Belfast
A magnificent set of dentures still leaves little to smile about
After undergoing prolonged cosmetic dentistry, 50-year-old John Patrick Higgins reluctantly acknowledges that he’ll never be the stylish man about town of his dreams
A tale of forbidden love: Trespasses, by Louise Kennedy, reviewed
Kenneth Branagh’s Oscar-winning recent film Belfast chronicles the travails of a Protestant family amid sectarian conflict in 1969. Louise Kennedy’s…
The Belfast Blitz: These Days, by Lucy Caldwell, reviewed
Caught outside at the start of a raid in the Belfast Blitz as the incendiary bombs rain down, Audrey looks…
Troubles of the past: The Slowworm’s Song, by Andrew Miller, reviewed
Andrew Miller specialises in characters who are lost, often struggling to deal with the burden of failure. They don’t come…
Lonely voices: Dance Move, by Wendy Erskine, reviewed
‘The drawer beside Roberta’s bed contained remnants of other people’s fun’: so begins ‘Mathematics’, one of 11 stories in this…
Manipulative and sentimental but also affectionate: Belfast reviewed
After Artemis Fowl and Murder on the Orient Express you may have had concerns about Kenneth Branagh ever helming a…
Richard Needham takes a businesslike attitude to the Troubles
This memoir from Sir Richard Needham, 6th Earl of Kilmorey, businessman and former Northern Ireland minister, has a frank opening:…
Sad and beautiful: The Dear Departed, by Brian Moore, reviewed
Short story writers often find it irksome to be asked when the novel is coming out, as though their work…
Life and death in 1970s Belfast: For the Good Times, by David Keenan, reviewed
David Keenan’s debut novel, This is Memorial Device, about a small town in Lanarkshire and its post-punk scene, showed that…
The search for meaning
He’s not what you’d call prolific, Bernard MacLaverty. Midwinter Break is his fifth novel in 40 years, and his first…
The micro-businesses that give me hope for Belfast
At Stormont on Saturday, we observed a minute’s silence for the dead of Paris. Our conference group of Brits and…
Northern Ireland Opera’s Turandot will fill you with awe and revulsion
Chords as bright and sweet as pomegranate seeds burst and spill in Turandot, a splinter of bitterness at their centre.…
Behind the scenes at the Brighton bombing
Sadly, I can’t see it catching on, but one of the notable things about Jonathan Lee’s new novel is that…
What are modern museums really for?
Do we really need museums in the age of Wikipedia and Google? William Cook thinks we do but his children don’t agree
First novels: When romance develops from an old photograph
The intensely lyrical Ghost Moth is set in Belfast in 1969, as the Troubles begin and when Katherine, housewife and…
Warning: upspeak can wreck your career
Upspeak can damage your career prospects
