Scéal Ghearóid Iarla

Scéal Ghearóid Iarla: 120 pp; hardcover;  978-1-911363-43-9

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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’.

The novel, Scéal Ghearóid iarla, won the Oireachtas ‘Book of the Year’ awaed and was named by Comhar as one of the ‘ten best novels since the turn of the century’.

“One of the 10 Best Novels Since the Turn of the Century!”

“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

A Beautiful and Natural Ode to a Forgotten Era of Irish Life

“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

Read the review in The Dublin Review of Books