As St. Patrick’s Day approaches–and I anxiously await the arrival of green grass and leaves–I can’t help but think about the beautiful Emerald Isle. Is your mind wandering similarly? While an impromptu plane flight might not make sense right now, an enjoyable, immersive experience is easily accessible at the library. To start your “trip,” read one of these books set in Ireland!

“When We Were Silent” by Fiona McPhillips. “Powerful and compelling, this is a thrilling story of exploitation, privilege, and retribution.”

“The Coast Road” by Alan Murrin. “Set in 1994, this is the story of two women–Izzy Keaveney, a housewife, and Colette Crowley, a poet. The friendship that develops between them will ultimately lead to tragedy for one, and freedom for the other.”

“No Comfort for the Dead” by R.P. O’Donnell. This is an Irish library mystery!

“The Hunter” by Tana French. “It’s a blazing summer when two men arrive in a small village in the West of Ireland. One of them is coming home. Both of them are coming to get rich. One of them is coming to die.”

“The Drowned” by John Banville. “1950s, rural Ireland. A loner comes across a mysteriously empty car in a field. Knowing he shouldn’t approach but unable to hold back, he soon finds himself embroiled in a troubling missing person case.”

“The Gospel of Orla” by Eoghan Walls. “Fourteen-year-old Orla plans to run away to live in Northern Ireland, where her mother is buried. Preoccupied with trouble at home and at school, she accidentally crashes her bike into a man who calls himself Jesus and says he is the Son of God.”

“Off the Map” by Trish Doller. “Fate throws them together when Carla arrives in Dublin for her best friend’s wedding and Eamon is tasked with picking her up from the airport. But what should be a simple drive across Ireland quickly becomes complicated with chemistry-filled detours.”

“The Story Collector” by Evie Woods. “One hundred years ago, Anna, a young farm girl, volunteers to help an intriguing American visitor translate fairy stories from Irish to English. In present day New York, Sarah Harper boards a plane bound for the West Coast of Ireland. But once there, she unearths dark secrets that could change the course of her life…”

“Trust Her” by Flynn Berry. “Three years after they narrowly escaped the IRA’s worst punishment for informing, Northern Irish sisters Tessa and Marian Daly have built a new life in Dublin with their young children.”

“Haven” by Emma Donoghue. “In this beautiful story of adventure and survival from the author of Room, three men vow to leave the world behind them as they set out in a small boat for an island their leader has seen in a dream, with only faith to guide them.”

“Intermezzo” by Sally Rooney. “For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude–a period of desire, despair, and possibility; a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking.”

“My Favorite Mistake” by Marian Keyes. “Anna, turning a minor mid-life crisis into a major life event, packs it in, heads back to Ireland, and gets a PR job for a super-high-end coastal retreat. Tougher than it sounds. Newsflash: the locals hate it.”

“The Irish Matchmaker” by Jennifer Deibel. “Catriona Daly, eager for a match of her own and a fresh start away from her sleepy village, makes grand plans for the annual Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival.”

Book descriptions provided by the publishers.

If you’d like to request these or any other titles, visit www.newulmlibrary.org and choose Library Catalog, or call the library at 507-359-8331. New Ulm Public Library is located at 17 North Broadway and is open from 9:30 a.m.-8 p.m. on Monday-Thursday and 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. on Friday-Saturday