Any recommendations for Irish historical fiction?

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

I'm going to be touring Ireland next month and fancied loading the Kindle with some historical fiction to set the scene. I read Angela's Ashes not so long ago and found it rather bleak. Would rather avoid tales of nasty nuns. Is there such a thing as an un-bleak Irish historical novel?

Is this one any good?

If you like plays set in Ireland, I'd recommend Brian Friel's work.

I'm struggling to think of ones which aren't bleak. Roddy Doyle's A Star Called Henry may not be totally cheerful, well, the history isn't, but it's quite an entertaining yet serious novel set in Ireland when the whole country was still under British rule, including the Rising of 1916, partial independence and the civil war of the early 1920s. It's the first of a trilogy but the second one is hardly set in Ireland.

Doyle's Barrytown trilogy starting with The Commitments is not historical - it is set when it was written - but twenty odd years have gone by since then. In a more recent collection of short stories The Deportees he explores how Dublin has changed recently.

The Star Of The Sea by Joseph O'Connor. A while since i read it, but its very good. Set in Galways, I think.

It's still a bit bleak as it has to do with emigration and the Potato Famine, which is hardly laugh a minute stuff, but it's so well written and quite gripping. It's told from a male perspective and there is quite a bit of suspense, which is unusual. It's not like the Angela's Ashes style Irish misery-lit fiction, i.e. woman with 12 children dealing with a feckless, drunken husband in mud strewn hovel with disapproval of priest/cruel nuns.

All depressing I'm afraid!

Walter Macken did loads - the silent people, the sorching wind, which are complete classics. But set in the West in the famine period.

The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe - quite violent though!

For some female authors, I like Edna O'Brien and Claire Boylan.

Agree that Brian Friel's plays are very readable. Philadelphia Here I Come, Translations and Dancing at Lughnasa being the most well known.

I do like John McGahern as well - something about the slow measured incremental pace and detail of his writing that draws you completely in.

I would say Angela's Ashes is at the cheerful end of the scale of Irish literature, it can get a lot darker than that. I love Roddy Doyle, when he is not writing about domestic violence he is hilarious, The Van, The Commitments and The Snapper are all great.
Also, The Irish RM is quite funny if a bit colonial.
I would also recommend Brendan Behan, dark subjects along with a darker sense of humor.
That's all I've got off the top of my head.

Fools of Fortune by William Trevor, although tis bleak also!

J.G. Farrell - Troubles. Set in a run down hotel in the west of Ireland in 1921. A lot of Anglo Irish eccentrics in the midst of civil war. Some parts a little bleak, but mainly very entertaining and amusing.

The Story of Lucy Gault- by William Trevor.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I thought it might be a tall order to find an uplifting Irish historical novel. :) I've enjoyed Roddy Doyle's work in the past - more 'gritty' than 'bleak' I think. Might check out the Joseph O'Connor and J G Farrell. Like the sound of The Story of Lucy Gault.

Would I do any better if I went for some Irish crime fiction? Swap people grimly clinging onto life with those that are good and properly dead in mysterious circumstances? Is there an Irish equivalent of Inspector Rebus?

Oh! totally random one but the crime angle got me thinking.

Divorcing Jack is a crime/mystery comedy set in Belfast post end of troubles. It's hilarious - real belfast gallows humour. The author is Colin Bateman. Bit of a niche one.

Oh another lovely lovely book - and one that I adored in my late teens and early twenties is Anne Dunlop's trilogy - The Pineapple Tart, A Soft Touch and the Dolly Holiday. Oh, I love these books. The follow a family of 5 sisters through teen years in a small town in NI and then to uni in Dublin then into their twenties. They are touching and hilarious - and slightly unusal in that they are a protestant family and it covers their visits and interactions with people in the Rep of Ireland.

Also like Polly Devlin - the far side of the lough.

These are all NI focussed but I think we're funnier!

Thackeray's Barry Lyndon.

Very funny, not all in Ireland but very much history.

I can't bear Angela's Ashes type stuff though - grandparents' stories of life in Dublin in the 1920s were depressing enough and they had a ball in comparison.

Since half our trip will be in NI I shall check out Anne Dunlop. Never read Thackeray so that could be a winner. May have to resort to Tony Hawke's book about going round Ireland with a fridge by way of light relief

I second JG Farrell's Troubles. It's brilliant.

Colm Toibin is excellent - The Blackwater Lightship & The Heather Blazing both great - family dynamics in an irish setting really.

Oh Bran, I loved those books I read them when I was about 14.

Also a big yy for Roddy Doyle and Colin Batemans Divorcing Jack. I love the humour in these.

What about Maeve Binchey Circle of friends, It a nice gentle book, I think it paints a good picture of rural 1950's Ireland. Trying to think of more but my mind has gone blank, so might pop back later.

Sorry Op I'm not big on crime fiction. If you get a chance when in NI you should visit the lakes in Fermanagh shameless plug

William Trevor - Story of Lucy Gault.

Try John Banville writing as Benjamin Black. Historical crime fiction :)

bran you have transported me back to an English lesson in the 80s reading Across The Barricades!

Second anything by Colm Toibin but The Heather Blazing would fit the bill of historical better than his others.

The Secret Scripture - Sebastian Barry
Some James Joyce?

I read a Binchy novel once and I'm not a fan. 90% where nothing much happened followed by 10% where the story finally got going. Having heard Joyce on the radio recently and found it rather annoying, I think I'll pass on that :) Like the sound of Divorcing Jack...

Year of the French - Thomas Flanagan

Cashelmara, Susan Howatch