is also an element of hope for healing and new beginnings.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for sending a digital ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
9. Nora Webster by Colm Tóibín
Setting: Wexford
Widowed at forty, with four children and not enough money, Nora Webster has lost the love of her life, Maurice, the man who rescued her from the stifling world to which she was born. And now she fears she may be sucked back into it.
Wounded, selfish, strong-willed, clinging to secrecy in a tiny community where everyone knows your business, Nora is drowning in her own sorrow and blind to the suffering of her young sons, who have lost their father. Yet she has moments of stunning insight and empathy, and when she begins to sing again, after decades, she finds solace, engagement, a haven – herself.
A story about mourning and healing, Colm Tóibín’s eighth novel published in 2014 was both a New York Times Bestseller and critically acclaimed. I haven’t read this yet but have it sitting on my TBR bookshelf and plan to read in the coming weeks.
10. The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
Setting: A small Irish town
Told by four narrators, The Bee Sting is the story of a once prosperous family falling apart in the face of economic ruin after the 2008 financial crash in Ireland.
The Barnes family is in trouble. Dickie’s once-lucrative car business is going under but he’s building an apocalypse-proof bunker in the woods instead of facing his troubles head on. His wife Imelda is selling off her jewelry on eBay, their teenage daughter Cass seems determined to binge-drink her way through her final exams and twelve-year-old PJ is planning to run away from home.
The Bee Sting is an epic family drama with each family member grappling with their own issues but also a novel about climate change and the state of the world. This was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and I plan to read it but it’s another 650+ page behemoth and I just haven’t got to it yet!
11. Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
Setting: Dublin
Prophet Song which won the 2023 Booker Prize takes place in an imagined Ireland that is descending into tyranny as the government systematically strips its citizens of rights. After her husband goes missing during a union protest in Dublin, Eilish desperately tries to keep her children and her elderly father safe amidst mounting chaos and violence while her sister who lives in Canada tries to convince her to flee the country.
This was an incredible read and I was completely absorbed in it. It’s dystopian which I don’t generally care for but doesn’t feel all that removed from current reality – which makes it all the more terrifying. The plot is a page-turner as Eilish and her family fight for survival but the novel is also a reflection on the treatment of refugees not too subtly asking the reader to consider whether the plight of refugees is viewed differently if they are white Europeans fleeing war.
The style of the book doesn’t appeal to everyone as it’s written with long sections and no quotation marks to indicate dialogue but I thought it was an effective technique to underline the relentless nature of what was happening.
12. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
Setting: Small Irish town
Bill Furlong is a coal merchant and a family man living in a small town in Ireland in 1985. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, an early morning delivery to a local convent leads to him making an unsettling discovery that causes him to confront his own past as well as the power that the church holds over the town.
The convent is running what is known as a Magdalene Laundry where unwed girls and single mothers are held. Witnessing the mistreatment of the young women causes Bill to wrestle with his conscience as he knows that he must choose between doing what’s right and what’s easy and doing the right thing will incur the wrath of the Catholic Church and turn the town against him and his family.
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, this is a beautifully-written short book (only 128 pages) that you could read in one sitting. It’s quiet and understated but the touching story will stay with you for a long time. I read this when it first came out just before Christmas 2021 and I think perhaps it is a book that I should revisit during the holiday season every couple of years.
13. The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue
Setting: Cork
An enjoyable coming-of-age novel set primarily in Ireland in the early 2000s narrated in the first person by Rachel Murray, now a journalist in London. The story opens with present day Rachel attending an event where she is recognized by a former university classmate who relays news about an English professor they had at UCC. This chance meeting prompts Rachel to tell the story of her final year of university ten years earlier in Cork city.
In the final year of her English degree in 2009/10 at the height of the financial crisis in Ireland, Rachel is working at a bookshop to make ends meet and is infatuated with her married English professor, Dr. Byrne. Rachel moves in with her new best friend, James, and the two of them stumble through the year drinking excessively and trying to figure out friendship, love and where they’re going in life.
