Amongst Women

By John McGahern, 1990

A masterpiece which begins with one of the great opening sentences: "As he weakened, Moran became afraid of his daughters."

McGahern's version of what love and togetherness does to families is dramatic and stark. At its heart is the idea that Ireland, rather than being a nation or a community, was a place of isolated families, bitter individuals and gnarled relationships.

Family Life Today: The Greatest Revolution?

By Harry Bohan (Editor) 2009

Broadens our awareness of the current state of family life and the changing nature of relationships between home, school and workplace: placing particular emphasis on a new vision for the changing family. Papers of the Ceifin Conference of 2008.

Me and Mine: a warm-hearted memoir of a London Irish family

By Anna May Mangan, 2011

This account of an extended Irish emigrant family’s experience in London from the early 1950s is thronged with prejudice, illness, death, poverty, hunger, gambling, sexual repression and domestic abuse. Despite this, what shines through is the warmth and loving nature of a family, beautifully and delicately described by a fine writer.

The Poisonwood Bible

By Barbara Kingsolver, 1998

A remarkable story narrated by a wife and four daughters of an autocratic evangelical father and their experiences in post-colonial Congo. This epic turns on several axles, not least one family’s tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades told by the women of that family.

About A Boy

By Nick Hornby, 1998

An utterly charming tale of what actually constitutes family in a story which examines growing up (or the failure to do so); keeping life at bay; lack of family; the fear of loss of family; and the friendship of two adolescents – one 12 and one 36!

In Defense of Single-Parent Families

By Nancy E. Dowd, 1996

Dowd explains how society stigmatizes single parents, especially those who are female and black.

She argues that the quality of family functioning is related more to the level of economic and social support present than to the number of parents.

A thoughtful analysis.

Buddenbrooks

By Thomas Mann, 1901

A classic tale of four generations of a wealthy German family. Charts a family’s decline from prosperity to bankruptcy, from moral soundness to sickly piety and madness. A world pieced together from births and funerals, weddings and divorces, gossip and earthy humour. Immense in scope, rich in detail, full of humanity.

The Gathering

By Anne Enright, 2007

A bleak story of family dysfunction, told without sentimentality. The Hegarty family has gathered for the funeral and wake of Liam, an alcoholic who committed suicide. The novel's narrator is 39-year-old Veronica. She examines her family's troubled history to try to make sense of his death and uncovers family truths.

East of Eden

By John Steinbeck, 1952

Probes the nature of family, marriage and sexual love, through the person of one of Steinbeck's most memorable characters, Cathy Ames. At a time when American women were expected to find fulfillment in being home-makers, a woman without love for family bonds is portrayed as dangerous and demonic.

This Party’s Got To Stop

By Rupert Thomson, 2010

A beautifully written family memoir. On a warm day in 1964, Thomson’s mother dies suddenly. 20 years later, his father dies alone. In an attempt to come to terms with loss, he and his brothers move back into their father's house. This story reveals the fragility of family life and is both a love letter to family and a chronicle of the family splits that can tear people and communities apart.