March Book Club

Join us in the Irish Cultural Center Book Club. We’ll enjoy good craic and delve into Irish and Irish-American literature, with guided discussion in a welcoming, relaxed atmosphere. This event is open to all.

Our meeting will take place on Thursday, March 14 from 5:30–6:30 pm at the ICC. 

We are reading The Parish and the Hill by Mary Doyle Curran. Participants are encouraged to arrive a few minutes early to get settled, perhaps grab a drink, mix and mingle. You are welcome to stay after at the Trinity Pub to socialize with dinner or drinks. 

To Register
The Book Club is free to join. Please register ahead so we know how many people to expect. Register online >

The Parish and the HillAbout The Parish and the Hill
Told from the vantage point of a young woman who grows to maturity in a New England mill town in the 1920s, The Parish and the Hill portrays three generations of an Irish immigrant family in their urge to negotiate multiple identities. Mary O’Connor is the product of a family and a town divided by the conflicting values of the “shanty” and “lace-curtain” Irish. 

Originally published in 1948, The Parish and the Hill is now identified as one of the finest works of Irish American fiction, and one of the first to explore Irish life from a woman’s point of view. Brilliant and powerful on the themes of alienation, social class, and alcoholism, the novel offers complex and unforgettable portraits of the love between grandfather and granddaughter, mother and children, sister and brother. (text from Amazon)

Available from several vendors online or your favorite local book shop. Or, check your local library.
Amazon.com (new) >
Better Worlds Books (used) >

Books for Upcoming Meetings
April 11: Philadelphia, Here I Come by Brian Friel
May 9: Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
June 13: In the Woods by Tana French
July 11: We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange