Novel set in PHILADELPHIA
Ten Great Books Set in IRELAND
9th October 2026
Ten Great Books Set in IRELAND.
Ireland is a captivating country that seamlessly blends dramatic natural beauty with a rich, living history and historic folklore. Known as the Emerald Isle, it enchants visitors with its lush green landscapes, rugged Atlantic coastline, and majestic sights like the towering Cliffs of Moher.
Beyond the scenery, visitors are drawn to its vibrant cultural hubs, from Dublin’s historic literary pubs to lively traditional music sessions in local villages. Renowned for world-famous hospitality, warm locals, leprechauns, and deep-rooted storytelling traditions, Ireland offers an unforgettable experience.
Here are ten of our favourite books set in the country.
Bring Her Home by S A Dunphy – COUNTY KERRY
When bright, beautiful Penny O’Dwyer disappears from Cahirsiveen, a small town in the west of Ireland, the local police scour the narrow streets and muddy hills, but find no leads.
Jessie Boyle swore she’d never return to Ireland. But grieving the death of her partner, and the premature end of her London Met career, she can’t say no to the case that holds her homeland in its grip. And it’s not long before Jessie uncovers something everyone else has missed: Penny isn’t the first girl to go missing.
Going back decades, women have been taken from Cahirsiveen, their bodies found on ancient burial mounds. A reference to a little-known Celtic myth buried in her messages convinces Jessie that Penny is the latest victim of the same killer. Folklore can do funny things to a small community in the misty mountains, and Jessie suspects she’s dealing with the most twisted mind of her career.
The eyes of Ireland are on Jessie and her new team, and as the boss turns up the heat, they learn to live and breathe the case. But Jessie is haunted by her own demons, and the cracks are beginning to show.
Time is running out. And just when Jessie thinks she’s found a vital clue linking the victims to a remote farm, she realises she could be next. Can she piece together the face of evil and save Penny’s life, or will he get to Jessie first?
Dubliners by James Joyce – DUBLIN
James Joyce’s Dubliners is an enthralling collection of modernist short stories which create a vivid picture of the day-to-day experience of Dublin life. This Penguin Classics edition includes notes and an introduction by Terence Brown.
Joyce’s first major work, written when he was only twenty-five, brought his city to the world for the first time. His stories are rooted in the rich detail of Dublin life, portraying ordinary, often defeated lives with unflinching realism. From ‘The Sisters’, a vivid portrait of childhood faith and guilt, to ‘Araby’, a timeless evocation of the inexplicable yearnings of adolescence, to ‘The Dead’, in which Gabriel Conroy is gradually brought to a painful epiphany regarding the nature of his existence, Joyce draws a realistic and memorable cast of Dubliners together in an powerful exploration of overarching themes. Writing of social decline, sexual desire and exploitation, corruption and personal failure, he creates a brilliantly compelling, unique vision of the world and of human experience.
James Joyce (1882-1941), the eldest of ten children, was born in Dublin, but exiled himself to Paris at twenty as a rebellion against his upbringing. He only returned to Ireland briefly from the continent but Dublin was at heart of his greatest works, Ulysses and Finnegans Wake. He lived in poverty until the last ten years of his life and was plagued by near blindness and the grief of his daughter’s mental illness.
Murder at the Races by David Pearson – CONNEMARA
Irish detectives Maureen Lyons and Mick Hays face one of their hardest cases yet…
When a successful bookmaker is robbed and killed during the annual Galway Races, the motive seems clear.
But when the money turns up untouched, more questions are raised than answered.
Top Brass want the case wrapped up. The pressure is on DI Maureen Lyons to find the killer.
However, the police didn’t count on having to deal with a troublemaker within their own ranks.
Rigorous detective work will be needed to find the culprit. But with more than a few suspects, the police are stretched to their limit.
It may well require the luck of the Irish – and some underhand shenanigans – to crack the case.
MURDER AT THE RACES is the ninth murder mystery by David Pearson to be set in the west of Ireland and feature these detectives.
On the First Day of Christmas by Faith Hogan – IRELAND
This Christmas, everything will change…
When Liv Latimer says goodbye to her fellow nurses and finishes work for the holidays, she’s looking forward to a Christmas to remember with her boyfriend Eddie.
But as she leaves the hospital, tragedy strikes and Liv is faced with a choice. Will she ignore her instincts and go home as planned? Or will she stay, and potentially change the course of her life as she knows it?
Whatever choice she makes, Liv is about to discover that fate finds a way…
From the bestselling Irish author of The Ladies’ Midnight Swimming Club, comes an emotional and uplifting festive story about love, family and how a split second decision can change your life.
