The Granta Book of the Irish Short Story

Anne Enright has brought together a dazzling collection of Irish stories by authors born in the twentieth century – from Mary Lavin and Frank O'Connor to Claire Keegan and Kevin Barry. With a passionate introduction by Enright, The Granta Book of the Irish Short Story traces this great tradition through decades of social change and shows the pleasure Irish writers continue to take in the short-story form.

Deft and often devastating, these short stories dodge the rolling mythologies of Irish life to produce truths that are delightful and real. Includes Roddy Doyle, Elizabeth Bowen, Frank O’Connor, Seán Ó Faoláin, Edna O’Brien, Colm Tóibín, Clarie Keegan and William Trevor.

The road to the shore / Michael McLaverty --
The pram / Roddy Doyle --
An attack of hunger / Maeve Brennan --
Summer voices / John Banville --
Summer night / Elizabeth Bowen --
Music at Annahullion / Eugene McCabe --
Naming the names / Anne Devlin --
Shame / Keith Ridgway --
Memory and desire / Val Mulkerns --
The mad Lomasneys / Frank O'Connor --
Walking Away / Philip Ó Ceallaigh --
Villa Marta / Clare Boylan --
Lilacs / Mary Lavin --
Meles Vulgaris / Patrick Boyle --
The trout / Seán Ó Faoláin --
Night in Tunisia / Neil Jordan --
Sister Imelda / Edna O'Brien --
The key / John McGahern --
A priest in the family / Colm Tóibín --
The supremacy of grief / Hugo Hamilton --
The swing of things / Jennifer C Cornell --
Train Tracks / Aidan Mathews --
See the tree, how big it's grown / Kevin Barry --
Visit / Gerard Donovan --
Everything in this country must / Colum McCann --
Curfew / Sean O'Reilly --
Language, truth and lockjaw / Bernard MacLaverty --
Midwife to the fairies / Éilís Ní Dhuibhne --
Men and women / Clare Keegan --
Mothers were all the same / Joseph O'Connor --
The dressmaker's child / William Trevor