Book reviews in brief: Moral Formations, A Fool's Kabbalah, Motherland
Moral Formations: Discipline and Religion in the Irish Army, 1922-32 by Daniel Ayiotis (Eastwood Books, €20)
Replacing the Irish Republican Army that had fought the War of Independence with a 'National Army' that would defend the nascent Irish Free State encumbered the first government as it confronted the threat and then the reality of the Civil War. Ayiotis, who is director of the Military Archives, draws extensively from the archives, and other sources, to show how the Department of Defence and Army GHQ created a command structure and codes of discipline, while Catholic chaplains demanded chapels in every barracks for Masses, retreats and sodalities, and the Medical Corps sought to ensure sanitation and hygiene while fighting 'the twin vices of drink and venereal disease'.
Ray Burke
A Fool's Kabbalah by Steve Stern (Melville House, £16.99)
A Fool's Kabbalah unfolds as a dual narrative set against the wreckage of postwar Europe, where wit becomes not only a refuge but a form of resistance. With precision and dark lyricism, Stern crafts a meditation on survival, grief, memory, and the strange absurdity of history. Gershom Scholem, a renowned scholar of Jewish mysticism, sets out to salvage Jewish texts destroyed by the Nazis, while Menke, a shtetl trickster, faces a very different fate. The novel moves between biting irony and aching sorrow, its language crackling with echoes of Kafka and Beckett. Stern's prose is elegant and richly imaginative, balancing pathos with philosophical insight. He doesn't offer easy solace – only a raw, unflinching reckoning with history's weight. A beautifully crafted novel of intelligence, compassion, and surprising moral grace.
Adam Wyeth
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Motherland: A Journey through 500,000 Years of African Culture and Identity by Luke Pepera (W&N, £22)
Pepera has set himself an ambitious task in journeying through the history of a people that 'extend[s] all the way back to the beginning of our species'. 'Journey' is the appropriate word, as the author focuses on sharing the essence rather than penning a comprehensive history which, he muses, would take several lifetimes given the 'continent's vastness and the sheer immensity of varied peoples who have lived there'. In order to do so, Pepera reaches beyond the lens of colonialism and the Transatlantic Slave Trade - which occupy a culturally important but rather brief part of the continent's history - focusing rather on topics ranging from ancestral veneration to matriarchal societies, oral storytelling and its influence on modern-day rap music, and how the dead live on in African societies. An informative, enlightening read.
Brigid O'Dea
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Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
‘I'm not even a bit stressed,' Honor goes, ‘I haven't done a focking tap for these exams'
Sorcha thinks we should maybe check on Honor and there's an air of definite excitement in her voice when she says it? Yeah, no, it's the night before the stort of the Leaving Cert and my wife is absolutely determined that this should be one of those mother-daughter moments. She goes, 'The Leaving Cert puts – oh my God – so much pressure on young people. But it's not the be-all and end-all. I read an orticle online about all the famous people who failed the Leaving Cert.' I'm there, ' I failed the Leaving Cert – in fairness to me.' She's like, 'I'm talking about people who went on to actually achieve things?' READ MORE And I'm there, 'Yeah, no, thanks for that, Sorcha.' 'I just remember that – oh my God – my Mom had this amazing, amazing talk with me the night before I storted mine ? She just said, you know, the importance of exams is, like, totally overblown and that the Leaving Cert shouldn't define you for the rest of your life.' 'That's easy for you to say. Didn't you get, like, maximum points?' 'Well, not quite maximum points? I got, like, a B in Honours English, remember?' How could I forget? Her old man spent years appealing it. I think the case was still trundling through the courts when she was pregnant with Honor. 