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A Ghost In The Throat

Doireann Ní Ghríofa

4.41 · Rating details · 323 ratings · 54 reviews

A true original. In this stunningly unusual prose debut, Doireann Ni Ghriofa sculpts essay and autofiction to explore inner life and the deep connection felt between two writers centuries apart. In the 1700s, an Irish noblewoman, on discovering her husband has been murdered, drinks handfuls of his blood and composes an extraordinary poem. In the present day, a young mother ...more

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Paperback, 326 pages

Published August 27th 2020 by Tramp Press

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Nov 04, 2020 Kai rated it it was amazing

Shelves: owned, favorites, feminist-as-fuck

It's hard to explain why I love this book as much as I do. It's unlike anything I've read in my life. And I finished it and smiled, like the fool that I am. So this is just to say: I so love this book.

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Jul 14, 2020 Eoin Mulligan rated it it was amazing

Once every few years, a book will come along, take me gently by the hand and say “this is where you need to be”. A Ghost in the Throat is exactly that kind of book.

Doireann has achieved something wholly original here. Stitching together a number of genres, AGITT tells the stories of two women; Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill and Doireann Ní Ghríofa herself. Tracing Eibhlín through her murky past, Doireann does so much more than map her life, she embraces it, mystery and all. At the same time Doireann ...more

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Oct 25, 2020 Claire rated it it was amazing

Shelves: around-the-world, essays, irish-literature, autofiction, nonfiction

There once was a woman who fell in love with a poem.

So begins a mini essay written for the Irish Times by the author Doireann Ní Ghríofa describing her almost life-long obsession with the Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire, (The Keen for Art O’Leary), an epic Gaelic lament, published in 1773 by Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill, upon learning of the brutal murder of her much desired husband, whose unborn child she carried.

In A Ghost In My Throat, she puts aside the documents and transcripts and in compelling, o ...more

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Oct 27, 2020 Aoife rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historic, irish-author, favorites, beautiful-covers, pretty-damn-good, literary, non-fiction, brilliant, historical, irish

This is a female text

I honestly don't think I have the right type of critical, analysing mind to talk about this book properly in the way it deserves but all I can say is, it's a masterpiece.

In this book Doireann Ní Ghríofa outlines her own life and identity as a young mother who becomes enthralled with the mystery of Eibhlín Dubh - the author of Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire. Who she was before she became the wife and widow of Art, and what became of her after his death. She disappears from his This is a female text

I honestly don't think I have the right type of critical, analysing mind to talk about this book properly in the way it deserves but all I can say is, it's a masterpiece.

In this book Doireann Ní Ghríofa outlines her own life and identity as a young mother who becomes enthralled with the mystery of Eibhlín Dubh - the author of Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire. Who she was before she became the wife and widow of Art, and what became of her after his death. She disappears from history as the letters she once wrote, or on which her name appeared, were thrown away while similar notes connected to male figures attached to her lived on throughout history.

Love, your blood was spilling in cascades,
and I couldn't wipe it away, couldn't clean it up, no,
no, my palms turned cups and oh, I gulped."

There is so much to love about this story - both Doireann's intense attachment and growing obsession with Eibhlín, and the way she uses her story to tell her own from failed medical student to passionate teacher and onward to loving mother who not only uses her own body to nurture the children of her flesh, but to nurture other babies in need of mother's milk.

"In choosing to carry a pregnancy, a woman gives of her body with a selflessness so ordinary it goes unnoticed, even by herself. Her body becomes bound to altruism as instinctively as to hunger. If she cannot consume sufficient calcium, for example, that mineral will rise up from deep within her bones and donate itself to her infant on her behalf, leaving her own system in deficiency. Sometimes a female body serves another by effecting a theft upon itself."

I thought the structure and flow of this story was perfect. I felt equally attached whether Doireann was talking about her hospital stay, Eibhlín's early life with her twin Mary or the years after when Doireann and her family finally moved to a permanent home and Doireann attempted to pay homage to the woman who came before her and spilled her love into the house and garden (I really loved this chapter about remembering the lady who once lived in their new home, it was so lovely and if everyone could remember others/perfect strangers in the same way, what special moments they would be).

