John MacKenna Knihy

‘It’s been forty years, and memory is the most unreliable of companions, so I can only offer these recollections with the proviso that you take them as the only truth I can call to mind. They’re my truth…’ When his ‘young fellow’ becomes involved in political agitation, and his own marriage begins to fall apart, Joseph of Nazareth must find a way to nurture hope. The tale of a small-time builder in a small-time town, and his relationship with the charismatic figure he had treated as a son, Joseph humanises an often-overlooked Biblical character, and renders his story one for all time

We Seldom Talk About the Past is John MacKenna's first selected collection of short stories, from a career spanning over three decades. The stories selected represent a culmination of MacKenna's work in a form of writing he has made uniquely his own. MacKenna's stories examine the quotidian truths of our lives, of the momentousness of small moments

Love, loss and confused sexuality are the themes of this novel.

Focusing on the personal side of the legendary explorer, the book utilizes family records, diaries, letters, and previously unpublished photographs to reveal the true essence of Shackleton. It portrays him as a hero who rejected imperial norms, emphasizing his remarkable triumph of survival against the odds rather than just his adventurous exploits. This exploration offers a deeper understanding of Shackleton as a complex individual shaped by his experiences.

By the author of "The Fallen" which won the 1993 "Irish Times" prize for best first book of fiction. Most of the 16 stories are set in rural landscapes where people inhabit a world made fraught by their response to their pasts and by the limitations that their personal histories impose upon them.