'Come on,' she goes, 'let's go and talk to her,' and I follow her up the stairs to Honor's room. Sorcha knocks and she's like, 'Honor, dorling?' then she pushes the door and looks around it like she's sticking her head in a lion's mouth. Honor isn't studying. That's the first thing I notice. She's sorting through her wardrobe and taking photographs of herself in various outfits with one hand on her hip and her cheeks sucked in. Sorcha goes, 'We're sorry to bother you, Honor. We were just wondering how the study was going?' I don't know where she's getting this we from? Honor's like, 'It's going great – as you can probably see.' 'Well,' Sorcha goes, 'we just wanted to say that, even though it may seem like it now, the Leaving Certificate is not the be-all and end-all.' I'm there, 'I'm living proof of that, Honor.' But Sorcha's like, 'Why don't you leave the talking to me, Ross? What we're trying to say, Honor – and I'm echoing my own mother's words here – is that it doesn't define you as, like, a person ?' Honor's there, 'Why do I buy so many clothes in taupe? It looks so focking meh on me.' Sorcha goes, 'The important thing – as my mom famously said – is that you turn out a happy, well-adjusted girl with a fully functioning moral compass.' Honor's like, 'Does this top make my face look washed out? You can tell me.' [ Honor goes, 'I'm editing the school yearbook photographs of anyone who pissed me off' Opens in new window ] 'What I'm saying,' Sorcha goes, 'is that our results-focused secondary education system sometimes forgets that schools have a role to play in preparing young people for life and not just exams.' 'I hate all my focking clothes.' 'I was just thinking back to my own Leaving Cert – wasn't I, Ross? At the time, I thought it was the most important thing in the world. But if you were to ask me what did I get in, say, Maths or History now, I'd have to actually rack my brains.' 'Didn't you get As in everything?' Honor goes. I'm like, 'Except English – and her old man spent eight years in the courts trying get her B upgraded.' Honor gives her one of her crocodile smiles and goes, 'So much for results not being important. Anyway, for your information, I'm not even a bit stressed?' I'm like, 'Oh, that's good – isn't it, Sorcha?' And Sorcha's there, 'Er, yeah – I suppose it is.' 'As a matter of fact,' Honor goes, 'I haven't done a focking tap for these exams.' And I'm like, 'I'm going to say fair focks to you, Honor. I think I speak for both of us when I say you've put our minds at ease. Come on, Sorcha, let's leave her to it.' But Sorcha's mind isn't at ease? Outside on the landing, she goes, 'What do you think she meant when she said she hasn't done a tap?' I'm there, 'Excuse me?' 'Like, did she mean it in the same way that I used to say it? Look, I'm not saying I was a secret studier – which is what all the girls used to say about me – but I was, like, naturally bright and I had an amazing, amazing memory.' 'Again, fair focks.' [ Honor is staring at Brett like he's an ATM and she's sitting in a JCB, trying to work the levers Opens in new window ] 'Or was she saying that she hasn't done a tap in the same way that – no offence, Ross – you didn't do a tap, as in, like, literally?' 'What does it matter? The important thing is that she's a happy girl with a fully functioning whatever-you-said.' 'Yes, Ross – but within reason.' 'Within reason?' 'I mean, it's also important that she gets into a good college. And into a degree course that's, like, high points.' 'But I thought you said–' 'Never mind what I said. What the fock is she doing in there?' 'I think she was questioning some of her 2024 wardrobe choices.' She goes, 'Did she even have a book open?' and before I can answer no, she bursts into Honor's room again, with no knock this time, and she's like, 'Why aren't you studying?' Honor goes, 'Excuse me?' Sorcha's there, 'You have an exam tomorrow! Where are your books? Where are your cog notes?' [ 'That picture The Last Supper is weird. They're all sitting on the same side of the table' Opens in new window ] Honor's like, 'I thought you said the Leaving Cert doesn't matter.' Sorcha goes, 'I didn't mean it literally doesn't matter. Oh my God, what happens in the next fortnight is going to shape the rest of your life, Honor! What are you going to do if you don't get into college? Stort an OnlyFans account? Live on the streets? Become a ketamine addict?' Honor looks her in the eye and goes, 'I have to leave the exam an hour early tomorrow. I have, like, a nails appointment?' Sorcha ends up totally flipping out and I have to put my orm around her shoulder and escort her out of there like my old dear being helped out of the prosecco tent at Bloom. She's like, 'You might be fine with having a daughter who fails her Leaving Cert, Ross, but I am not.'