In this book, Doireann paints a picture of Eibhlín Dubh and brings her to life in a glorious way. In writing what she knows down, she finally gives to Eibhlín her own caoineadh that she rightly deserves. Forgotten in history behind the shadows of sons, husbands and brothers, a young mother finally uses her own power of language to pull Eibhlín back into the light and take her rightful place in Ireland's memories.

"In every page there are undrawn women, each waiting in her own particular silence."

This book just really hit me where it was meant to, and I loved every bit of it. I'm excited to reread it again in the future and I feel like every time I do I will feel different emotions and react to different parts even more strongly than I already did the first time around.

...more

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Aug 24, 2020 rosamund rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: essay, irish-lit, memoir

In 1773, Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonnail composed her famous poem, The Keen For Art Ó Laoghaire. This thirty-six stanza poem, composed in Irish and handed down in the oral tradition, is a lament following the murder of her husband, Art. Doireann Ní Ghríofa is a bilingual poet, and A Ghost in the Throat includes both the Irish text of the poem and Ní Ghríofa’s translation. It is an astonishing poem, full of raw emotion, drama and vivid imagery, describing Eibhlín’s infatuation with Art, her marriage to In 1773, Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonnail composed her famous poem, The Keen For Art Ó Laoghaire. This thirty-six stanza poem, composed in Irish and handed down in the oral tradition, is a lament following the murder of her husband, Art. Doireann Ní Ghríofa is a bilingual poet, and A Ghost in the Throat includes both the Irish text of the poem and Ní Ghríofa’s translation. It is an astonishing poem, full of raw emotion, drama and vivid imagery, describing Eibhlín’s infatuation with Art, her marriage to him, and his murder and Eibhlín’s grief. It grabs the reader’s attention, and allows us to enter Eibhlín’s 18th century world. It’s easy to see how Ní Ghríofa comes to be captivated by this poem, and finds herself unable to disentangle herself from Eibhlín’s story.

This book – part essay, part literary criticism, part historical study – is, in Ní Ghríofa’s words, “a female text”. It is about the removal of women’s lives from history: how the landscape of Eibhlín’s life is erased with a brush of the pen, and we don’t even know where she is buried or when she died. It is only through the lives of men – brothers, father, sons – that we can trace her. Yet Ní Ghríofa is also writing about how the past imprints itself on the present, and how, despite the clumsy erasure of Eibhlín, her voice continues to sing across the centuries, and her story remains part of our own. It is also a book about “women’s work”: the ways in which women give of themselves in order to care for children and family, the endless circles of cleaning, mending and nurturing that are so often overlooked or unvalued. Ní Ghríofa places the concerns of child-rearing, including birth and breast-feeding, at the centre of this text, and by doing so, places them where they deserve to be: in the vital centre of our lives.

Ní Ghríofa is a poet writing about a poet, and this comes across consistently in this book: she interrogates Eibhlín’s use of language and imagery, as well as conjuring the world in memorable and vibrant images. She writes about a stable being “dawn-dark and straw-hush”, of bees creating “the background chorus of those who always hum as they work”, a shower as “scald-water”. The text is full of unique coinages. But this text is consistently grounded: Ní Ghríofa’s prose style is concise and considered. The stories she tells are full of narrative tension – the drama of a dangerous birth kept me up reading long into the night, and the discovery of the sparse facts of Eibhlín’s life filling me with pity and longing to know more. Ní Ghríofa unspools Eibhlín’s story gradually, alongside her own, comparing and contrasting the dramas of modern motherhood with the 18th century lives. She captured my emotions, making Eibhlín’s dramas feel like my own, as well as being utterly engaging as she explores the events of caring for babies, and having a body that gives milk and nourishment.

The erasure of women’s lives is everywhere in this book. Ní Ghríofa writes about being devastated when she comes across a text that she thinks will give her access to Eibhlín’s life but turns out not to mention her at all. As I read, I felt this devastation: that Eibhlín’s existence was not thought worthy of writing down, even by those closest to her. She exists around lacunae, her own words thundering into our ears through her Keen, but the details of her life wiped away. Ní Ghríofa explores these lacunae, not only the historical gaps, but also the things we don’t talk about in our lives: the sound of a breast-pump, the art of hanging laundry, what happens to our bodies after we die. This book offers a perspective from the sidelines – the non-academic who studies history, the 18th century wife, the 21st century mother – and celebrates the tension, beauty and agony of the everyday. When Ní Ghríofa is studying Eibhlín’s life, a district nurse reads her work, and asks, “So what’s all this for, then?” This questions arises again and again in the text – What is this for? Why do we work so hard? How do we create meaning? What does the past matter? Ní Ghríofa’s text doesn’t offer an answer to these questions, but it carefully balances and interrogates them.

