Irish Stories

A dazzling Pocket Classics collection of thirty-three short stories from across two centuries, showcasing the remarkable breadth and depth of Irish literary talent

Ireland has a long and glorious literary heritage that has always found particularly vivid expression in the short story form. The selections in Irish Stories reflect both rural and urban settings and the wide variety of literary styles that Irish writers have excelled at, including humor, literary fiction, ghost stories, and crime fiction.

Here are early tales that draw on the vibrant folkloric traditions of the Emerald Isle, alongside such globally influential modernist titans as James Joyce and Samuel Beckett. The icons of a mid-twentieth-century golden age collected here include Elizabeth Bowen, Flann O’Brien, Frank O’Connor, Maeve Brennan, and Edna O’Brien, while a more recent literary flowering of the story form is amply represented by the works of Anne Enright, Colm Tóibín, Claire Keegan, Kevin Barry, Roddy Doyle, Sally Rooney, and many more. Irish Stories is an endlessly entertaining tribute to the imaginative riches of an extraordinary land.

Everyman's Library pursues the highest production standards, printing on acid-free cream-colored paper, with full-cloth cases with two-color foil stamping, decorative endpapers, silk ribbon markers, European-style half-round spines, and a full-color illustrated jacket.CONTENTS
Foreword by Christopher Morash
William Carleton (1794–1869), “Wildgoose Lodge” (1833)
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814–73), “The Fortunes of Sir Robert Ardagh” (1838)
Katharine Tynan (1859–1931), “A Descendant of Irish Earls” (1894)
Edith Somerville (1858–1949) and Martin Ross (1862–1915), “A Nineteenth-Century Miracle” (1903)
Lady Augusta Gregory (1852–1932), “The Priest That Was Called Mad” (1906)
James Joyce (1882–1941), “The Dead” (1914)
Padraic O Conaire (1882–1928), “Knitting” (‘An Chniotail) (1922)
Liam O’Flaherty (1897–1984), “The Sniper” (1923)
Frank O’Connor (1903–66), “Guests of the Nation” (1931)
Samuel Beckett (1906–89), “Ding-Dong” (1934)
Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973), “The Last Night in the Old Home” (1934)
Sean O Faolain (1900–91), “A Broken World” (1937)
Norah Hoult (1898–1984), “The Story of Father Peter” (1938)
Flann O’Brien (1911–66), “John Duffy’s Brother” (1940)
Maeve Brennan (1917–93), “The Barrel of Rumours” (1954)
James Plunkett (1920–2003), “Dublin Fusilier” (1955)
Mary Lavin (1912–96), “In a Café” (1960)
John McGahern (1934–2006), “Bank Holiday” (1985)
Mike McCormack (b. 1965), “The Terms” (1996)
Claire Keegan (b. 1968), “Dark Horses” (2006)
Anne Enright (b. 1962), “Green” (2008)
Edna O’Brien (1930–2024), “Send My Roots Rain” (2009)
Colm Tóibín (b. 1955), “The Empty Family” (2010)
Roddy Doyle (b. 1958), “Two Pints × 4” (2011, 2012, 2016, 2019)
Eilis Ni Dhuibhne (b. 1954), “A Literary Lunch” (2012)
John Connolly (b. 1968), “A Dream of Winter” (2015)
Kevin Barry (b. 1969), “The Apparitions” (2016)
Lucy Caldwell (b. 1981), “Here We Are” (2016)
Cathy Sweeney (b. 1970), “The Door” (2018)
Sally Rooney (b. 1991), “Colour and Light” (2016)
Eoin McNamee (b. 1961), “Sable” (2020)
Yan Ge (b. 1984), “How I Fell in Love with the Well-Documented Life of Alex Whelan” (2023)
Lucy Sweeney Byrne (b. 1989), “Echolocations” (2024)CHRISTOPHER MORASH is the Seamus Heaney Professor of Irish Writing at Trinity College, the University of Dublin. The author of numerous books on Irish literature and history, including his most recent, Dublin: A Writer’s City. Since 2019 he has chaired the judging panel for the International Dublin Literary Award, the world’s richest prize for a single work in English.