By Martin Russell
Irish American Post book editor

The rush of new books coming across one’s desk over the summer is mind-boggling, but it’s always a marvelous task to read about the Irish and Irishness. The following are several noteworthy selections for vacation perusing.

The Killing of Major Denis Mahon: A Mystery of Old Ireland by Peter Duffy (HarperCollins, $25.95)

The assassination of Anglo-Irish landlord Maj. Denis Mahon at the height of the Famine was one of the most notable acts of vengeance in that turbulent era. His sensational murder, while driving his carriage through his property teeming with starving tenants, sparked international discussion on the Great Hunger. 

Journalist Peter Duffy, who has written for The New York Times and The Village Voice, has tackled this subject with aplomb and the energy that comes from a career of digging deeply for the facts behind a story. Anyone appreciating mysteries and uncovering deadly secrets will love how Duffy researches the intricacies of this amazing murder case and of its aftermath. 

The Faraday Girls by Monica McInerney (Random House, paperback, $13.95)

It’s always an almost-sinful pleasure to delve into anything written by Monica McInerney, whose delightful prose brings her rich characters to sparkling life. This particular tale deals with how the Faraday family confronts its secrets and, oh, what secrets there are. There’s a bit of travelog involved, as well, with touches of Tasmania, Australia and London thrown in for good measure. Of course, that’s because McInerney, now of Dublin, was born Down Under. 

Her lead personality, Maggie, must resolve issues brought to the fore by her grandfather, Leo, concerning the heroine’s mother and her fascinating aunts. McInerney artfully helps Maggie wend her way through a maze of dreams and confrontational ideas to discover her real self and the inner workings of the other female Faradays. 

A skilled narrator, author McInerney casually tosses out delightful phrases such as describing how holidaymakers "cling onto the earth by their fingertips, that a gust a wind could easily come and whip them away, carelessly." This sense of being and place is as much a character in The Faraday Girls as the women themselves. A glass of Pinot Gris goes well with Chapter 36. Or make it a flagon. 

Tipperary by Frank Delaney (Random House, $29.95)

Storyteller Frank Delaney relates a moving tale of Charles O’Brien, traveling healer who loves a younger women almost as much as his Co. Tipperary. By chance, O’Brien is called to the Paris deathbed of Oscar Wilde and meets Burke, a lovely English woman who comes calling on the Irish muse. Despite initially rejected in love, the gangly O’Brien becomes the overseer of Burke’s home, Tipperary Castle, and its painstaking restoration. Yet again, Burke scorns the poor fellow as the Irish civil war rages in the bloody background.

Moral: A beautiful young English bird may be appear to be great in the hand but it’s always hard to catch them in the bush. 

Ireland Now: Tales of Change from the Global Island by William Flanagan (University of Notre Dame Press; paperback, $23)

Writer William Flanagan tackles the enormous chore of attempting to decipher the new Ireland, showcasing how various levels of Irish society are coping with the Celtic Tiger and its economic fallout. He talks to farmers, country clergy, new immigrants and city folk to determine the path now taken by a country with roots still deep in Old Ways. 

Flanagan ably points out that the many nuances of today’s Ireland are not always obvious on the surface, going way beyond marketing phrases such as "globalization" and "high per capita GDP." 

Flanagan, a sociology professor at Coe College, meshes all these personal stories into a rich fabric. Any reader eager to know about modern Ireland might wish to use this as a study guide on how society changes...sometimes for the better, sometimes with a dark side.