This text has lacunae of its own: Ní Ghríofa cannot and doesn’t try to study all aspects of modern womanhood. However, much of her focus is on motherhood and home-making, both in the context of her own life, and in the life of Eibhlín. In the time of Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonnail, women had little choice but to become mothers and to devote their lives to domesticity. Now, there are more pathways open, but Ní Ghríofa doesn’t explore why she has chosen child-rearing as one of the central parts of her life, or how she feels about inhabiting the role of mother and home-maker. She celebrates these roles, but doesn’t ask in depth what these roles mean to her or how it feels to take on the domestic sphere in the 21st century. As my life does not and cannot involve motherhood, I would have liked more exploration of this.

That being said, I recommend this book highly. It is worth reading for the quality of Ní Ghríofa’s prose alone, which finds a space where prose becomes poetry and poetry becomes prose. As well as this it is a captivating historical tale, and a unique exploration of the interactions of past and present, and how we hold and respect the lives that come before us. It’s a vital feminist text for Irish society, and a tense and imaginative narrative. ...more

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Sep 29, 2020 Joachim Stoop rated it really liked it

If not for the unmistakable recommendation by a GR/FB- friend and avid reader, I would not have given this a chance, let alone making it jump to the top of my astronomical To Read-pile. The combination of a slightly gotic, slightly historical, a bit esoteric and abundantly poetic mixture doesn't immediately trigger my reading appetite. But I did love the book in the end and am glad I have read it. I admire the huge effort she's put in the language and in making a statement in praise of women and ...more

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Oct 30, 2020 Caoimhe White rated it it was amazing

I am so sad to be parting ways with this book tonight, and would almost read it again immediately just to keep its voice with me.

I had so many moments of stopping and re-reading passages just to try to take in their beauty. It's lyrical, personal, and unique; you feel that Doireann was put on Earth to write this!

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Apr 10, 2020 David Butler rated it really liked it

This is a fascinating read. At its simplest level, it's an account of the narrator's obsession with the 'lost' figure of Eibhlín Dubh ní Chonaill, author of the great eighteenth century lament, Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire. The book (a novel?) is, insists the author, a 'female text'.
In part it is a kind of conjuration, a (non-academic) attempt to summon up Eibhlín Dubh's ghost so as to re-inscribe her into the history from which she has largely been erased, except in her relationship to male fig ...more

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Sep 03, 2020 Susan Lanigan rated it it was amazing

"This is a female text"

Not the better after reading that - had to do it slowly. An intersection between biography, autobiography, poetry and historical fiction that defies neat categorisation but lingers in the heart with so many vivid scenes. I was there in the dissection room, the old woman's house, the hospital, Art's burial place. Hook up that tragic love into my veins as well as that deep dive into motherhood.

An absolute masterpiece - well done to Doireann ni Griofa and Tramp Press for brin ...more

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Nov 01, 2020 Robert rated it it was amazing

2020 is definitely the year I read a lot of novels about motherhood but Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s prose debut takes it to new territories.

The narrator, who I am assuming is the author is in the process of pumping breast milk when she remembers the Ebhlín Ní Choniall’s poem Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire (The Keen for Art Ó Laoghaire) which she had to study at school. This flicker of memory sets the narrator to investigate Ebhlín Ní Choniall’s roots ; her family tree, life, background and relationship w 2020 is definitely the year I read a lot of novels about motherhood but Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s prose debut takes it to new territories.

The narrator, who I am assuming is the author is in the process of pumping breast milk when she remembers the Ebhlín Ní Choniall’s poem Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire (The Keen for Art Ó Laoghaire) which she had to study at school. This flicker of memory sets the narrator to investigate Ebhlín Ní Choniall’s roots ; her family tree, life, background and relationship with the subject of the poem; Art.

