Bibliofemme Bookclub An Irish Bookclub

Short novels are something of a rarity these days. The modern paperback usually weighs in with a respectable minimum of 200 pages. Dipping into Steinbeck’s back catalogue, you’d be hard pushed to find such an average size book from the tome-like East of Eden to the brilliant short novels that made his name. The Red Pony is one such and

read more

Paulo Coelho doesn’t just write – he crafts his magnificent tales. One of the most widely read authors in the world, his success is due the fact that he speaks to his readers’ very souls, examining what it is to be human and what it is that makes us human, warts and all.

In ‘The Devil and Miss Prym’ Coelho takes as his

read more

When Scholar Yu proclaims: “All worry in life begins from learning to read and write” to the young Lily, he doesn’t realise the prophetic nature of his words. His adopted daughter, Little Flower, as she is then called, is destined to be a woman shaped by the power of the words she writes and recites. Lily, or Yu Xuanji, was a real

read more

The story of the life of Vita Sackville-West is as fascinating as any novel. Most famously she was the close friend and lover of Virginia Woolf. This is not merely a salacious titbit but part of the information imparted in Victoria Glendinning’s introduction to All Passion Spent. Information that lends much to the understand of Sackville-West

read more