Chapter 1: What summer reads are recommended for this month?
Now, if you're looking for some decent summer reading in the sunshine, you've come to the right place because the librarians are here. Tracey McEnany, Executive Librarian with Waterford Libraries and Doreena Malloy of Mayo County Libraries. Good morning to you both. Thanks a million for coming in. Looking very summery. Doreena.
Rituals by Danielle McLaughlin, a Cork-based public servant who has her ordered life upended.
Yes, indeed. And, you know, if I was describing this to someone, I'd say it's a small book, but gosh, it's only small physically. It's a massive book. There's so much in it. It's amazing. I absolutely adored it. Danielle McLaughlin wrote a collection of short stories 10 years ago. called Dinosaurs on Other Planets.
And I've pretty much been recommending it ever since, even to people who say, oh, I don't like short stories because it's a fabulous collection. It's well worth picking up.
Chapter 2: What is the story behind 'Rituals' by Danielle McLaughlin?
So Rituals is the story of Joan. She's in her... Mid-50s and she lives alone. Yes, she's a public servant. She's on a kind of an unexpected career break and that takes a while to unfold. We're not sure what happened there. All her tins in the kitchen press face the same way. She has a thing about the boat at night, checking it on and all the rest of it.
And she also has a ritual when she comes in the door, she does something. And when she's leaving the house, she has to do the same thing. And it's very compulsive. It's an amazing look into an obsessive head. I think we're all aware of OCD, but this is this is a really up close look, for example.
So she takes in a student, basically, and this is really unexpected because how is this woman going to cope?
with a lad a young lad put the tins in the wrong way exactly which of course he does but she just straightens all that out she can deal with that but there's one particular night where she realises he isn't home and she has left the boat off before going to bed but she is up and down that stairs for about two full pages and we don't know how many hours and it's just it's unbelievable it's just gripping you can't you know I couldn't put it down
Okay.
So Jermid is great, her lodger, but he forces her to look at life a little bit differently. And she starts to look at life a little bit differently, but I'm not sure how far she gets.
All right. OK, that's Rituals by Danielle McLachlan. And Tracy, a crime novel about three sisters written by a well-known journalist, Jen Bray?
Absolutely loved this book. We cannot keep it on our bookshelves. It's set in Dunmore East. It's a crime novel about three sisters. Plenty of secrets, lies, twists. A sister disappears into the night. And the following morning, a body is found at the nearby cove. This book became between me and my sleep. I just couldn't stop reading it. And everybody who picks it up in the library loves it.
Brilliant. Fantastic. And if you can't get it in your library because of the queues and the waiting list, do buy it at your local bookshop. Anyway, it's brilliant. Susanna, Lucy and Tara are the sisters and they don't really get on due to guilt. Tara desiring Susanna's husband.
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Chapter 3: What themes are explored in 'The Lies Between Us' by Jen Bray?
And he thinks, oh, the big day. Now, isn't that the perfect time to execute it? So it's just filled with kind of dread. And yeah, you start holding your breath. You know JFK isn't killed in Ireland. I mean, come on. But you're not sure what's going to happen next. So only after finishing it did I discover that the writer Neil Tully is from Mayo.
So, I mean, we're flying a flag for another great writer. It's a debut. It's a debut novel. It's another gorgeous cover with the painting on the cover. I loved it.
OK, The Visit by Neil Tully. Now, Tracey, your next one. The book is Your Every Move. The author is Sam Blake, a recent visitor to Tremor Library.
She was a recent visitor to Tremor Library. If you get the chance to hear Sam at an event, go to that event. She is absolutely brilliant for the chat and very interesting. Your Every Move, it was published in January 2026. Super read. It's about Rosie Kinsella. She's Irish. She's like one of the characters out of Selling Sunset. She looks like she has it all, but she also has a stalker.
Now, who is the stalker? Because there's lots of potential stalkers in this book. So we really will keep you guessing until the end. And She's built up a following on Instagram for selling houses in France and now she's working in London for Sterling's. And Sterling's, there's a bit of dodgy goings on in Sterling Auctioneer Company. Tour through this book and you will enjoy it.
It's a really easy read and perfect to throw into the suitcase.
OK, Doreena, you were talking about books and their covers and don't judge a book by the cover. You're making an exception with The Secret Lives of Murderers' Wives by Elizabeth Arnott. I love the title.
I know it was the title and the cover, I have to admit, that made me pick it up. So it's a gorgeous poolside 1960s sun loungers and just that kind of slightly faded, washed out look. You know, a madman fan would just gravitate towards it. Absolutely.
And so it's a really unusual story because you have all the glamour and the glitz in California and the weather, the hot summer and the pool parties. And then you have these three women, really different women, Beverly, Margot and Elsie and their friends and their friends for a really unusual reason. They were all married to serial killers.
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Chapter 4: How does 'The Wrath' by Martina Murphy stand out in its series?
Tracy, kids books.
Small Magics by Alex Dunn. This is an absolutely fantastic book. It's for eight to 12 year olds. Fans of Harry Potter will love this book. It's laugh out loud moments, great story, brilliant, magical adventure, saving the world type.
It's a book about Molly Flynn, who is going to a new foster home run by Priya and Pat, who live above an antique shop with two other foster children, Wren aged eight and Lorcan aged 14.
Molly is 12 at the start of the book this place and these people are not what they seem they've all got magical abilities and so does Molly she's actually picked to go there she just doesn't know it yet but she will find out what magic she has and just it's just it was a fantastic book and if you if your child does like Harry Potter or you're looking for an alternative to Harry Potter take a look at discoverkidsbooks.ie because that's a great site for like if you're looking for books like Harry Potter
they would recommend the Percy Jackson series or the Derek Landy, I love Derek Landy, but this one, Small Magic, Alex Dunn, brilliant.
And Doreena, anything for the kids? Oh, we actually do have something really nice for the kids at the moment called the Little Library Bags. They're back again, funded by the Department of Children, Disability and Equality. They're available for every child starting school this year. So every child who goes into the library will get a bag with two lovely storybooks.
The storybooks are about starting school, they're maybe about the big emotions that go with that, making friends, different themes, different stories. Absolutely lovely. And a little packet of information for the parents. How to talk about it, what to talk about, what to do, little practice runs. Do you know, we're getting parents coming in going, yeah, no, this is my fourth, I'm fine.
And that's lovely, but... If it's your first child going to school or, do you know, some children just need a little bit more talking to or a little bit more help. And the librarian makes a big fuss of them, doesn't it?
Absolutely, absolutely. OK, Doreena Malloy and Tracey McEnany are librarians. Thank you so much for joining us again.
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