Skip to content
mairead@swirlandthread.com
Search:
Search
Instagram page opens in new windowFacebook page opens in new windowLinkedin page opens in new window
Swirl and Thread
I read…..therefore I am..
  • Home
  • About Me – Bio
  • Book Review
  • Write Smarter
  • Guest Post
  • Q & A
  • Review Policy – NO AI Content Accepted
  • Contact Me
  • Privacy Policy
  • Home
  • About Me – Bio
  • Book Review
  • Write Smarter
  • Guest Post
  • Q & A
  • Review Policy – NO AI Content Accepted
  • Contact Me
  • Privacy Policy

Yearly Archives: 2026

You are here:
  1. Home
  2. 2026

Feature image for Said the Dead Doireann Ní Ghríofa

#BookReview of Said The Dead by Doireann Ní Ghríofa

Book ReviewBy Mairéad Hearne17th August 20262 Comments

[ About the Book ] In the city of Cork, a derelict Victorian mental hospital is being converted into modern apartments. One passerby has always flinched as she passes the place. Had her birth occurred in another decade, she too might have lived within those walls. Now, she notices a sign: FOR SALE. It is…

Cover of Our London Lives by Christine Dwyer Hickey against a faded image of the cover with a publisher quote in black writing

#BookReview of Our London Lives by Christine Dwyer Hickey

Book ReviewBy Mairéad Hearne12th August 20262 Comments

[ About Our London Lives ] 1979. In the vast and often unforgiving city of London, two Irish outsiders seeking refuge find one another: Milly, a teenage runaway, and Pip, a young boxer full of anger and potential who is beginning to drink it all away. Over the decades their lives follow different paths, interweaving…

A Fatal Love Cover against a red background

#BookReview of A Fatal Love by Louisa Treger

Book ReviewBy Mairéad Hearne10th August 20262 Comments

[ About A Fatal Love ] It is Easter Sunday in 1955 and a young man lies face-down on the ground covered in blood. A woman, blonde and petite, stands over him with a gun in her hand. This is the story of Ruth Ellis as never told before… As Ruth awaits her trial in…

Cover of The Taken by Martina Murphy set as a featured image

#BookReview of The Taken by Martina Murphy

Book ReviewBy Mairéad Hearne6th August 2026Leave a comment

[ About The Taken ] Fourteen years ago, one hot Dublin summer, a little boy was snatched from his garden. Six weeks later, a girl was abducted from her mother’s car. The case of these stolen children has haunted DS Lucy Golden ever since. But now, a breakthrough… DNA recovered from a recent robbery is…

Cover of Apeirogon by Colum McCann with a list of all the accolades and awards

#BookReview of Apeirogon by Colum McCann

Book ReviewBy Mairéad Hearne5th August 2026Leave a comment

[ About Apeirogon ] How do we continue living once we have lost our reason to live? Rami and Bassam live in the city of Jerusalem – but exist worlds apart, divided by an age-old conflict. And yet they have one thing in common. Both are fathers; both are fathers of daughters – and both…

Feature image for The Wrath by Martina Murphy

#BookReview of The Wrath by Martina Murphy

Book ReviewBy Mairéad Hearne4th August 2026Leave a comment

[ About The Wrath ] You will not know the day, or the hour, but I am coming for you… When DS Lucy Golden discovers an abandoned car showing signs of a recent and bloody escape, the race is on to find the injured occupant, who must be somewhere close by on the Irish island of Achill.…

Cover of The City in Year Zero by Michael Russell and the words - The tenth and final installment in Michael Russell’s Stefan Gillespie series - against a faded image of the book cover

#BookReview of The City in Year Zero by Michael Russell

Book ReviewBy Mairéad Hearne30th July 2026Leave a comment

[ About The City in Year Zero ] Nothing thrived here, but something grew… Germany, 1945. Year Zero. The war is at an end. When Ireland’s ambassador to the Third Reich finally leaves the war-torn country, Garda detective Stefan Gillespie makes his way home under the watchful eye of British Intelligence, who are searching for some…

Cover of The Life Swap by Jeamanne Craig with a quote from the publisher - Two sisters. Two messy lives. One idea that’s going to fix everything...

#BookReview of The Life Swap by Jeananne Craig

Book ReviewBy Mairéad Hearne28th July 20262 Comments

[ About The Life Swap ] No plans, no responsibilities – Sinead’s ‘living the dream’ in Belfast. Really, she’s been fired, her friends are fed up with her, and her judgy big sister won’t answer her calls. Single parent and out-of-work actor Sarah has just found out urgent repairs to her house in Dublin are…

Feature image of The cover of The Glass Key by Amanda Geard with the quote 'Forty-six years after her disappearance, the name Anna Swan still lingered in Hellebore House, just a whisper on everyone’s lips'

#BookReview of The Glass Key by Amanda Geard

Book ReviewBy Mairéad Hearne24th July 20262 Comments

[ About The Glass Key ] In Ireland, Maggie has grown up hearing her mother tell her the bedtime story of The Glass Key. It’s a Nordic fairytale passed down by Maggie’s grandmother Anna Swan, who mysteriously left her home one stormy night years ago, never to return. Now Maggie’s grandfather has died and going through…

Feature image for In The Killer's Sight, a novel by Mike Omer displaying the book cover and the quote 'She’ll beat this killer at his own game’

#BookReview of In The Killer’s Sight by Mike Omer

Book ReviewBy Mairéad Hearne23rd July 2026Leave a comment

[ About In The Killer’s Sight ] When her niece disappears, a K-9 officer returns to the home of her own childhood trauma to track down a killer who hunts women like prey—and face the past that continues to haunt her. Officer Kate Marino has a complicated relationship with her hometown. But there’s one thing…

←12345…
6789
10→
Copyright Swirl & Thread 2016
Go to Top
Loading Comments...