Five Irish women

<i>Five Irish Women</i> is comprised of five interlinked portraits of exceptional Irish women from various fields - literature journalism music politics - who have achieved outstanding reputations since the 1960s: Edna O'Brien Sinéad O'Connor Nuala O'Faolain Bernadette McAliskey and Anne Enright. Several of these could claim to be among the best-known Irish people of their day. The book looks at their achievements -- works of art in some cases but also life-writing interviews and speeches - and at their reception in Ireland and elsewhere shedding light on some of their shared preoccupations including equality sexuality and nationalism. The main focus is on the ways in which these distinguished women make sense of their formative experiences as Irish people and how they in turn have been understood as representative figures in modern Ireland.