Irish Times
6 hours ago
- Irish Times
Changing surnames after marriage: ‘If it's good enough for Amal Clooney, it's good enough for me'
Timothy Harnedy, a data engineer, didn't have to think twice about changing his surname to that of his wife Deirdre's after getting married in 2014. The decision was 'quick and easy', he says, as it was important to him that they had a shared family name and important to his wife that she kept her name. Harnedy, from Cork, is just one of many readers who wrote to The Irish Times to share their opinions on women changing their names after marriage following a recent column by Áine Kenny , who bemoaned what she considers the 'normalisation of symbolic control' in heterosexual relationships. Harnedy explained how, in the internet age, he realised his name was not a unique identifier. So the 'simple solution' to adopt his wife's surname made them both happy. Some people close to him continue to struggle with their decision, Harnedy says, and they still receive post on occasion addressed to Mr and Mrs with his birth surname. READ MORE It is thought that women have been changing their surnames to their husband's upon marriage since as far back as the 15th century. A 2023 study conducted by the US-based Pew Research Centre found that 79 per cent of women took their husband's last name, 14 per cent kept their own last name and 5 per cent went for a double-barrelled option. Small studies show that among LGBTQ married couples, the majority of individuals opt to keep their own last name, followed by double-barrelled names. Catherine Crichton, who lives in Dublin, chose to change her surname after getting married. 'I thought feminism was about a woman's right and freedom to make her own decisions in life? That must include what name she wishes to be known by after marriage,' Crichton says. Catherine Crichton in Glasnevin, Dublin. Crichton chose to change her surname after getting married. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill In her opinion, taking a new surname is an 'equally valid decision as keeping her previous one', pointing out that in many cases the 'original' name will have come 'from the woman's father'. 'Every woman's decision and the reasons behind it should be respected, and not criticised by other women,' Crichton says. 'If it's good enough for world renowned human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, it's good enough for me.' Amal Clooney changed her surname from Alamuddin when she married the actor George Clooney in 2014. When Liam Garvey and his wife Áine Halpin got married 25 years ago, she said 'I suppose I'll change to Garvey', he recalls, to which he replied: 'Why on Earth would you do that?' 'Mrs Garvey was my mother; Áine Garvey was my sister; Áine Halpin was the woman I fell in love with and wanted to spend the rest of my life with,' he says. Garvey is occasionally assumed to be 'Mr Halpin' while his wife is sometimes thought to be 'Mrs Garvey'. 'Having a single family name is practical, but it does not have to be the husband's,' he says. Garvey and many other readers suggested adopting double-barrelled surnames as an option, pointing to Spain where children are often given both their mother and father's last names. Traditionally, the father's surname was first followed by the mother's, but since 1999 Spanish law has allowed parents to choose the order of their children's names. Academic Dr Deirdre Foley says that as a historian of women and gender in Ireland, changing surnames is a 'constant frustration' as women are 'harder to trace in archives and can erase their personal identity'. Referring to one well-known activist couple from Irish history, Dr Foley says: 'I have long admired how Hanna and Francis Sheehy-Skeffington chose to double-barrel their name, but they were certainly lucky that the names flowed well together.' Dr Foley acknowledges how some women may change their last name following family trauma or estrangement, but says the tradition is a 'hetero-patriarchal norm' and 'a huge inconvenience for women who do make the switch'. Dr Foley considers this issue as one that women 'can opt out of', unlike other 'greater inequalities such as rape culture, unequal pay, maternity leave and the staggering cost of childcare'. Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington with her husband Francis Growing up in Tipperary, Nuala Woulfe says she was 'never too fond' of her first name but felt her surname was 'more interesting' and 'part of her identity'. For that reason, after getting married, she chose to keep her maiden name. 'I would have seen losing my surname as a blow,' Woulfe says. 'Keeping my maiden name has been a way to reconnect with my younger self, I haven't disappeared into my relationship nor do I belong to my husband. I think keeping your name makes a relationship more interesting.' Woulfe adds that should any of her three daughters choose to take their husbands' surnames, that would be fine by her. 'Women should do what they want, it's nobody's business but their own,' she says. Dave Barry, who lives in London, says he and his wife Zara Qadir have had 'zero issues' since his wife chose to keep her maiden name after they married 13 years ago. However, some family and friends continue to refer to his wife using his surname on Christmas cards and wedding invitations, despite being corrected, he says. Barry believes this behaviour 'stems from an underlying, insidious belief that a woman retaining her identity after marriage is somehow incorrect, or that in using her maiden name, she has somehow absent-mindedly forgotten her new name'. In the past he has been asked: 'How will people know you are married?' Barry feels the obvious response is: 'How is that anyone's business but ours?' [ The rise of the wedding content creator: 'I didn't want to spend so much money on a two-hour video that I'm never going to watch' Opens in new window ] Today, some women may choose to take their husband's surname for many different reasons. Perhaps they value having one 'family unit' name; they may be estranged from their birth family; they may prefer their husband's surname; or they may have fears about travelling with their children with different last names. One reader, who wishes to remain anonymous, recalls being stopped at passport control while travelling with her child and asked how she was related to her son. 'It was unnerving, you're thinking how do I prove it's my child,' she says. Once she showed his birth certificate, the problem was resolved. She always carries the birth certificate with her while travelling now, although she has not been stopped since. When getting married, she didn't change her name, explaining it would have felt 'weird' to do so. 'The tradition perpetuates the notion that a married man is the head of the household,' she says. In this day and age, she feels it is lazy to assume parents and children will have the same surname with so many examples of married women who keep their birth name; unmarried parents; same-sex parents and divorced or remarried parents. 'I understand passport officers need to be careful but there's no excuse for anyone else to presume,' she says.
