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Published 16:59 19 Jun 2026 BST
Updated 17:07 19 Jun 2026 BST
Add us as a preferred source on Google »There is one book taking the country by storm, and that is Land by Maggie O'Farrell. It has unsurprisingly hit the top spot of the Irish book charts, and trust me when I say it is worthy of all the hype and praise.
Land has to be one of the most striking reads of the year. It is a book that'll stay with you long after you finish reading it, in the most haunting way.
Land is Maggie O'Farrell at her very best, with the author penning a story that is rich in Ireland's dark history, with characters so real you feel like they're jumping from the pages, and descriptions of Ireland after the Great Hunger that'll stick with you long after reading the final page.
Land is not only an impeccably written book, but it's an important read that captures a harrowing time in our history with grace and respect.
Speaking to Her Book Club, Maggie said it is quite overwhelming to see the reaction in Ireland.
"It feels amazing. I kind of almost can't think about it because it kind of feels a bit too overwhelming, but no, it's always really lovely when someone responds to something you've written.
Speaking about being number one in the Irish book charts, Maggie said: "It was a very nice phone call to get."
One thing Maggie hopes readers will see in her book is how families will often find strength during the most devastating times.
She explained that there were two things she really wanted to do with this book.
"One was the story of a family who were trying to come out from under the long shadow of the Great Hunger. I also wanted to try to tell the whole story of Ireland just by one peninsula.
"I was interested in exploring what happens after a huge disaster like the Great Hunger. How people survived, how they thrived, how they carried on.
"It must have required enormous resilience to not only survive that, but also to keep going, you know, and to have a family and to bring that family up."
We see that immeasurable strength in Tómas and Phina, the parents in Maggie's novel,
"They have these huge silences inside them of things that they can't talk about, but at the same time, they are incredibly resilient, and they keep going."
I urge you to pick up a copy of Land by Maggie O'Farrell to learn about finding strength, the importance of family, and, most importantly, to learn about a chapter in Ireland's history that changed us forever.
On a windswept peninsula stretching out into the Atlantic, Tomás and his reluctant son, Liam, are working for the great Ordnance Survey project to map the whole of Ireland. The year is 1865, and in a country not long since ravaged and emptied by the Great Hunger, the task is not an easy one. Tomás, however, is determined that his maps will be a record of the disaster.
The British soldiers in charge are due to arrive any day, expecting the work to be completed, but Tomás is sent off course by an unsettling encounter in a copse. His life, and those of his family, will never be the same again. Liam is terrified by the sudden change in his taciturn father. What was it that caused such cracks to open in Tomás, and how is Liam, aged only ten, going to finish the mapping and get them both home?
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