The Coast Road by Alan Murrin – COUNTY DONEGAL
It’s 1994 in County Donegal, Ireland, and everyone is talking about Colette Crowley – the writer, the bohemian, the woman who left her husband and sons to pursue a relationship with a married man in Dublin. But now Colette is back, and nobody knows why.
Returning to the community to try and reclaim her old life, Colette quickly learns that they are unwilling to give it back to her. The man to whom she is still married is denying her access to her children, and while the legalisation of divorce might be just around the corner, Colette finds herself caught between her old life and the freedom for which she risked everything. Desperate to see her children, she enlists the help of Izzy, a housewife and mother of two, and the women forge a friendship that will send them on a spiralling journey – one toward a path of self-discovery, and the other toward tragedy. Brilliantly observed from a sharp new literary talent, The Coast Road is a novel about a closed community and the consequences of daring to move against the tide.
The Inheritance by Cauvery Madhavan – BEARA PENINSULA
It’s 1986 and 29-year-old Marlo O’Sullivan of London-Irish stock has just found out that his sister is his mother. To steady his life, he moves to Glengarriff, to a cottage he has inherited, in the stunning Beara Peninsula. When a neighbour dies unexpectedly, Marlo takes over his minibus service to Cork. There is nothing regular about the regulars on the bus – especially Sully, a non-verbal 6 year old, who goes nowhere but does the journey back and forth every day, on his own. Marlo is landed with this a strange but compassionate arrangement, fashioned to give the child’s mother respite from his care. Sully’s obsession with an imaginary friend in the ancient oak forests of Glengarriff slowly unveils its terrible secrets – a 400-hundred-year-old tragedy reveals itself.
The Murder Box by Olivia Kiernan – DUBLIN
At first, Detective Chief Superintendent Frankie Sheehan believes the murder mystery game sent to her office is a birthday gift from one of her colleagues. But when Frankie studies the game’s contents, she notices a striking resemblance between the ‘murder victim’ and missing twenty-two-year-old Lydia Callin.
As Frankie and her team investigate, a series of grisly crimes connected to the game are discovered across Dublin city and Lydia’s involvement with a shadowy network of murder mystery players becomes clear.
On the hunt for Lydia’s murderer, Frankie is drawn more deeply into the game. Every successful move brings her closer to the killer. But the real question is not what happens should she lose — but what happens if she wins.
The Truth Must Dazzle Gradually by Helen Cullen – GALWAY, DUBLIN
On an island off the west coast of Ireland, the Moone family gathers.
Maeve is an actor, struggling with her most challenging role yet – as a mother to four children. Murtagh, her devoted husband, is a potter whose craft brought them from the city to this rural life.
In the wake of one fateful night, the Moone siblings must learn the story of who their parents truly are, and what has happened since their first meeting, years before, outside Trinity College in Dublin.
We watch as one love story gives rise to another, until we arrive at a future that none of the Moones could have predicted.
Except perhaps Maeve herself.
Wild Houses by Colin Barrett – BALLINA
As Ballina prepares for its biggest weekend of the year, the simmering feud between small-time dealer, Cillian English, and County Mayo’s fraternal enforcers, Gabe and Sketch Ferdia, spills over into violence and an ugly ultimatum.
When the reclusive Dev answers his door on Friday night he finds Doll – Cillian’s bruised, sullen, teenage brother – in the clutches of Gabe and Sketch. Jostled by his nefarious cousins, goaded by his dead mother’s dog and struck by spinning lights, Dev is unwillingly drawn headlong into the Ferdias’ revenge fantasy.
Meanwhile, seventeen-year-old Nicky can’t shake the feeling something bad has happened to her boyfriend Doll. Hungover, reeling from a fractious Friday night and plagued by ghosts of her own, Nicky sets out on a feverish mission to save Doll, even as she questions her future in Ballina.
The beautifully crafted, thrillingly-told story of two outsiders striving to find themselves as their worlds collapse in chaos and violence, Wild Houses is the long-anticipated debut novel from award-winning and critically-acclaimed short story writer, Colin Barrett.
Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney – DUBLIN
Frances is twenty-one years old, cool-headed and observant. A student in Dublin and an aspiring writer, at night she performs spoken word with her best friend Bobbi, who used to be her girlfriend.
When they are interviewed and then befriended by Melissa, a well-known journalist who is married to Nick, an actor, they enter a world of beautiful houses, raucous dinner parties and holidays in Provence, beginning a complex ménage-à-quatre.
But when Frances and Nick get unexpectedly closer, the sharply witty and emotion-averse Frances is forced to honestly confront her own vulnerabilities for the first time.
Enjoy our selection of great books set in Ireland!
Tony for the TripFiction Team
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