The poem itself was written in the late 1700’s when Ebhlín Ní Choniall discovered that her husband was murdered due to be considered an outlaw ( it gets more complicated as there’s a religious implication involved but I’m trying to keep it simple). Upon discovering his body Ní Choniall drinnks his blood and writes the lament.

The narrator herself is not having an easy life. Bouncing between joblessness, children and constantly moving houses she sees that she is suffering, just like the poet and that the narrator’s life is similar. As the book progresses the narrator discovers that masculine attitudes have given Ebhlín Ní Choniall a backseat.

A Ghost in the Throat is about many things : mostly birth and motherhood, The narrator describes her problems giving birth to her third child ; the fears for a child that accompany a troublesome pregnancy. The role breast milk has for a growing baby. Ní Choniall was pregnant when her husband was killed so motherhood took on a different aspect to her as well.

Along with life, the narrator experiences other struggles, her career choices at university, moments of depression and illness. Finally she does achieve peace but it’s through her investigation.

A Ghost in the Throat is a moving book, there are moments of openness which stun the reader. Never have I read such a personal account of life and near death. Yet the novel does not descend into a sob story or is self indulgent. The economic, poetic and addictive writing style helps propel the story.

Like all amazing novels, A Ghost in the Throat, was a punch in the gut and a heart squeezer as well. As a cis-gender male I know I will never experience motherhood or the events Eibhlín Ní Choniall went through but at least, the novel helped me understand the complications and emotions involved. ...more

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Nov 17, 2020 John Braine rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is the latest zeitgeist Irish book of the moment in Ireland, a phenomenon that happens quite often where everyone seems to be reading the same book at the same time and talking about how amazing it is, on Irish Book Twitter at least. And it is an amazing book.

There are some things that you just can't learn on a writing course. Here's one of them: some people are just incredibly cool and have a fascinating outlook and life, and then manage to get that onto the page. You can learn that latte ...more

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Nov 12, 2020 Dolores rated it it was amazing

"This is a female text."

Only a handful of books ever have caused me to stop mid-chapter, take a breath, and let what's being said fully sink into my heart. This happened constantly throughout this book. Each sentence seems master-crafted, while telling of the heartbreak, the sacrifice, the erasure of womanhood, through the author's painstaking research into an ancient Irish poem. Tentatively calling it my book of the year.

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Oct 25, 2020 Emma Flanagan rated it it was amazing

An impossible book to describe or explain to anyone. An exploration of a female text through beautiful prose which reflects the writers poetic skill.

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Nov 01, 2020 Emily O’Dowd rated it it was amazing

The best book I have read all year. Now that I've devoured it in whatever spare time I had, I'm going to have to go back and pull out all the incredibly beautiful quotes.

Read it.

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Sep 30, 2020 Erin Darcy rated it it was amazing

An absolutely stunning piece. I cannot turn a page without stopping to read and re-read a line or paragraph, willing it to sink into my bones. The rhythm and ways Doireann weaves her life, poetry, history, women all together - all of the intrinsic ways of being and living, with birth and blood and love and death. Ugh, my heart. This is not just a female text, this is a sacred text. This is holy. This book is visceral, ancestral, alchemy. Something I have never ever experienced with reading a boo ...more

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Sep 19, 2020 Mike rated it it was amazing

Doireann Ní Ghríofa's A Ghost in the Throat is an almost impossible one to categorize, and was as equally almost impossible to put down. In part a memoir of her life as an Irish woman, literary artist, and a mother, A Ghost in the Throat is also the story of Ní Ghríofa's search to research and translate a poem that she first encountered in school, Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire, which was written by a noblewoman named Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill in 1700’s rural Ireland. This is also a book about femal ...more

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Sep 20, 2020 Bart Van Overmeire rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-2020, favorites, essays-memoir-non-fiction, tramp-press, owned-books, reading-women, irish

I finished the best book of 2020. Soon, too soon.