There’s a lot of the insecurity and angst that plagues one’s early ’20s as they deal with relationships/sexuality, work, school and family while their lives also become increasingly intertwined with Dr. Byrne and his wife. James and Rachel are flawed but likeable characters who make some very bad decisions (but who doesn’t at that age?) and you want everything to work out for them.
The plot also touches on some serious reproductive health/abortion issues that existed in Ireland at that time prior to the vote to repeal the abortion ban. The Rachel Incident is a good read – sometimes funny, sometimes poignant with relatable characters.
Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor for sending a digital ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
14. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle
Setting: North Dublin
Roddy Doyle’s Booker Prize winning novel is the story of a 10 year-old boy growing up in a working class neighbourhood in North Dublin in the late 1960s. Paddy narrates a series of vignettes that recount his relationships with his family, his teachers and his schoolmates over the course of a year.
At the beginning of the book, Paddy is a mischievous boy but he’s forced to grow up over the course of the year as his parents’ marriage breaks down and he has to take on more responsibility. The novel which is both funny and poignant was lauded for how well it captured the voice of 10 year-old Paddy.
15. The Coast Road by Alan Murrin
Setting: County Donegal
Set in 1994, this recently published novel tells the story of two women – Izzy Keaveney, a housewife, and Colette Crowley, a poet. After leaving her husband and sons for a married man in Dublin, Colette returns to her home in County Donegal to try to pick up the pieces to her old life but her husband denies her access to her children. The only way she can see them is with help from neighbour Izzy, who is also caught in a troubled marriage, acting as a go-between.
This novel by award-winning Irish author, Alan Murrin, about the limits placed on women’s lives in Ireland just a generation ago and the consequences they suffered trying to gain independence is a compassionate and thoughtful debut. Slow-paced and character-driven yet also an emotional page turner with a strong sense of both time and place – I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading whatever the author writes next!
Historical Fiction Set in Ireland
I have always been interested in Ireland’s rich history so find myself drawn to historical fiction set in Ireland.
16. The Princes of Ireland by Edward Rutherfurd
Setting: Dublin
At this point, I have read all but one of the epic historical novels penned by Edward Rutherfurd and it all started with The Princes of Ireland. This novel along with The Rebels of Ireland make up The Dublin Saga that traces centuries of Irish history through one family.
The sweeping story told in The Princes of Ireland spans eleven hundred years beginning at the prehistoric site of Newgrange on the River Boyne and from there tells the story of pagan kings, druid priests and St. Patrick, the coming of the Vikings, the reign of Brian Boru, English rule of Ireland through to the Reformation. The story continues in The Rebels of Ireland through the coming of Cromwell, the English Ascendancy, the Famine, the Easter Rising and finally to the Irish Free State.
These are long books (800 and 896 pages) but I was absolutely absorbed in both epic historical novels and learned so much about Irish history. Rutherfurd worked closely with leading Irish historians to craft his tale and the research is meticulous.
17. Trinity by Leon Uris
Setting: County Donegal, Derry, Belfast and other locations
As a teenager, many years before discovering Edward Rutherfurd’s historical novels about Ireland, I read Trinity by Leon Uris (originally published in 1976) and thus began my obsession with reading books about the country from which my ancestors had emigrated.
Trinity depicts Ireland’s long and bloody struggle for freedom through the story of an idealistic Catholic rebel and the Protestant girl who defies her heritage to join his cause. An emotional and unforgettable story of a country divided by faith and class – teenage me thought that it was one of the best books that I had ever read.
Uris later wrote a sequel – Redemption (originally published in 1995) – which followed the same families in the years around World War I.
18. Haven by Emma Donoghue
Setting: Skellig Michael
An unusual, complex historical novel from Emma Donoghue about three 7th century Irish monks who form a settlement on a remote and inhospitable island off the southwest coast of Ireland.
Artt is a well-travelled scholar-priest, a “living saint” who is visiting an Irish monastery when he has a dream compelling him to travel with two other monks – one old and one young – to set up an island monastery. Trian and Cormac are chosen and vow obedience to Artt before setting off in a small boat down the River Shannon and into the Atlantic Ocean on a perilous voyage to find the island from Artt’s dream. The daily struggle for survival on an island that is only fit for sea birds is hindered by their leader, a zealot so firm in his belief that God will provide that he may destroy them all.
