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Dermot Bolger

    Dermot Bolger is an Irish novelist whose work often addresses the experiences of working-class characters who feel alienated from society. He critically examines the relevance of traditional nationalist concepts of Irishness, advocating for a more pluralistic and inclusive society. Bolger's writing delves into the search for identity and belonging in the modern world, giving voice to those often overlooked.

    Dermot Bolger
    Ladies' Night at Finbar's Hotel
    Ulysses
    The Lonely Sea and Sky
    The Picador Book of Irish Contemporary Fiction
    A Second Life
    Other People's Lives
    • Other People's Lives

      • 136 pages
      • 5 hours of reading

      This is Dermot Bolger's latest poetry collection. Every night during a year of the recent Covid 19 lockdown Bolger took long walks through the streets of Dublin. During these walks he allowed his imagination free rein and these resulting poems revisit central events during his life and also reflect upon the lives of others.

      Other People's Lives
      5.0
    • The groundbreaking first modern novel to address the scandal of Irish Magdalene laundries when it was first published.

      A Second Life
      4.5
    • This dazzling anthology, edited and introduced by Dermot Bolger, is a splendidly comprehensive and up-to-the-minute collection of the finest recent fiction from a nation of master storytellers. This collection of astonishing breadth reveals a literature of genuine global stature, as ancient as the Irish Sea.Contributors and stories John Banville, from Mefisto ; Leland Bardwell, "The Hairdresser"; Sebastian Barry, from The Engine of Owl-Light ; Mary Beckett, "Heaven"; Samuel Beckett, "For to End Yet Again"; Sara Berkeley, "The Sky's Gone Out"; Dermot Bolger, "The Journey Home"; Claire Boylan, "Villa Marta"; Shane Connaughton, "Ojus"; Mary Dorcey, "The Husband"; Roddy Doyle, from The Snapper ; Anne Enright, "Men and Angels"; Hugo Hamilton, from Surrogate City ; Dermot Healy, "The Death of Matti Bonner"; Aidan Higgins, from Balcony of Europe ; Desmond Hogan, from A Curious Street ; Jennifer Johnston, from The Christmas Tree ; Neil Jordan, "Last Rights"; Molly Kean, Patrick McCabe, from The Butcher Boy ; Brian Moore, "The Sight"; Edna O'Brien, "What a Sky"; William Trevor, "The Ballroom of Romance"; Val Mulkerns, "Memory and Desire"; Robert McLiam Wilson, from Ripley Bogle , and many more.

      The Picador Book of Irish Contemporary Fiction
      4.0
    • The Lonely Sea and Sky

      • 374 pages
      • 14 hours of reading

      A spellbinding novel based on a real-life rescue in 1943, when the crew of a neutral Irish ship rescued 168 drowning German sailors. A story of romance and war, where every experience is intense and dangerous.

      The Lonely Sea and Sky
      4.0
    • Ulysses

      • 1040 pages
      • 37 hours of reading

      Written over a seven-year period, from 1914 to 1921, this book has survived bowdlerization, legal action and controversy. The novel deals with the events of one day in Dublin, 16th June 1904, now known as "Bloomsday". The principal characters are Stephen Dedalus, Leopold Bloom and his wife Molly. Ulysses has been labelled dirty, blasphemous and unreadable. In a famous 1933 court decision, Judge John M. Woolsey declared it an emetic book--although he found it not quite obscene enough to disallow its importation into the United States--and Virginia Woolf was moved to decry James Joyce's "cloacal obsession". None of these descriptions, however, do the slightest justice to the novel. To this day it remains the modernist masterpiece, in which the author takes both Celtic lyricism and vulgarity to splendid extremes. It is funny, sorrowful, and even (in its own way) suspenseful. And despite the exegetical industry that has sprung up in the last 75 years, Ulysses is also a compulsively readable book.

      Ulysses
      4.1
    • Ladies' Night at Finbar's Hotel

      • 272 pages
      • 10 hours of reading

      A cast of seven Irish women writers have taken over the newly refurbished Finbar's Hotel for one memorable night . . .

      Ladies' Night at Finbar's Hotel
      3.3
    • Temptation

      • 222 pages
      • 8 hours of reading

      A marriage and a family reach breaking point on an annual holiday in the loveliest hotel in Ireland. Dermot Bolger is one of the leading figures on the Irish literary scene. Very influential, amazingly energetic and prolific, popular and extremely well respected. Dermot writes fast-paced, incredibly readable novels, usually with a thriller element, always about Ireland, more often than not about its Troubles. 'Temptation, is quite different. It is about family life. It describes five days in the lives of Alison, her husband Peadar and their three children, who are taking their annual holiday on the southeastern coast of Ireland. Each member of the family has his or her own hopes for the holiday and preoccupations about the lives they are briefly leaving behind. The holiday serves as a turning point in their lives, as Alison and Peadar,s marriage is put to the test and the vulnerabilities of their children are brought to the fore. Previous novels have always featured a female central character, and Dermot seems to love writing from a female perspective - and very good he is at it too. This new novel takes this strength and makes the most of it. Paciness and great readability are packed in there too.

      Temptation
      3.5
    • Finbar's hotel

      • 273 pages
      • 10 hours of reading

      The hotel has stood on Dublin's quays since the 1920s, but its glory days are over. Most of the guests and staff we meet are escaping from something. Their stories are told in different chapters by seven Irish writers, including Roddy Doyle, Anne Enright and Colm Toibin.

      Finbar's hotel
      3.4
    • Finbar's Hotel - Paperback Original

      • 273 pages
      • 10 hours of reading

      Op een avond in 1995 logeren enkele uiteenlopende figuren in een verlopen hotel in Dublin. Geschreven door zeven Ierse auteurs, maar het is aan de lezer te raden wie wat schreef.

      Finbar's Hotel - Paperback Original
    • Hide Away

      • 288 pages
      • 11 hours of reading

      Set in 1941, the narrative unfolds within the confines of Grangegorman Mental Hospital, where the lives of four individuals intersect. Each character grapples with the profound impacts of war, betrayal, and personal trauma, revealing the deep scars that conflict leaves on the human psyche. Their stories intertwine, exploring themes of resilience and the quest for healing amidst a backdrop of historical turmoil.

      Hide Away