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Nov 19, 2020 Aoife McMenamin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I’m not even sure how to describe this book but it’s beautifully written, and so evocative of new motherhood and those early days that go by in a blur with young children. I couldn’t identify a genre myself, it’s so unusual, but I’ve seen it described as a mix of auto-fiction and non-fiction. It’s the author’s own story of her obsession with a poem written by an 18th century Irish woman named Eibhlín Dhubh Ní Chonaill, by the name of Caoineadh Art Uí Laoghaire (Lament for Art O’Leary), combined ...more

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Sep 26, 2020 Mairead Mulcahy rated it really liked it

Shelves: 20-for-2020

This book is lovely and reads like poetry, which should come as no surprise as the author is actually a poet anyway.
Be warned, however, that in reading it, a little bit of a 'wandering through the Celtic Twilight of the mind' is needed. I enjoyed the descriptive passages; they were pretty visceral and sensual in places.
Altogether this is a Recommend but with the proviso that you're not going to be reading a straight narrative.

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Oct 10, 2020 Geraldine rated it really liked it

Shelves: memoir, ireland

If this amazing piece of literature hadn't flagged slightly towards the end I would have given it 5 stars. 75% of it was incredible and unlike anything I've ever read before. It just felt in that last section as if Doireann was having difficulty coming to a satisfactory conclusion.
The poetic Irishness of the prose was unfailingly beautiful and her commitment to the story dripped from the pages.

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Aug 16, 2020 Emma McEvoy rated it it was amazing

A Ghost in the Throat doesn't slot into any one genre of writing: it mixes essays with auto-fiction and history. It is beautiful for many reasons, its lyrical and poetic prose, its honesty, its vulnerability and its passion to create a written record of a noble woman's history - in every sense, it is a female text.

In the book, the author is busy rearing her young family in Cork. She is resourceful, caring and puts the needs of everyone else ahead of her own, and she is happy to do so. During her A Ghost in the Throat doesn't slot into any one genre of writing: it mixes essays with auto-fiction and history. It is beautiful for many reasons, its lyrical and poetic prose, its honesty, its vulnerability and its passion to create a written record of a noble woman's history - in every sense, it is a female text.

In the book, the author is busy rearing her young family in Cork. She is resourceful, caring and puts the needs of everyone else ahead of her own, and she is happy to do so. During her days, which are filled with breast-feeding, pumping milk, feeding and tending her family and home, she, like so many of us, develops a type of 'ear-worm'. For the author, this is a poem she has encountered a few times in her past, and now it returns to her. As an adult, her relationship with the poem shifts away from being a like teenage crush to something deeper; she views it as a piece of art which she develops a huge respect for. As the words and rhythms return to her, they provide comfort. She reads, re-reads and recites parts of the poem while moving through her day with her list of chores.

Former Professor of Poetry at Oxford, Peter Levi, referred to this poem - the Caoineadh - as the "greatest poem written in these lands in the eighteenth century." So why is so little known about the poet, Eibhlin Dubh? She was a noble woman, who in history books is always positioned in the shadow of men - described as "wife of Art O' Leary and aunt of Daniel O'Connell."

Moved by the power of this beautiful lament poem, Doireann firstly sets about honouring it by creating her own English language translation of it, and also by retracing Eibhlin's steps from her birthplace in Derrynane in Co. Kerry to the home she lived in with Art in Kilcrea.

While spending time with the Caoineadh's 35 stanzas, Doireann feels a bond grow and strengthen with the poet.

"I come to know her speech in ways I couldn't possibly have otherwise."

I adored this songbird of a book, and just want to push it into everyone's hands. ...more

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Oct 18, 2020 Caroline Farrell rated it it was amazing

“Perhaps the past is always trembling inside the present...” It’s true what they’re saying. This book is a treasure. A haunting. The extraordinary within the ordinary, a tale within a tale, told beautifully.

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Oct 25, 2020 Conor O'Neill rated it really liked it

Excellent, 4.5

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Nov 04, 2020 AnnMarie rated it it was amazing

A unique story beautifully told. I loved this book and I will definitely be revisiting it again.

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Oct 29, 2020 Niamh rated it it was amazing

Stunning, heart trembling, haunting.

I loved this!!!

An absolutely gorgeous read that reminded me of the power and privilege of motherhood and the presence of all those who have gone before us.

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Sep 07, 2020 Shona added it

Moving through Kerry and Cork, from Derrynane to the burning of Cork city. Beautiful and fascinating.

