Sally Rooney and Graham Norton novels ‘fly off shelves’ of Irish libraries

Sally Rooney and Graham Norton were among the Irish authors whose books were the most borrowed in libraries nationwide last year.

While the most popular book at Irish libraries was English author Richard Osman’s We Solve Murders, Irish authors took up seven of the top 10 spots.

Osman’s mystery novel was borrowed more than 3,800 times, according to data from Ireland’s 330 public libraries.

This was just narrowly ahead of Norton’s Frankie and Rooney’s Intermezzo, with well-loved copies of the popular books also being checked out and returned more than 3,600 times each.

Darina Molloy, senior executive librarian with Mayo Libraries, said the charts show “how vibrant and healthy” Irish writing is, adding that fiction from Ireland “flies off the shelves”.

Libraries Ireland said it wants to encourage people to seek librarians’ recommendations for its Ireland Reads campaign, with a range of special events across the country this week.

Ms Molloy said: “Helping people discover a new favourite author, and guiding them toward more books they’ll love, is one of the real joys of library work.”

The top 10 is completed by Irish-American writer Michael Connelly’s The Waiting, John Boyne’s two entries Fire and Earth, Colm Toibin’s Long Island, Lee Child’s In Too Deep, Sinead Moriarty’s Good Sisters and Roisin Meaney’s Moving On.