Daughters of the House, Catherine Phil MacCarthy’s fifth collection, opens with poems that arose during a residency in Paris. It begins with glimpses of that city in the present before reaching back to consider some of the many Irish artists who were drawn to and lived in the city, as well as the country they left behind. The poems reflect on moments in Irish history from the 1880s through the early 20th century, and honour historical figures such as Maud Gonne, Michael Davitt and Sarah Purser. The movement towards independence and the making of Ireland are preoccupations, as are the links between colonisation and globalisation.
“Her poems flesh out the full layers of meaning in a simple moment that is flawlessly registered. At other times, and with the same concision,
MacCarthy condenses the heartbreak of an Irish short story.” O’Shaughnessy Award for Irish Poetry Citation