The stark island that the three monks settle on is now known as Skellig Michael – a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the site of a monastic settlement that dates to 600 AD. Donoghue’s beautiful, atmospheric prose perfectly describes the starkness of this island and the struggle to survive under such harsh conditions.
Haven is a quiet story about human character, religion and delusional leaders with a nod to environmental issues and a bit of suspense about how this will all end for the three monks. I can’t say that I loved this book but it was definitely an interesting, thought-provoking read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown & Company for sending a digital ARC of the book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
19. Trespasses by Louise Kennedy
Setting: Belfast, Northern Ireland
Cushla lives with her mother in a small town near Belfast, teaching at a parochial school and moonlighting as a waitress at her family’s pub where she meets Michael Agnew, a Protestant barrister who’s made a name for himself defending IRA members. Against her better judgment, Cushla is drawn into an affair with Agnew but then the father of a student is savagely beaten, setting in motion a chain reaction that will threaten everything, and everyone.
Trespasses is a devastating story about a young teacher at a Catholic school in Belfast who falls in love with a married Protestant barrister twice her age at the height of The Troubles in the mid-70s. This beautifully written debut that perfectly captures the place and time was named a Best Book of the Year by the Washington Post and was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction.
20. Songs of Love and War by Santa Montefiore
Setting: West Cork
Songs of Love and War (also published as The Girl in the Castle and The Irish Girl) is the first book in the five book series, The Deverill Chronicles, that follows the Deverill family through several decades.
Set early in the 20th century in the rugged countryside of West Cork, this is the epic tale of three women born in 1900 – Kitty Deverill, the Anglo-Irish daughter of the castle, Bridie Doyle, the daughter of the cook, and Cecilia Deverill, Kitty’s English cousin. The three girls enjoy an idyllic childhood growing up together at the family’s grand estate, Castle Deverill, until their peaceful way of life is threatened when the Irish struggle for independence reaches their isolated part of the country.
I haven’t read this series yet but I have read and enjoyed several historical fiction books that Santa Montefiore has written so I’m looking forward to getting a start on these as well.
21. The Yellow House by Patricia Falvey
Setting: Northern Ireland
Set early in the 20th century, Eileen O’Neill’s family is torn apart by religious intolerance and secrets from the past but she’s determined to reclaim her ancestral home and reunite her family. As war is declared, Eileen is plunged into personal as well as political turmoil as she finds herself torn between two men – a passionate political activist determined to win Irish independence from Great Britain and the wealthy black sheep of the pacifist family who owns the mill where she works.
Reviews describe The Yellow House as a well-written novel that weaves well-researched history into a compelling storyline to provide a moving view of the struggles experienced during Ireland’s revolutionary period. I have this one on hold at my local library and am looking forward to reading it soon.
Romance Books Set in Ireland
With natural beauty, fairy tale castles and abundant charm, Ireland is the perfect setting for romance books.
22. Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy
Setting: Dublin and a fictitious rural Irish village
Maeve Binchy’s books made me fall in love with Ireland! The first that I read was Circle of Friends and then I read her back list and every book that she published going forward until her death in 2012. Maeve was a wonderful storyteller and her books were loved by readers around the world.
Circle of Friends is about two young girls named Benny and Eve who grow up together in a small Irish village and then go off to university in Dublin where their circle expands to include a beautiful but selfish young woman named Nan and a handsome and popular young man named Jack. A heartwarming story of friendship, love, betrayal and growing up – a great example of the type of story that Maeve Binchy is known for!
Additional favourites include: Evening Class, Scarlet Feather, A Week in Winter and Quentins.
23. The Library at the Edge of the World by Felicity Hayes-McCoy
Setting: Fictional village on Ireland’s West Coast
The Library at the Edge of the World is the first in the charming Finfarran Peninsula series set in a fictional village on Ireland’s West Coast which also includes Summer at the Garden Café, The Mistletoe Matchmaker, The Month of Borrowed Dreams, The Transatlantic Book Club, and The Heart of Summer. There is a 7th installment – The Year of Lost and Found – which is available in Ireland and the UK but not yet in North America.
