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Recommended by Nick Barley (Festival Director)

Ever since he burst onto the Irish writing scene over a decade ago, Kevin Barry has entranced readers with his laconic humour, his amiable characters and his impeccable ability to tell stories. In recent years he’s been getting better and better, with his glorious recent novel Night Boat To Tangier earning him a place on the 2019 Booker longlist.

One year on, Barry returns to his beloved short story form with That Old Country Music, a collection based on some oddly delicious (and sometimes deliciously odd) characters from County Sligo on the Atlantic coast of Ireland. Each and every one of these stories is irresistibly readable, vividly conjuring mental images of lives and landscapes in such high resolution, you could project them on an Imax screen.

Recommended by Genevieve Fay, our Communities Programme Officer - Having recently been shortlisted for the Booker Prize, it is no wonder that many people, including First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, are reaching for a copy of Shuggie Bain. Douglas Stuart has written this powerful debut novel drawing on his own life experiences. Set in 1980s Glasgow, which seems to be unravelling under the weight of its own identity crisis, families struggle with unemployment, crushing poverty, and the waves of addiction that are engulfing much of the city. It is a book of both sadness and beauty, a chronicle of memorable characters, their defiance and hope in the face of the grim realities of life and survival.

'An absolutely masterly work' Stephen Fry Alex Ross, renowned author of the international bestseller The Rest Is Noise, reveals how Richard Wagner became the proving ground for modern art and politics-an aesthetic war zone where the Western world wrestled with its capacity for beauty and violence.

Recommended by Rachel Fox (Children and Schools Programme Director)

I read The Good Hawk by Joseph Elliot a while ago now and it has really stuck with me.

Set in mythic Scotland, probably the Isle of Skye, two unlikely heroes must make a dangerous journey to protect their people’. The book is dually narrated by two characters, both members of the Tuath clan but with different roles within the clan structure.

The Good Hawk is an absolute must read for every fantasy fiction fan out there.

Recommended by Rachel Fox (Children and Schools Programme Director)

When Life Gives You Mangoes by Kereen Getten has everything you want in a story. It has a deep sense of place, characters that you completely believe in, and a mystery that pulls at you all the way through. I read it cover to cover in one night.

The story is set in a small village in Jamaica where we meet Clara and her friends, living a seemingly normal life, apart from that Clara can’t remember anything that happened the previous Summer. Throughout the book we get hints at what could have happened and as a new girl, Rudy, arrives from England things start to change.