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Sep 11, 2020 Juliano rated it it was amazing

“For such unnamed women to take a family’s story and rewrite it by flame – this is a female text.” I so enjoyed reading Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s A Ghost In The Throat, a glorious blend of autofiction, essay, memoir and poetry, and my favourite book of 2020 so far (unlikely to be beaten!). It is a brilliant thrilling wonder, a spiritual burrowing, an excavation of female texts and bodies. Reading this book on a day of great personal difficulty, I found such solace in Doireann’s resilient voice and u ...more

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Apr 20, 2020 Karina rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: book-about-reading, beautiful, readirishwomenchallenge2020, female-author, female-author-2020, quietly-powerful, memoir, feminist, proof-copy, non-fiction

Stunning, poetic, beautiful, moving and very unusual. A memoir, a haunting, an elegy to a woman centuries dead and an account of the woman's life who is trying to unearth her story.
One of a kind with a voice like no other.

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Sep 30, 2020 Sue rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

What an absolute stunner of a novel this is - and one that try as I might, I cannot hope to do justice to with my simple review.

This book is a complex and unusual mix of auto-fiction (part fiction/part autobiographical) straight from our female narrator's soul (and by extension the author herself), and historical essay charting the research she passionately undertakes about female poet Eibhlin Dubh Ni Chonaill - and her famous Irish poem of 17th century written to mourn her murdered husband, Ca What an absolute stunner of a novel this is - and one that try as I might, I cannot hope to do justice to with my simple review.

This book is a complex and unusual mix of auto-fiction (part fiction/part autobiographical) straight from our female narrator's soul (and by extension the author herself), and historical essay charting the research she passionately undertakes about female poet Eibhlin Dubh Ni Chonaill - and her famous Irish poem of 17th century written to mourn her murdered husband, Caoineadh Airt Ui Laoghaire (The Keen for Art O Laoghaire). It's enchanting, magical and thoroughly engrossing.

Our young narrator, takes us on a journey through her reality of love, marriage and motherhood - the joy, the fear, the exhaustion and the exhilaration, and the comfort she derives from the routine of her life, in a way that links her experiences to the generations of wives and mothers that have come before in both a physical and spiritual sense.

What keeps her going is her rediscovery of Eibhlin Dubh Ni Chonaill's poem to her lost lover: taken in bites as she sits nursing her babes. But over the years, and after tragedy very nearly visits her family, she feels the connection with the poet, who was called Nelly by her family, grow stronger and she is compelled to find out all she can about her. This becomes an obsession that drives, sustains and inspires her, whilst allowing her to also dissect her own past and come to terms with where life has brought her now.

This is a novel that deftly examines the reality of being a woman, wife and mother. All through the book we are reminded that "this is a female text" and this extends beyond the life of our young mother to all the women who have gone before, as the trail of clues she unearths lets her piece together as much as she can about Nelly and her family. And this is a trail that is very hard to follow, as the history of the women our narrator is so desperate to reveal has been all but erased and the clues have to be sought between the lines of the recorded deeds of their menfolk.

There are some beautiful and poignant themes explored here that are more than a little thought provoking. It shines a light on the mystical power of shared experience, and the fact that women so often pass on the details of their lives through the spoken word, so that the traces of their existence are so easily lost in the mists of time. It is a tragedy that the way history is recorded and preserved is so biased towards the truth and deeds of men. And yet, the echoes of our own mothers and the generations of women before them persist in the wisdom and tales that are passed down to us, their essence remains as we then pass them onto our own children. There is something rather lovely about the way we hold their lives inside us - even if the history books deny their contribution for the greater part.

I was also really struck by the notion that one's age and stage of life has so much influence on the how we experience, and process what we read - how very true this is - and impressed by the way Doireann Ni Ghriofa uses "female text" to honour womanhood: my favourite example being her use of this term to reference the care and love that went into a cardigan made by her own mother for her youngest child - the "text" being written into the very texture of the garment, if you will. Glorious!

Eibhlin Dubh Ni Chonaill's keen to her lost love is thoughtfully included as an appendix for those of us who are unfamiliar with it, in both the original Irish, which was only recorded after being passed down through the tongues of women, and as a translation by Doireann Ni Ghriofa for those of us who sadly cannot read the original (how I wish I could). I recommend a reading of this poem both before you start and when you have finished this book - trust me, it will be worth it.

This book is completely gorgeous and it will stay with me for a long, long time. It would be a really lovely one to listen to in an audio format, so I have my fingers crossed that this may happen at some time in the future.

