Broken Irish is a passionately written novel about revenge, redemption, and alcoholism. It's a story driven by character, community, and coincidence set in south Boston in the late 1990s, a time when even the local parish church is party to a scandal about to unravel. With tight control and a powerful narrative drive, Edward J. Delaney's Broken Irish offers a vantage point from which to view the sad workings of an entire deteriorating society.
"Starred Review. There's nary a blue sky in sight in Delaney's world, but readers will be captivated." - Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. Delaney keeps all of the incipient tragedy beautifully and heartbreakingly balanced through artful plotting and an unadorned but graceful prose style." - Kirkus Reviews
"[Delaney's] characters are not merely vehicles for ideas, but rather, fully realized, familiar people, whose failures are heartbreakingly authentic." - Boston.com
"Epic in its scope but relentlessly compelling in its storytelling - not a common combination - Broken Irish is a splendidly readable and richly textured novel. Edward J. Delaney is an enormously gifted writer. - Robert Olen Butler
"In Edward J. Delaney's South Boston little is lost, nothing forgotten. Old sins, old wounds haunt his characters, young and old, and reverberate throughout his wonderfully complicated plot. Broken Irish is an enthralling, satisfying novel." - Margot Livesey
This information about Broken Irish was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Edward J. Delaney is the winner of a 2008 Literary Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, the 2005 PEN/Winship Award for Fiction and a past winner of an O.Henry Prize for short story writing. Among other works, Delaney co-authored Born to Play by Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia. Visit him online at: www.edwardjdelaney.com.

If you liked Broken Irish, try these:
by Clare Leslie. Hall
Published 2025
A love triangle unearths dangerous, deadly secrets from the past in this thrilling tale perfect for fans of The Paper Palace and Where the Crawdads Sing.
by Francesca McDonnell. Capossela
Published 2023
From Northern Ireland to Southern California and back―a mother and daughter confront the violence of the past in an enthralling novel about the possibility of love and redemption during the most transforming and unsettled times.
by Audrey Magee
Published 2023
In 1979, as violence erupts all over Ireland, two outsiders travel to a small island off the west coast in search of their own answers, despite what it may cost the islanders.
The low brow and the high brow
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.