Hanna Casey grew up in Lissbeg but escaped to London in her teens where she married a barrister and was raising their daughter, Jazz. When her marriage falls apart, Hanna returns with Jazz to live with her mother in Lissbeg and begins working as the local librarian – rebuilding both her own life and the local community in the process.
This might not technically be romance and better described as women’s fiction but there is a romance thread that runs through the series about a librarian and the rural Irish village where she lives. A charming story about starting over, family and community set on the stunning Irish coast.
24. One Night on The Island by Josie Silver
Setting: A fictional remote island off the Irish coast
The story alternates point-of-view between two people with complicated lives who find themselves on Salvation – a rugged and remote island off the Irish coast. Mack is a photographer from Boston who has been separated from his wife for a year and is struggling with how to be a good father to his sons when he’s not in their life on a daily basis and Cleo is a columnist with a women’s magazine in London who writes about dating.
Cleo is about to turn 30 and has been given an assignment of spending time alone and “marrying herself” for her upcoming birthday. Both Cleo and Mack came to the island to stay at a one-room cottage known as Otter Lodge but a double-booking error means they have to stay together as there are no other accommodations on the island and no boat back to the mainland for at least a week.
Not a traditional rom-com – there’s a bit of the enemies to lovers trope but it’s more a journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance for both of them and coming to terms with what they want their futures to look like. The absolute best part of the book is the setting. If Salvation wasn’t a fictional island, I’d be packing my bag and booking my flight! The descriptions of the island landscape and the strength, resilience and kindness of the islanders who draw Cleo and Mack into their fold remind me how much I love Ireland and can’t wait to visit again.
25. Normal People by Sally Rooney
Setting: Dublin
Connell and Marianne grow up in the same small town and attend school together but move in different circles – Marianne is from a wealthy family but socially ostracized and Connell is from a working classs background but very popular at school. Both move to Dublin to study at Trinity College and the social dynamic changes as Marianne seems to fit right in but Connell struggles. The story follows the two over the next four years and their involvement in each other’s lives.
Part love story (but perhaps not technically a romance) and part coming-of-age story, this bestseller and multiple award winner was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the adaptation starring Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones is an Emmy-nominated Hulu original series.
26. Love & Luck by Jenna Welch
Setting: Road trip through Ireland
Addie is visiting Ireland for her aunt’s over-the-top destination wedding but she can’t stop fighting with her brother, Ian, because he continues to needle her about something that has left her heartbroken. Addie’s discovery of an unusual guidebook, Ireland for the Heartbroken, in the hotel library leads to a road trip around Ireland with her brother and his cute Irish friend, Rowan, and an opportunity to heal her relationship with Ian.
This YA romance is the second in Jenna Welch’s Love & Gelato series. I haven’t read it yet but did enjoy Love & Gelato and you can’t go wrong with a road trip around the Emerald Isle!
27. The Christmas Party by Karen Swan
Setting: Southwest coast of Ireland
When Declan Lorne, the last remaining knight in Ireland, dies suddenly, his estate on the rugged southwest coast of Ireland passes to his three daughters but it is the youngest daughter, Willow, who inherits the castle. Willow, who escaped to Dublin vowing never to return after something terrible happened three years earlier, announces she is selling the castle pushing her sisters to desperation. The prospective new owner negotiates throwing a lavish party at the castle just days before Christmas but secrets begin catching up with the three sisters and they must ask themselves which is harder – stepping into the future or letting go of the past?
I haven’t read this book yet but I have read more than 10 of Karen Swan’s books and enjoyed each one of them for their blend of romance with a bit of mystery or secrets and a fabulous destination. I plan to read this one from her backlist during the holiday season this year.
