I didn’t plan it that way, but my reading in 2023 seems to have been dominated by Irish fiction. Firm favorites like Sebastian Barry and John Banville appeared, but what pleases me especially is how many new names featured in 2023. Books by Elaine Feeney, Megan Nolan, Claire Keegan, Sara Baume, and Louise Kennedy all showed up last year and I’m very glad they did.

There were few turkeys in my choices. That’s a good sign and shows I was choosing wisely. That hasn’t always been the case. But it makes it very hard to choose my Book of 2023, so much so that I’m forced to pick two. Old God’s Time by Sebastian Barry and After The Funeral by Tessa Hadley. Brilliant books by two of my favorite living writers.