If You Love Sally Rooney, Read These Other Irish Women Writers

Employing a stream-of-consciousness narration style, in the vein of the Dublin-born James Joyce—one of the 20th century's most influential writers—McBride's debut has become recognized as an instant classic in Irish literature.

Winner of the 2013 Goldsmith Prize, the story follows an unnamed young woman's relationship with her brother, who has had a brain tumor since childhood. 

The narration is often uncomfortable, providing little distance from the speaker's complex thoughts and feelings, as she reflects on family violence, trauma, and personal struggle.

Award-winning novelist Elizabeth McCracken describes the book as "entirely emotionally raw and at the same time technically astounding," launching what is ramping into an astounding literary reputation. 

One of the most prolific Irish writers, O'Brien's debut, The Country Girls, remains one of her most celebrated works. It marked the beginning of a tradition of spotlighting the experiences of young Irish women, navigating their sexualities against the background of the conservative catholic church. 

A lesser-known work, but no less evocative than her recognized oeuvre, A Pagan Place follows a young woman as she recounts her childhood on the coast of Ireland, before she joined a religious community in Belgium.

She reflects on the country—the rolling hills and lush forests that filled her youth—and the disastrous event that prompted a return to it.

Like many other novels on this list, Exciting Times is the new-on-the-scene, Naoise Dolan's debut. It gained popularity through the publication of an excerpt in The Stinging Fly, a literary magazine that promotes Irish writers, by none other than Sally Rooney. 

Ava moves to Ireland from Hong Kong in search of happiness, but winds up teaching spoiled children English. So, when Ava meets Julian, a charming British banker, she welcomes the company and the ensuing sexual relationship.

But when Julian moves back to London, and Ava becomes entangled with Edith, a Hong Kong-born lawyer, she soon finds herself in a complicated love triangle. 

The 2017 winner of the Booker Prize, for The Gathering—a moving depiction of a large Irish family—Enright has solidified her position as one of Ireland's finest writers. Like Rooney, she is known for exploring complicated human relationships, particularly the most difficult of them all—those with family.

The Actress centers on two women: Irish theater legend Katherine O'Dell and Norah, her daughter, who often finds herself in the shadow of her mother's stardom.

But when Katherine commits a disastrous crime, fueled by the bottle and a fear of aging, Norah will be the one in the spotlight for a change, grappling with not only her mom's legacy but her own coming-of-age. 

Trespasses, Kennedy's first novel and an instant success, debuted only three years ago in 2022, after she ended a career of almost 30 years as a chef. Shortlisted for the 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction, a television adaptation has since begun filming, starring Gillian Anderson. 

Set during the Troubles—a period of violent conflict in Northern Ireland spanning over three decades—the story follows a young Catholic woman's relationship with a Protestant man.

Against her better judgment, Cushla begins an affair with Michael, who is older and married, and known for defending IRA members. But when a student at the school she teaches is brutally beaten, Cushla must decide where her allegiances lie. 

MacMahon is a former award-winning radio and television journalist, but has since made the switch to writing, with numerous novels and short stories. Her first novel, This Is How It Ends, was released in 2011 to great acclaim and has been translated into over twenty languages.

MacMahon's successive novel, The Long, Hot Summer, follows the Irish MacEntee family, with nine members from three generations. Each of them has a clear sense of who they are, but when a series of unfortunate events unfolds over a long summer, they will be left reeling and reevaluating.

Although Flattery studied film and theatre in college, when she turned to writing in 2019 with her critically acclaimed short story collection, Show Them a Good Time, it seemed she had found her medium.

But, yet again, she has shown that she is not a one-trick pony and is, in fact, a genre-defying talent with her debut novel, Nothing Special. 

Set in New York during the 1960s, the story follows a seventeen-year-old girl named Mae, who lives in a dismal apartment with her booze-driven mother and occasional boyfriend, Mikey.

But when she is hired as a typist for the up-and-coming artist Andy Warhol, it seems that her own life is finally taking off.

A New York Times bestseller and Edgar Award winner, In the Woods is a master class in the police procedural. The debut not only launched Tana French's career but solidified her position as "the most important crime novelist to emerge in the past 10 years" (The Washington Post). 

As evening approaches in a small Dublin suburb in 1984, mothers call out into the streets for their children to return home. But three kids have gone missing in the summer heat.

When the police arrive in the woods, only one is found, gripping a tree, in bloody sneakers, with no memory of what happened after nightfall. 

A unique blend of historical psychological fiction, Milkman's debut in 2018 took the literary world by storm. Claiming not only the Booker Prize, but the hearts of many who lived during the Troubles, the period in which the novel is set. 

The story follows middle sister, who is constantly surveilled and scrutinized by the men and the larger community around her. The milkman is particularly intent on pursuing middle sister and continues to follow her, despite her pleas for him to leave her alone.

In a totalitarian regime, where anything can be misconstrued, middle sister attempts to avoid the violent consequences of inaction. 

Conlon-McKenna began as a children's author, best known for her historical children's book, Under the Hawthorn Tree, set during the Famine era. The Magdalen marked a shift for Conlon-McKenna into adult writing, as she wanted to write a story about the infamous Magdalene Laundries, inspired by her own adoption story. 

Set in 1950s Ireland, a young girl named Esther Doyle becomes pregnant and is abandoned by her lover. Her family sends her to the Holy Saints Convent in Dublin, where she meets other fallen women and is forced to work in the Magdalen laundry.

Made to undergo extensive manual labor and suffer under the abuse of nuns, Esther finds community among the other women and silently plots her life beyond the isolated walls. 

Hailed as "a massive talent" by Anthony Doerr, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of All the Light We Cannot See, Hughes navigates a young woman's struggle to make a name for herself through the dazzling cities of Dublin, London, and New York.

After growing up with her job-focused parents, Gael is determined to be different. But when Gael's father walks out on her family during the 2008 economic crisis, and she watches her mother fall to pieces, she decides to start her new life in the clubs of London and Manhattan, sooner rather than later. 

Lane, though originally from Ireland, attended school in Scotland, lived in Paris, and has since made New York her home, where she teaches writing. That being said, Lane returns to her roots in Black Lake, where an Irish family is forced to sell their home due to financial issues.

The Campbells have cherished living at Dulough, a home that has been in their family for generations, but are forced to convert it into a museum and move into a small cottage when the bills pile up.

When a tragic accident threatens to destroy the already waning ties that hold the family together, they must face surfacing secrets head-on and rely on one another like never before.