Get yourself a copy - you won't be sorry. ...more

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Sep 29, 2020 Rachel rated it it was amazing

Sitting down to read A Ghost in the Throat I had absolutely no idea what to expect. Described as ‘hybrid of essay and autofiction’ this book had piqued my interest, and it wasn’t long before I was under it’s spell.

This is the story of two writers, both creating lyrical works, but living and working centuries apart. The present day author is a mother of 3, then 4 children. Up to her eyes in all the normal, glorious but also bone numbingly exhausting day to day realities that come with small child Sitting down to read A Ghost in the Throat I had absolutely no idea what to expect. Described as ‘hybrid of essay and autofiction’ this book had piqued my interest, and it wasn’t long before I was under it’s spell.

This is the story of two writers, both creating lyrical works, but living and working centuries apart. The present day author is a mother of 3, then 4 children. Up to her eyes in all the normal, glorious but also bone numbingly exhausting day to day realities that come with small children. Washing, feeding, playing; the constant giving of yourself to the needs and demands of others. Not only does our author give to her own children but she gives to other people’s, through her donations to a breast milk bank, supporting premature babies in local hospitals.

This idea of a woman, a mother giving of herself is key to this work. It underpins and structures what we find here. It makes this modern day mother’s experience a ‘women’s text’. Something personal and unique. It is this concept that bridges the centuries, that pulls these two writers together and intertwines them.

For when our modern day mother narrowly avoids a personal tragedy, one so tied to her experiences as a mother that it is painful to read, her empathy with and dedication to the work of Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill takes hold, grows and becomes all encompassing.

Our author has encountered Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire, the epic love poem written in the 1700’s many times in her life. At different points this poem, a lament of her husband’s murder and her subsequent grief, has meant different things. But now it speaks to her in a personal way, resonating with her core. Suddenly this ancient poem translated and interpreted so many times, is an obsession. In the face of her own personal trauma, her own journey through motherhood and her female experiences this text becomes key.

It strikes our author that this crucial, vibrant poem, the very essence and definition of a women’s text has always been translated and presented by men. And so in stolen moments, squeezed into her own full life of motherhood and writing, she surrounds herself with Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill’s words and begins her own translation. She looks beyond the words on the page. She visits ancients sites, ploughs through archives and letters, on a mission to bring this ancient poet back to life. To tell her story for her sake, to put the spirit of this women right back in her words, to reclaim this epic as a women’s text.

The idea of the woman’s text can not be over stated within this work. Here is a rich and vibrant understanding of the value of a women’s voice. These two stories both have their very roots in the passions, challenges and joys of women’s day to day life. These women have important, beautiful stories to tell. Their beginnings maybe found in the domestic and day to day, but they are no less important for this These stories are a bedrock. They should not be dismissed or over looked. It made me wondered how many tales aren’t told because of the perception that what happens at the hearth isn’t as important and what happens beyond it. How many women’s texts have we lost?

I have read some stunning stuff this summer. Powerful writing, raw and brimming with the voices of women, writing that has channelled, challenged and extended my own thinking and writing and this book is right at the heart of this. I admire and understand this need to give a woman her voice. To discover as much as you can about her and then release her story to the four corners. It is what I am currently trying to do in my own work and it what Doireann Ni Ghriofa has excelled at here.

This is story of what happens when a powerful connection with a piece of literature is formed. When the connection takes root and grows just at the right time and how women can reach out to each other across the ages.

This is everything I love in literature and more. ...more

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About Doireann Ní Ghríofa

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“Perhaps the compulsion to lay a woman’s life before me and slowly explore each layer started in the dissection room; so many of our most steadfast patterns are begun in those years between childhood and adulthood.” — 0 likes

“In my anger, I begin to sense some project that might answer the nurse's query. Perhaps I'd always known what it was all for. Perhaps I'd stumbled upon my true work. Perhaps the years I'd spent sifting the scattered pieces of this jigsaw were not in vain; perhaps they were a preparation. Perhaps I could honour Eibhlín Dubh's life by building a truer image of her days, gathering every fact we hold to create a kaleidoscope, a spill of distinct moments, fractured but vivid. Once this thought comes to me, my heart grows quick. I could donate my days to finding hers, I tell myself, I could do that, and I will.” — 0 likes

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