28. Snowed In by Catherine Walsh
Setting: Small Irish village
Megan is dreading going home for the holidays because her ex-fiancé is engaged again and she has just been dumped for the fourth time this year. Christian doesn’t mind being alone but he’s fed up with his family feeling sorry for him. So when Megan and Christian bump into each other at a Dublin pub, they come up with a fake dating scheme to get through the holiday season back home. Dealing with two big families, old friends, and old flames starts to get messy though and add a snowed-in cabin with a little Christmas magic and anything could happen…
This is the second in Catherine Walsh’s Fitzpatrick Christmas series and, although I haven’t read it yet, I loved the sweet and funny Holiday Romance which was published in 2022 as the first in the series. I missed this one last year but have added it to my TBR for this holiday season reading!
Mysteries and Thrillers Set in Ireland
Ireland’s landscape also lends itself to books that are a little darker so if you are looking for some suspense in your reading then pick one of these mysteries, crime novels and thrillers set in Ireland.
29. Old God’s Time by Sebastian Barry
Setting: Irish coast
Recently retired policeman, Tom Kettle, is settling into his quiet new home overlooking the Irish Sea where he is alone with fond memories of his family – his beloved wife June and their two children, Winnie and Joe. When two former colleagues show up at his door with questions about a decades-old case that Tom had never come to terms with, he finds himself pulled into the darkest currents of his past.
Longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2023, a Dublin Literary Prize nominee and named a Best Book of 2023 by the New Yorker, Washington Post, NPR and Kirkus Reviews, Sebastian Barry is praised for his special understanding of the human heart. This mystery is described as a profound novel that explores love, memory, grief and long-buried secrets.
30. The Searcher by Tana French
Setting: Irish village
Retired detective Cal Hooper moves to a remote village in rural Ireland with plans to fix up a dilapidated cottage, take long mountain walks and leave police work in the past. Then a local boy appeals to him for help – his brother is missing and nobody in the village, including the police, seem to care. Cal feels compelled to help the boy and find out what’s wrong in the village even if it brings trouble to his own door.
Bestselling and award-winning author Tana French, a longtime resident of Dublin, has been dubbed the “the First Lady of Irish Crime” so if it’s a mystery or police procedural that you’re looking for then her novels are a good place to start! Best known for the Dublin Murder Squad series of books, French published The Searcher in 2020 and its sequel The Hunter in 2024.
31. Murder in an Irish Castle by Verity Bright
Setting: Estate in the west of Ireland
Christmas, 1924 – Lady Eleanor Swift receives an unexpected invitation to the village Christmas party in a tiny hamlet in the west of Ireland and is thrilled for the opportunity to explore her ancestral roots at her late uncle’s estate and spend the festive season in an Irish castle.
Lady Eleanor sets off for the Emerald Isle with Gladstone the bulldog and her butler Clifford arriving late at night to discover a body sprawled in the snow on the country lane leading to the estate and a suspicious local constable who all but accuses Lady Eleanor and Clifford of murder.
This historical cozy murder mystery is part of the Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery series (currently 19 books) set in the 1920s which is written by a husband and wife team and published under the pseudonym Verity Bright. I have read Death on Deck (Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery #13) which was quite entertaining and think this one set at an Irish castle sounds like it would be a fun read!
32. The Guest List by Lucy Foley
Setting: An island off the coast of Ireland
On an island off the coast of Ireland, guest gather to celebrate the marriage of a handsome and charming television star and a smart and ambitious magazine publisher. The location is remote, the cell service is spotty and as drinks begin to flow, resentments and petty jealousies mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. And then someone turns up dead.
If you’re looking for more of a suspense-filled thriller then this one by Lucy Foley should fit the bill! It’s a classic closed room mystery with lots of twists and turns that should keep you turning the pages well into the night.
33. Murder in an Irish Village by Carlene O’Connor
Setting: A small village in County Cork
In a small village in County Cork, twenty-two-year old Siobhán O’Sullivan along with her five siblings runs the family bistro after the death of their parents in a car crash a year earlier. Opening the bistro one morning, they discover a man sitting at a table inside with hot pink scissors protruding from his chest. The garda suspect the O’Sullivans of murder and their business is in danger of being shunned so it’s up to feisty redheaded Siobhán to solve the crime and save her beloved family.
