Books set in or about Belfast

[Thechateau]

I'm going to be spending a lot of time in Belfast for work this summer. Can anyone recommend any novels or non fiction I could read?

If not on Belfast then in Northern Ireland more generally?

Have read Milkman and Say Nothing and loved both

I hear sirens in the street by Adrian McKintey. I’ve just started it, seems quite good.

Close to Home by Michael Magee was fantastic! Really resonated with me.

Oh. Trespasses is also worth a go :)

Night Swimmers by Roisin Maguire. Northern Ireland set during covid. It's a lovely book.

Christine McKenna's books about rural northern Ireland are really good. Start with The Misremembered Man.

I really enjoyed These Days by Lucy Caldwell, which tells the story of two sisters in the Belfast Blitz, something I knew far too little about, but was fascinating to read up about alongside.

The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne - Brian Moore. Set in the 50’s.
Time for Tea - Janet McNeill

The Paper Boy -Tony McAuley
The Bread Boy

The Ulster Museum has some lovely local books in their shop.

McKinty is very good. See also Derek Fee's Inspector Wilson series. I saw something advertised recently set in Belfast. Of course I can't remember the title but it's something like "Crossing Over" and by a female author.

Another one for Close to Home. Brilliant writing.

Milkman by Anna Burns.

This is wonderful, please keep them coming, I am making notes

Trespasses
These Days
Close to home

Definitely the Sean Duffy series from Adrian McKinty, they are excellent.

Eureka Street by Robert McLiam Wilson is also very good

Anyone that read 'Say Nothing' should read 'Voices From the Grave', by Ed Moloney. Very high level of influence there!

Thirst Trap by Gráinne O'Hare is very good

Divorcing Jack by Colin Bateman, for a bit of dark humour, and if you like that then his subsequent Dan Starkey books.

Fire starter by Jan Carson is good, and set at about this time of year (leading up to the Twelfth)

Joan Linguard’s Kevin and Sadie series is a classic adolescent series set in the “troubles” and her memoir Sisters by Rite is also great.

Seamus Mallon’s autobiography is super interesting while Seamus Heaney’s poetry is amazing and very accessible.

I was also going to recommend the Sean Duffy books by Adrian McKinty. I'm sure he said on twitter he was intending to go to Belfast this summer to do a walking tour of his books.

Trespasses by Louise Kennedy is great

The Sean Duffy series by Adrian McKintey are some of my all time favourites. Best read in order .
I'm delighted to see the love for them on here because no-one has usually heard of him!
They are loosely crime fiction set in Belfast during the troubles. Great sense of humour and educational for those unfamiliar.

I’m planning to read the raptures by Jan Carson this summer when I’m in Northern Ireland. I heard her read at a book festival recently. Her writing is influenced by the control the church can hold over people.. This scandal with Jeffrey Donaldson has really made me think about some of the more hardline Protestant churches there, how religion can be used to control people and the hypocrisy that can often be found in those closest to the pulpit. Or, as my granny used to say “ one hand on the Bible and one hand on their … “