Putting a Spotlight on Irish & Celtic Literature

We started a monthly Irish and Celtic book club! Book selections will feature fictional and nonfictional novels with Irish or Celtic theming and/or written by authors from the Celtic nations, Irish America, and East Coast Canada. Join us in celebrating and in supporting Irish and Celtic literature. Join our Facebook group below to participate in discussions and to stay updated.
 

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August Book Club Selection

Westerly
Susan Donovan Bernhard - Featured Author at the Milwaukee Irish Fest Literary Corner

Virtual Discussion: Tuesday, August 25 @ 5 PM CT

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In an unforgettable saga of survival, motherhood, sisterhood, and the secrets that haunt us, one desperate decision creates a fault line that spans decades and threatens to break a family wide open.

In 1946, two German sisters, child refugees in a program dubbed Operation Shamrock, arrive in Ireland to live in foster care while Europe recovers from war. Nearly fifty years later, on a fateful day in a bustling Maine farmhouse, an Irish newspaper clipping threatens to unravel Faye Sullivan’s carefully constructed life with husband William and daughters Maeve and Molly, a life already on the brink of collapse.

When tragedy strikes and the Sullivans grapple with a cascade of buried secrets, Faye must confront the truth of a childhood summer in West Cork marked by adventure, heartbreak, and a life-altering decision that now jeopardizes everything she holds dear. And while their bonds may not be what they seemed, those bonds might be the one thing strong enough to help the broken Sullivan family navigate the truth and find their way forward together.

About the Author

Susan Donovan Bernhard is the bestselling author of the novels Westerly and Winter Loon, which won the Boston Authors Club Julia Ward Howe Prize for Fiction. She is a Massachusetts Cultural Council fellowship recipient, a Grubstreet Novel Incubator program graduate, and a Tennessee Williams Scholar to the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. A dual citizen of the United States and Ireland, Susan was born and raised in the Bitterroot Valley of western Montana and graduated from the University of Maryland. When she’s not traveling, she lives and writes in Massachusetts.

September Book Club Selection

The Celtic Knot
Robert Patrick Conlon - 2026 Featured Author at the Milwaukee Irish Fest Literary Corner

Virtual Discussion: Date Coming Soon @ 5 PM CT

Based on a true story.

One moment can change your life forever. For eight-year-old Tim, this occurred when both of his parents, immigrants from Ireland, perished. Separated from his siblings, friends, and the only world he knows, Tim becomes a resident of an orphanage northwest of Chicago. Tim executes a harrowing escape and returns to live on the rough-and-tumble streets of Chicago. He encounters the red-light district, tuberculosis, smallpox, the Spanish flu, and the mob in a notorious time in Chicago history that includes the Iroquois Theatre fire, the Eastland Disaster, and more. Using his smarts and will to survive, Tim’s unceasing desire to again experience the love of family keeps him alive through extraordinarily challenging events.

Susan Donovan Bernhard is the bestselling author of the novels Westerly and Winter Loon, which won the Boston Authors Club Julia Ward Howe Prize for Fiction. She is a Massachusetts Cultural Council fellowship recipient, a Grub Street Novel Incubator program graduate, and a Tennessee Williams Scholar to the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. A dual citizen of the United States and Ireland, Susan was born and raised in the Bitterroot Valley of western Montana and graduated from the University of Maryland. When she’s not traveling, she lives and writes in Massachusetts.

About the Author

Robert Patrick Conlon has been a trial attorney since 1985 representing businesses in commercial disputes across the country. He is a Founding Partner of Chicago-based law firm Walker Wilcox LLP. Robert and his wife, Pam, have worked and lived in Chicago and the Western Suburbs throughout their married life. They have three adult children and six grandchildren. Robert believes that he owes a tremendous amount of gratitude to previous generations for their sacrifices, hard work, and perseverance. Celtic Knot reminds us to never forget our ancestors’ journeys.

October Book Club Selection

Dracula
Bram Stoker

Virtual Discussion: Date Coming Soon @ 5 PM CT
 

When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula with the purchase of a London house, he makes a series of horrific discoveries about his client. Soon afterwards, various bizarre incidents unfold in England: an apparently unmanned ship is wrecked off the coast of Whitby; a young woman discovers strange puncture marks on her neck; and the inmate of a lunatic asylum raves about the 'Master' and his imminent arrival.

In Dracula, Bram Stoker created one of the great masterpieces of the horror genre, brilliantly evoking a nightmare world of vampires and vampire hunters and also illuminating the dark corners of Victorian sexuality and desire.

About the Author

Born in Ireland in 1847, Bram Stoker studied mathematics at Dublin's Trinity College and embarked on his longtime role as an assistant to actor Sir Henry Irving in the 1870s. He also began carving out a second career as a writer, publishing his first novel, The Primrose Path, in 1875. Stoker published his most famous work, Dracula, in 1897, though he died before the fictional vampire would achieve widespread popularity though numerous film and literary adaptations in the 20th century.