Irish Book Club: Ghost In the Throat by Doireann Ni Ghriofa

“When we first met, I was a child, and she had been dead for centuries.”

A true original. In this stunningly unusual prose debut, Doireann Ní Ghríofa sculpts essay and autofiction to explore inner life and the deep connection felt between two writers centuries apart.

In the 1700s, an Irish noblewoman, on discovering her husband has been murdered, drinks handfuls of his blood and composes an extraordinary poem. Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill’s Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire famously referred to by Peter Levi, Professor of Poetry at Oxford University, as ‘the greatest poem written in either Ireland or Britain during the eighteenth century.’

In the present day, a young mother narrowly avoids tragedy. On encountering the poem, she becomes obsessed with its parallels with her own life, and sets out to track down the rest of the story. A Ghost in the Throat is a devastating and timeless tale about one woman freeing her voice by reaching into the past and finding another’s.

www.theguardian.com/books/2021/nov/28/a-ghost-in-the-throat-by-doireann-ni-ghriofa-review-incandescent-treasures

Our books group are open to all. Attend every meeting, occasionally or just once in your life. All we ask is that you read the book in advance and take part in the discussion. There’s a short introduction by a member of staff, a group regular, or someone we know with a special interest in the book in question. In this case, introduction by Deirdre O’Byrne

Free event. Refreshments provided.

Our book groups – Fiction (monthly), Pagan (bi-monthly), Non-Fiction (roughly quarterly) , and, now, an Irish book group which will discuss fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Regularity to be confirmed after first meeting

You don’t need to buy the book from us – libraries are good! – but we offer 15% discount on book group  books in the lead up to the event. That’s 15% to anyone buying that book, whether they turn up or not.