It was when I read Anne Enright’s Granta Book of Irish Stories (my primer for teaching) that I discovered Éilís Ní Dhuibhne and she knocked Elizabeth Bowen off my number one spot. I read Midwife to the Fairies to my Londoners in a Covent Garden classroom. They knew nothing about Irish fairies but they were gripped. The force of the story struck me anew when I read it aloud because every word hovered in the air, pitch-perfect. The effect was uncanny. I’ve been working my way through her backlist ever since. Apart from Midwife to the Fairies, I especially recommend The Dancers Dancing, The Inland Ice and The Shelter of Neighbours. Ní Dhuibhne has spoken of “poetic subsoil” in the work of Alice Munro and, like Munro, Ní Dhuibhne is a funny, original and brave chronicler of the lives of women. For me, Ní Dhuibhne has more poetic subsoil. Her gift for marrying folklore to contemporary narratives creates a hair-raising effect, opening a seam between worlds where the truth is around the corner and the reader is compelled to follow.
Other favourites: Elizabeth Bowen, Edna O'Brien, Mary Lavin and Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill
Martina Evans is a novelist and poet, currently shortlisted for the Irish Times Poetry Now award.