Irish Times
6 hours ago
- Irish Times
How to keep your garden blooming all summer long
Glittering with beauty and laden with promise, the garden in early June is like a table sumptuously set for a glamorous dinner party, repaying all the hours of hard work behind the scenes. If you, for example, pruned and fed your roses to textbook perfection at the beginning of the year, the reward right now is their bounteous, beautiful, scented blooms. Likewise, if you forced yourself reluctantly outdoors to plant seed potatoes back in the damp, icy months of spring, then these plants should already be forming tasty tubers deep beneath the soil. Similarly, if you got young sweet pea plants into the ground back in late March to early April, then they'll be readying themselves to throw out their first delicate, perfumed blooms. It's a similar story for all those tender plants and baby seedlings that we gardeners have coddled through frosty nights and studiously protected from slug damage. Ditto for the summer-flowering bulbs and hardy biennials planted in the muck and mist of last autumn, including alliums, Dutch irises, sweet William, and Canterbury bells now coming into bloom. And ditto for all those summer-flowering herbaceous perennials laboriously lifted and divided what feels like so many moons ago, now starting to lustily flower their hearts out. Summer-flowering bulbs and hardy biennials planted last autumn are readying themselves to throw out their first delicate, perfumed blooms, including alliums (pictured), Dutch irises and sweet William. Photograph: Mint Images/Getty What comes next, however, is the challenge of keeping this very beautiful show on the road. Try to make it a routine, for example, to deadhead faded flowers daily, a simple task that prevents flowering plants from switching their energies to seed production rather than blooming. Likewise, don't presume that rainy weather will be enough to keep summer pots and container-grown plants sufficiently irrigated, especially as their leafy canopy increases over the coming weeks, preventing enough water from reaching their thirsty root systems. Instead, check them every day, sticking your index finger at least 5cm into the compost to accurately gauge if it's sufficiently damp. READ MORE Check the compost's weight too. If it feels light, then there's a risk that the compost is only surface-damp – bad news for plants' probing root systems. If in doubt, fill a wheelbarrow with water, plunge the pot up to its waist, and leave to soak for several hours. This same technique is also a great way to deep-feed plants with a liquid solution of seaweed, a brilliant natural health tonic that helps to boost plant vigour, floriferousness and productivity. The latter is also very effective applied as a foliar feed every 10-14 days throughout the summer, using a watering can or spray. Ireland's variable summer weather poses challenges. It's at this time of year, for example, that many fast-growing herbaceous plants become vulnerable to wind damage The same goes for homemade 'nettle tea' and 'comfrey tea', both of which are rich in beneficial plant nutrients. Just bung plenty of their soft, young leaves into a lidded container, cover with water and leave to stew for several weeks. The resulting foul-smelling liquid will need to be strained and diluted to the colour of weak tea before being applied as a foliar feed, making sure to wear protective clothing to prevent yourself from smelling like a medieval cesspit if you accidentally get it on your skin. All these liquid feeds can also be used to encourage hungry, early-summer flower perennials such as oriental poppy, lupin, geranium, geum, delphinium and astrantia to produce a second flush of flowers. Just cut the plants back hard once they go over, before generously watering and then liquid feeding them. Ireland's variable summer weather also poses challenges. It's at this time of year, for example, that many fast-growing herbaceous plants become vulnerable to wind damage. Likely victims include the tall, brittle flowers of delphiniums and lupins, which can snap in a summer gale if not given sufficient support in the shape of cunningly concealed stakes or purpose-made plant hoops. [ Five life lessons my garden taught me: Nature often has a quiet but not unkind laugh at our expense Opens in new window ] Fast-growing climbers such as clematis, honeysuckle, morning glory and sweet pea can also quickly collapse under their own weight, unless carefully trained up sturdy vertical supports. The same goes for climbing French beans, sugar snap and mangetout peas. Similarly, young courgette plants, not yet fully used to the rigours of an Irish summer, can get tattered and torn unless given a temporary blanket of fleece and some twiggy pea sticks to steady their fleshy, hollow stems and provide a gentle scaffold for their foliage. With plants growing in glasshouses and polytunnels, it's a different story. Here, the greatest risk of harm comes from extremes of temperature and irregular watering. Resist, for example, the urge to keep all doors and vents firmly closed on cooler days. This will only result in overly hot growing conditions and poor ventilation, causing plant stress and even death. When you water, do it generously and thoroughly, the aim being to properly soak the roots, but not so regularly and copiously that you constantly create the kind of very humid, muggy conditions that greatly increase the chances of certain pests and diseases. For the same reason, aim to water only the soil rather than the plants themselves. [ Organic market gardener Charles Dowding: 'So many people are intimidated or confused by the advice available' Opens in new window ] Both outdoors and under cover, keep a beady eye out for any early signs of slug or snail damage and take suitable precautions to prevent it from recurring. Hand-collecting slugs and snails from around vulnerable plants at night by torchlight is a useful way to minimise the damage. Also bear in mind that rank, weedy growth and garden 'dumps' of discarded pots and half-used bags of compost are among their favourite hiding places. Think ahead to the dog days of summer. Consider making some late sowings of fast-growing vegetables such as lettuce, annual spinach and oriental salad leaves to fill the growing space left behind by an early crop of potatoes Speaking of which, early June is an excellent time to hoe and hand-weed beds, borders and paths before weeds get badly out of control and start to self-seed, creating further problems. But try to do so cautiously to avoid accidentally uprooting any emerging, desirable, self-seeded seedlings that you might wish to keep. It's a good time at the moment to sow sweet William, pictured above with daisies below them. Photograph: Getty Finally, think ahead to the dog days of summer. Consider making some late sowings of fast-growing vegetables such as lettuce, annual spinach and oriental salad leaves to fill the growing space left behind by an early crop of potatoes, for example, or sow purple sprouting broccoli for a delicious spring crop. Weigh up, too, any potential weak spots in container displays or flower borders and think of ways that these might be easily and effectively filled later in the season with a few judiciously placed pots of late-flowering varieties such as dahlia, nicotiana, salvia, rudbeckia, sedum and helenium. In this way, your summer garden is guaranteed to go out with a bang, rather than a whimper. This week in the garden Tender, heat-loving vegetables such as courgettes, French beans, sweetcorn, pumpkins, and squash can now be safely planted outdoors. Choose a warm, still day, making sure that plants are properly hardened off in advance. It's also a good idea to initially protect young plants with garden fleece. Now's a good time to sow seed of hardy biennials such as wallflowers, Canterbury bells, sweet William and honesty. Recommended specialist suppliers include and Dates for your diary… RHSI Bellefield Open Weekend Bellefield House, Shinrone, Co Offaly. Today and tomorrow. With guided tours by head gardener Paul Smyth at 12pm and 2pm each day, plus plant sales. Buds & Blossom Garden Show Spink, Community Grounds, Abbeyleix, Co Laois. Tomorrow, Sunday, June 8th (12pm-6pm). Guest speakers John Jones, Colin Jones and Tom Coward, plus specialist plant sales by many of Ireland best small independent nurseries. Rathmines Open Gardens 2025 Tomorrow, June 8th (2pm-6pm). In association with The Rathmines Initiative, with several private gardens opening their doors to the public in aid of charity, along with Trinity Botanic Garden. See or contact Michael Kelly on 087 669 7722 for details.
