We are already more than halfway through Irish American heritage month, so if you are still searching for some luck this March, but haven’t found a four-leaf clover yet, consider picking up one of these novels by Irish authors. Their captivating stories might be your next lucky charm.    

“Brooklyn” by Colm Tóibín

Colm Tóibín’s heartbreaking novel, “Brooklyn,” just might have you staining its pages with tears. Set after World War II, the book follows Eilis Lacey, a young girl who grew up in a small town in Ireland and is struggling to find a job as a bookkeeper. When a priest offers to sponsor a transatlantic journey, Eilis decides to leave all that is familiar behind and move to Brooklyn. While working her first job at a department store on Fulton Street, Eilis gets accustomed to her new life and unexpectedly finds love. Tony Fiorello, an Italian American with a large family, is persistent in winning her over, despite her initial apprehension. However, just as the couple is falling in love, Eilis is forced to return to Ireland. In a time when cross-country transportation was limited, Eilis is torn between her familial ties to her home country and the new life she has made with Tony in Brooklyn. 

— Siobhán Minerva, Deputy Arts Editor

“Eat or We Both Starve” by Victoria Kennefick

I used to think poetry was boring and artificially elegant — that was until I read Victoria Kennefick’s “Eat or We Both Starve.” Kennefick introduces a new mode of writing poetry that is visceral in its body horror as she explores female anatomy and how we control ourselves through consumption. Her poems traipse from saints enduring holy anorexia to reflections on the Irish famine to her own experience with anemia, recounting as her “teeth turned to glass and shattered / in my mouth.” There is no doubt as to why her remarkably original poems took home the Seamus Heaney First Collection Poetry Prize in 2022.

— Anna Baird-Hassell, Deputy Managing Editor 

“Dracula” by Bram Stoker

If you found yourself drawn to Lily-Rose Depp’s engrossing performance or Bill Skarsgård’s ominous persona in “Nosferatu,” it’s worth referring back to the tale’s original source. Bram Stoker’s novel details the misadventures of English solicitor Jonathan Harker, who takes refuge in Dracula’s castle after a false display of hospitality that incites a hunt for the vampire spanning countries and months. Although best known for its antagonist, Stoker’s ensemble cast of makeshift hunters create a worthwhile gothic tale. If cracking open the tome is still intimidating, subscribe to Dracula Daily before May, a substack that restarts yearly to email readers letters from the tale on the same dates that Jonathan supposedly wrote them.

— Eleanor Jacobs, Music Editor

“Small Things Like These” by Claire Keegan 

You might not expect such a small book to pack such a mighty punch, but Claire Keegan’s “Small Things Like These” will leave you with a swirl of emotions. At just under 130 pages, the book follows Bill Furlong, a coal merchant in a small Irish town. On his Christmas delivery route, he discovers a girl locked in the coal shed behind the local convent. When Bill takes the freezing, pregnant girl into the convent, a nun subtly threatens the education of Bill’s children if word of the event spreads through town. He is forced to confront the dark, controlling nature of the Catholic Church and struggles to understand the rest of his community’s complacency in covering up the horrors that occur behind the convent’s walls. Keegan tells a story of growth and the perseverance of goodness through Bill’s reckoning with his conscience and community.

— Ciara Lang, Contributing Writer

“Conversations with Friends” by Sally Rooney

Sally Rooney’s debut novel, “Conversations with Friends,” centers Frances Flynn, a student attending Trinity College in Dublin. Frances performs slam poetry alongside her ex-lover-turned-friend Bobbi Connolly. Melissa Baines, a photojournalist in her late thirties, discovers the pair and decides to write a profile on them. While getting to know each other, Melissa introduces Frances and Bobbi to her husband Nick. The four quickly grow close and complexities in their relationships arise. Frances and Nick begin an affair, though Frances still craves validation and friendship from Melissa, who is romantically pursued by Bobbi. All the while, Frances and Bobbi still have underlying and unresolved feelings for each other. If it sounds complicated, that’s because it is. Luckily, Rooney thrives when it comes to developing complicated relationships and humanizing her very flawed characters — making for a profoundly relatable read.

— Skylar Boilard, Staff Writer

Contact the Arts desk at [email protected].