This is the first book in the Irish Village Mystery series featuring young Siobhán O’Sullivan as an amateur sleuth which consists currently of 10 books – so if you’re looking for a cozy mystery series set in Ireland then this will keep you going for a bit!
The additional titles are: Murder at an Irish Wedding; Murder in an Irish Churchyard; Murder in an Irish Pub; Murder in an Irish Cottage; Murder at an Irish Christmas; Murder in an Irish Bookshop; Murder on an Irish Farm; Murder at an Irish Bakery; and Murder at an Irish Chipper.
Non-Fiction About Ireland
A few memoirs and non-fiction books to read about life in Ireland.
34. The House on an Irish Hillside by Felicity Hayes-McCoy
Setting: Dingle Peninsula
In this memoir originally published in 2012 (with a new edition out in 2024), Felicity Hayes-McCoy, author of the popular Finfarran series of novels, writes about her experience returning to Ireland and buying a house on the stunning Dingle Peninsula.
Born and educated in Dublin, Hayes-McCoy built a London-based career as an actor and writer. In 2002, she and her husband made the decision to buy and restore a stone house in Dingle and now split their time between London and their Irish home. Her beautifully written memoir is a tale of rediscovering lost values and being reminded of the things that really matter.
35. Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
Setting: Limerick
First published in 1996, Frank McCourt won the Pulitzer Prize for his spellbinding memoir Angela’s Ashes that became a global sensation. McCourt was born in Depression-era Brooklyn but raised in the slums of Limerick by a mother who had no money to feed her children because her husband drank away his wages on the rare occasions when he worked. The one thing that Frank did get from his father was a love of storytelling and it serves him well as he tells the tale of his Irish Catholic childhood. Both heartbreaking and hilariously funny – this memoir is an unforgettable read!
36. A Guest at the Feast by Colm Tóibín
Published in 2023, A Guest at the Feast is a collection of eleven essays by the award-winning author of Brooklyn about several topics including growing up in Ireland in the 1950s and 1960s in the small town of Enniscorthy in County Wexford where several of his novels take place. Tóibín writes about his diagnosis and treatment for cancer, Irish literature and history, priests and popes and the long journey toward legal and social acceptance of homosexuality.
Classic Books Set in Ireland
A few classic novels written by Irish authors and set in Ireland that are among the greatest books of all time.
37. Dubliners by James Joyce
Setting: Dublin
Published in 1914, James Joyce’s portrait of Dublin at the turn of the 20th century is considered to be one of the greatest short story collections in the English language. The set of fifteen stories which are set in and around Dublin depict the everyday struggles, hopes and dreams of the characters at a time when Ireland was at a historic turning point and Irish nationalism was at its peak.
38. At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O’Brien
Setting: Dublin
One of the most famous and influential Irish novels published in the twentieth century, At Swim -Two-Birds is the story of a young, lazy and frequently drunk college student who lives in Dublin with his curmudgeonly uncle and is writing a novel about a second-rate author whose characters rebel against him and seek vengeance. I haven’t read it yet but have been meaning to since I read At Swim, Two Boys which echoes O’Brien’s masterpiece.
39. Ulysses by James Joyce
Setting: Dublin
This masterpiece of literature by James Joyce was originally serialized before the entire work was published in 1922. The novel takes place in and near Dublin on a single day and is constructed as a modern parallel of Homer’s epic poem Odyssey about Odysseus’s journey home after the Trojan War. Ulysses tells the story of Leopold Bloom (a Jewish advertising canvasser), Molly Bloom (Leopold’s wife and a professional singer) and Stephen Dedalus (an aspiring poet) as they go about their day on June 16, 1904.
40. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
Setting: Dublin
Another literary gem, James Joyce’s debut novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, is a coming-of-age story set in Dublin about Stephen Dedalus who is Joyce’s fictional alter ego and who also appears in Ulysses. I read this novel many years ago as a requirement for a university course but am planning to read it again to see if how it feels at a different stage in life.
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