"Ciarraí, 1923. Ar bharr an choma thuas chas sé agus d'fhéach sé thar n-ais. Bhí sí fós ann, le hais an tobair, is a buicéidín aici is í ag féachaint suas air. D'fhéach sí beag, leochaileach, uaigneach. Thuig sé na trí rud san go maith. Ní raibh sé riamh
In Boston, New England, an Irish woman was convicted of witchcraft and sentenced to death by hanging on the 16th November 1688. She comes to us from history under the name ‘Goody Glover’, a slave name. The only language she spoke in court was Irish, and it is from her trial that we find the first record of the Irish language in North America. An Bhean Feasa imagines the life and circumstances of this woman from Boston, to Barbados to Ireland. The novel is presented in through the medium of poetry, the first of its kind in Irish.
Set in mid-17th century Ireland and Continental Europe, the narrative in An Cléireach is triggered by a single event that takes place during the Cromwellian invasion of Ireland, when a small band of the retreating Irishry gather on the side of a mountain and, despite the threat of massacre, for one night the rain lifts, the stars shine, and art and dreams take centre stage.
A prize-winning jewel of a novel from the pen of one of Ireland's finest poets, telling the story of a man close to the poet's own heart - Garret FitzGerald, 3rd Earl of Desmond (1335-1398), chieftain, viceroy, poet, and a man who loved women - the man baptized by the Irish as 'Gearóid Iarla'. "An illustration of the desires, heartbreaks, sufferings, and of the humanity of nobles and commoners. That is Máire Mhac an tSaoi's special gift, the gift of imagining... She has complete mastery of her craft." -Tadhg Ó Dúshláine, RTÉ RnaG. “Is seoid drithleach atá sa leabhar seo. Tá cur síos ann atá chomh beo, chomh braiteach, chomh lán de chroí is de nádúr, le haon rud atá léite agam le fada an lá, in aon teanga. Is fada ó bhraith mé chomh gar do shuíomh agus do phearsana staire. Anuas air sin tá giotaí comhrá agus cainte ann atá chomh blasta sin nach bhfuil aon tsamhail agam orthu ach mar a bheadh gráinní salainn ar an lus súgach, a bhaineann geit phléisiúrtha asat agus a chuireann fonn ort a thuilleadh a bhlaiseadh. Tá daonnacht agus grinneas agus dea-stíl scríbhneoireachta sa leabhar seo chomh maith le haon rud atá scríofa.” —Liam Mac Cóil "Léiriú ar mhianta, ar bhriseadh croí, ar fhulaingt, ar dhaonnacht mhóruaisle agus ghnáthdhaoine. Sin bua Mháire Mhac an tSaoi, bua na samhlaíochta.... Tá sí ina máistir go hiomlán ar an gceird." —Tadhg Ó Dúshláine, Comhluadar na Leabhar, RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta. "Éiríonn le Máire Mhac an tSaoi an cúlra staire a shníomh isteach san úrscéal ar bhealach an-chaolchúiseach." — Meidhbhín Ní Úrdail, Comhluadar na Leabhar, RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta. "Mac an tSaoi has not only written a beautiful and natural ode to a forgotten era of Irish life, an ode characterised by its humanity and poetic language but she has also usurped some of the more recent traditions that circumscribed the image or representation of Gearóid Iarla." — Micheál Ó hAodha, Dublin Review of Books Review of Scéal Ghearóid Iarla ar an Dublin Review of Books Scéal Ghearóid Iarla ar Clubleabhar.com Videos Máire Mhac an tSaoi ag léamh as Scéal Ghearóid Iarla Agallamh le Máire Mhac an tSaoi faoi Scéal Ghearóid Iarla More books by Máire Mhac an tSaoi Cérbh í Meg Russell? Scéal Ghearóid Iarla available as an eBook for the Kindle (amazon)
Poetry at its most acute resists outdated assertions and dulled assumptions. In this sense, Cathal Ó Searcaigh's latest collection An Bhé Ghlas is at the cutting edge of awareness. It is a collection imbued with a keen vision of renewal and an openness to experience. Poetry of this kind is about seeing. The poet is the seer par excellence, the challenger to our conformities. It is an elegant and an entirely original collection that enriches our understanding of these turbulent times we live in. Ó Searcaigh is being lifted emotionally and imaginatively beyond his own life into the life of all, into immense existence.
Shortlisted for the IRISH BOOK AWARDS
This is the story of a young man and the fateful summer he spent in the Gate House in Mín na Móna in the Donegal Gaeltacht as he tries to make sense of his complicated life and find his own way. You won't easily forget this summer in Mín na Móna. In this novel brim-full of uplifting humour, of compassion with one's fellow man and with nature, of flashes of insight and inspiring ruminations. A witty style, a thought-provoking story.
It is a long time since we’ve had a novel from the Donegal Gaeltacht, and there is no doubt that this book announces the arrival of a new novelist in a direct line from the Mac Grianna brothers.
