MEMORY AND DESIRE

ISBN 978-0-9931443-1-8  / 218 pages / €12.95

This special selection of short stories from noted figure of Irish letters and Aosdána member, Val Mulkerns, was launched on 12 May 2016.  The stories, edited chronologically, start in 1916 with a tale based on the author’s own father, imprisoned following his participation in the battle of the Four Courts.

Other stories take us through hard times in Dublin of the nineteen-thirties and forties and into the changing Ireland of the sixties and seventies. The final, title story, ‘Memory and Desire’, is a quintessential eighties tale that author Colm Tóibín has described as: “one of the finest short stories that has been published in Ireland for many years”.

In more critical acclaim, Sebastian Barry describes her as “a masterly writer in the tradition of Seán Ó Faoláin” and writer Benedict Kiely noted, “her style is hard and perfect, and she has given us a considerable achievement to reckon with.”

Although, sadly, as with many contemporary Irish titles, Memory and Desire it is no longer available to buy off the actual shelves in bookshops around Ireland, it is available to order just like any international title. Just request that your local book seller order it through Ingrams or Gardners, and you will have it in 10 to 14 days.  For any other queries, please contact us at:  books@451editions.com