Aunts fictional and real matter more to us than they may know
In praise of our aunts and women who don’t hold the title, but who have always been there for us
Charles Dickens
More sex, please: Bridget Jones, Colin Firth and the astonishing rebranding of Jane Austen
Thirty years ago, one event made Austen more popular than almost any other contemporary or close successor
Read this and weep: Books that made writers cry
John Boyne, Edel Coffey, Ferdia Lennon, Sarah Gilmartin and a dozen other authors and critics on books that had a profound emotional effect on them
It’s a pity more of us don’t identify with Scrooge, the skinflint who was capable of change
If even Ebenezer Scrooge can change, perhaps there is hope for the rest of us and for our planet
Britain’s heritage under threat from vandals targeting landmark sites
Shrewsbury’s links with A Christmas Carol targeted in latest attack that is part of an ugly trend
Steve McQueen: ‘It was always Saoirse Ronan and her mother. So there was this bond. There’s this kinship’
Director’s film Blitz, starring the Irish actor, focuses on a tight family of three trying to keep heads aloft as the bombs fall in London in 1940
‘I was heart jealous of the French girl my age at the next table’: Irish writers’ most memorable meals
From chicken and chips in foggy Venice, to the simple beauty of a tomato and an egg
‘Overrated’ should be banished from any grown-up lexicon. Except when I use it
Iconoclastic critics are – to turn their own words against them – short on emotional resonance, boring as sin and not all that compelling
In a Word...Beginning
The best opening lines have poise, excite immediate attention or simply impress
20 great audiobooks to get stuck into this summer, from recent award-winners to all-time classics
Whether you’re crammed on a bus on the way to work or lounging with a cocktail by the pool, audiobooks are a perfect way to transport you to another place
A mortgage-free woman in a rotting wedding dress? Absolute legend
Steven Knight’s new BBC version of Great Expectations is like a Burt Bacharach song covered by a good metal band
Great Expectations review: Sweary, scary Dickens sounds interesting until you’re forced to sit through it
Television: Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight lays the melodrama on with a trowel in this take on Dickens, starring Olivia Colman as Miss Havisham
Stephen King’s prolific writing will leave future generations grateful
Donald Clarke: Problem is not with the writer but with the smallness of the critics’ minds
Jack Higgins, the ‘useless’ Belfast schoolboy who went on to write The Eagle Has Landed, dies at 92
The adventure novelist sold 250 million books. A number of his works have Irish themes
JP McMahon’s roast stuffed goose: simplicity itself to cook
‘Michaelmas goose’, stuffed with potatoes, signified prosperity for the year ahead
From annuals to zeds: Your ultimate A-Z guide to Christmas
Is it Chris Kringle? Or Kris Kindle? Or just plain old Secret Santa?
Naoise Dolan: Putting away my phone helped me tackle my insomnia
This year my sleep issues got so bad that I snapped and did something about them
‘A very nice baby with beautiful fair skin ... It was like they were selling a doll’
Sheila Shelton was adopted by a couple in the US from a Tipperary mother and baby home
Patrick Freyne’s favourite art: Things that should be trash but are actually brilliant
Z Nation, The Monkees, Buffy and 2000AD are fine examples of brilliance by stealth
Why we celebrate Christmas on the 25th, eat mince pies and put up trees
Pricewatch’s 12 fun facts of Christmas explores the origins of our modern traditions
Faith groups celebrate missed festivals at Mansion House in Dublin
Commemoration of Rohatsu 2020, Buddhist Day of Enlightenment, starts event series
Rest assured: Christmas hotel deals, plus new year offers and experiences
Whether for sleepovers or special and surprising gifts, Ireland’s hotels have you covered
First commercially printed Christmas card to be auctioned at Christie’s
177-year-old card went on sale the same year Dickens’s A Christmas Carol was published
Eighteen Irish panto productions for all the family to watch this season
Pantomimes and family shows have gone online – or even switched to a drive-in format
Is the book always better than the film? Spoiler: it’s not
The French Connection won best picture but the non-fiction novel is largely forgotten
Roddy Doyle: ‘My unpublished first novel was sh*te’
He knew this because, when he started writing The Commitments, he knew it was good
Spanish novelist Carlos Ruiz Zafon dies aged 55
Zafon wrote The Shadow of the Wind, the most read Spanish novel after Don Quixote
Duke of Devonshire’s striking Lismore villa for €495k
This pretty Georgian home sits in the centre of a charming Co Waterford heritage town
People giving out about Karens need to stop being such Karens
The only true victims of the meme are gentle souls whose name is being taken in vain
What the Dickens: First edition find in Kildare country house sale
Contents sale of New Park House features many equine-themed works
Crosswords & Puzzles
Crosswords & puzzles to keep you challenged and entertained
Common Ground
How does a post-Brexit world shape the identity and relationship of these islands
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