The Green Room by Anne Enright (Vintage) by Patrick O'Connor THIS is a fascinating multi-faceted look at a dysfunctional family. It focuses on the Madigans, mother Rosaleen and her children Dan, Emmet, Constance and Hanna who meet up for a Christmas gathering in the west of Ireland for the first time in many years. Different […]

Vanishing by Gerard Woodward (Picador)

by Patrick O'Connor

YOU certainly can't accuse author Gerard Woodward of producing a light-weight book.

Packed into the 500 pages of Vanishing are several different tales from several different eras.

It's a first person narration by Kenneth Brill, who when we first meet him, is in a British prison sometime in the latter stages of the Second World War.

An Ice Cream War by William Boyd (Penguin)

by Patrick O'Connor

THERE have been plenty of novels which have used the First World War as a backdrop but this offering by acclaimed British writer William Boyd takes a look at the little known East African campaign and shows how it impacted on several characters.

Before conflict erupts, American expat Temple Smith is on good terms with his German half English neighbour Erich von Bishop but then has his plantation burnt by von Bishop and becomes a penniless refugee, forced to join the British forces.

The Lie by Helen Dunmore (Windmill Books)

by Patrick O'Connor

MANY writers have explored the horrors of the First World War, an event which had special significance in 2014, the centenary of the outbreak of the conflict.

And although Helen Dunmore's novel is set in 1920, it focusses entirely on the dreadful mark left on the soul of the survivors.

The Light of Day by Graham Swift (Penguin)

by Patrick O'Connor

THE central character here is former cop George Webb who now runs a detective agency from an office above a tanning studio on Wimbledon Broadway.

But if you are expecting a typical 'gumshoe' tale forget it. For this is a story about obsessive love, (although to be fair, there is also a murder).

The Quarry by Iain Banks (Abacus)

It is sadly ironic to realise that whilst writing this novel which is about someone dying, author Iain Banks was not aware that his days too were numbered.

Banks passed away shortly after the book was published which adds to the poignancy of this tale about the central character Guy who invites old university chums to his house for a weekend.

Guy lives with his autistic teenage son Kit, who is the narrator.