A Very Irish Christmas: The Greatest Irish Holiday Stories of All Time

Very Christmas #6

by James Joyce, W.B. Yeats, Colm Tóibín

The sixth volume in our popular Very Christmas series, this collection transports readers to the Emerald Isle with stories and poems sure to bring holiday cheer. This anthology is packed with beloved classics, forgotten treasures, and modern masterpieces. You’ll find wondrous works by James Joyce, W. B. Yeats, Elizabeth Bowen, Anne Enright, William Trevor, Colm Tóibín, Bernard MacLaverty and many more. See how Christmas is done in snowy Dublin and on the mean streets of Belfast, from west coast to east, and even across sea and ocean to Irish communities in London and New York City. Put a flickering candle in the window and a steaming dinner on the table, and celebrate the Irish way—Nollaig Shona Daoibh—and Merry Christmas!

Genres: Christmas, Short Stories, Ireland, Holiday, Fiction, Irish Literature, Anthologies

160 pages, Hardcover

Published September 14, 2021

About the author

James Joyce was an Irish novelist, poet, and a pivotal figure in 20th-century modernist literature, renowned for his highly experimental approach to language and narrative structure, particularly his pioneering mastery and popularization of the stream-of-consciousness technique. Born into a middle-class Catholic family in the Rathgar suburb of Dublin in 1882, Joyce spent the majority of his adult life in self-imposed exile across continental Europe—living in Trieste, Zurich, and Paris—yet his entire, meticulous body of work remained obsessively and comprehensively focused on the minutiae of his native city, making Dublin both the meticulously detailed setting and a central, inescapable character in his literary universe. His work is consistently characterized by its technical complexity, rich literary allusion, intricate symbolism, and an unflinching examination of the spectrum of human consciousness. Joyce began his published career with Dubliners (1914), a collection of fifteen short stories offering a naturalistic, often stark, depiction of middle-class Irish life and the moral and spiritual paralysis he observed in its inhabitants, concluding each story with a moment of crucial, sudden self-understanding he termed an "epiphany." This collection was followed by the highly autobiographical novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), a Bildungsroman that meticulously chronicled the intellectual and artistic awakening of its protagonist, Stephen Dedalus, who would become Joyce's recurring alter ego and intellectual stand-in throughout his major works.
His magnum opus, Ulysses (1922), is universally regarded as a landmark work of fiction that fundamentally revolutionized the novel form. It compressed the events of a single, ordinary day—June 16, 1904, a date now globally celebrated by literary enthusiasts as "Bloomsday"—into a sprawling, epic narrative that structurally and symbolically paralleled Homer's Odyssey, using a dazzling array of distinct styles and linguistic invention across its eighteen episodes to explore the lives of Leopold Bloom, his wife Molly Bloom, and Stephen Dedalus in hyper-minute detail. The novel's explicit content and innovative, challenging structure led to its initial banning for obscenity in the United States and the United Kingdom, turning Joyce into a cause célèbre for artistic freedom and the boundaries of literary expression. His final, most challenging work, Finnegans Wake (1939), pushed the boundaries of language and conventional narrative even further, employing a dense, dream-like prose filled with multilingual puns, invented portmanteau words, and layered allusions that continues to divide and challenge readers and scholars to this day. A dedicated polyglot who reportedly learned several languages, including Norwegian simply to read Ibsen in the original, Joyce approached the English language not as a fixed entity with rigid rules, but as a malleable medium capable of infinite reinvention and expression. His personal life was marked by an unwavering dedication to his literary craft, a complex, devoted relationship with his wife Nora Barnacle, and chronic, debilitating eye problems that necessitated numerous painful surgeries throughout his life, sometimes forcing him to write with crayons on large white paper. Despite these severe physical ailments and financial struggles, his singular literary vision remained sharp, focused, and profoundly revolutionary. Joyce passed away in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1941, shortly after undergoing one of his many eye operations. Today, he is widely regarded as perhaps the most significant and challenging writer of the 20th century. His immense, complex legacy is robustly maintained by global academic study and institutions such as the James Joyce Centre in Dublin, which ensures his complex, demanding, and utterly brilliant work endures, inviting new generations of readers to explore the very essence of what it means to be hum

Reviews

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collection of short stories and some excerpts from longer works by a variety of Irish authors, all set around the Christmas season. My favorite was Candle and Crib by Katherine Frances Purdon (1852-1920).

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are a number of excellent collections of Irish Christmas short stories. This volume makes a worthwhile contribution by including unique stories and excerpts. Three of the stories were written by writers born in the mid-19th century, and two writers - James Joyce and Elizabeth Bowen - published their stories in the early to mid-20th century. Two were excerpts from novels - from The Green Road by Anne Enright and from Cal by Bernard McLaverty. There are stories by contemporary writers including Colm Tóibín, William Trevor and Claire Keegan. It's an excellent addition to my library of Irish Christmas short stories.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not exactly the most uplifting of holiday stories, but thoroughly enjoyed them all!

[Mariangel · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite story in this collection is "Candle and Crib", by K. F. Purdon.

I also liked
-Frank Forrest's Mince Pie, by Canon Sheehan
-The Christmas Cuckoo, by Frances Browne
-The Dead, by James Joyce

[Mx Phoebe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection is the most varied sub-genre of stories I have ever read under a particular genre. Holy sugar.

“Shopping for Christmas Dinner” from the Green Road by Anne English

This was the first story I picked and it is exactly what the title says: it follows Constance as she does her errands before going shopping. It tells the gossip in a few details of each house she goes to. Then off to the market where more family gossip is detailed. There is more attention paid to the food purchased than forming any connection to anyone I kept waiting for the story to start.

The Christmas Cuckoo by Frances Browne

I loved this story by Frances Browne. The moral of the story is one I wholeheartedly support as it is better to be happy than rich. Though Browne indicates that if everyone gets happiness from you then they will gift you with things just isn’t true (laugh). I wish that spare had found love too.

Untitled by Bernard MacLaverty

A dark tale indeed is what Bernard MacLaverty has given us. Electric shock treatments, bombs, broken knee caps, threats of harm - this is no ordinary holiday tale. The question asked is if you decide not to participate in all parts of a revolution are you a traitor to the cause? Are you painted with the same brush for all acts done by the group even though you have no knowledge of them? Can you just stand still and be silent in a war going on around you? Like I said, it is very dark ideas for a holiday story.

The whole collection is a mix of “traditional,” the mundane, dark, and everything else in between. If you want a different kind of holiday mix for your season, A Very Irish Christmas is the book for you.

I received a free copy of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily.

[Bernie Gourley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This anthology contains fourteen previously published pieces by prominent Irish authors, including: Joyce, Yeats, and Colm Tóibín. It’s mostly short fiction, but there are a few poems as well as a couple of excerpts from longer works. All the pieces are set around (or reference) Christmas, but the degree to which that plays into the story varies a great deal. The anthology is very Irish, but not always very Christmassy. Meaning, if you’re expecting a collection of pieces like Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” where the joy or melancholy of the season is front-and-center throughout and the holiday, itself, is a pivotal story element, you won’t find that in a number of these selections. Often, the season is just an element of ambiance or of short-lived emotional resonance.

That said, the selections are all artfully written and each is intriguing in its own way. In the case of Joyce’s “The Dead” the appeal is the evocative language and creation of setting (though the piece does have more explicit story than, say, “Ulysses.”) Whereas, for pieces like Keegan’s “Men and Women” or Trevor’s “Christmas Eve” the point of interest might be the story, itself. Besides the Irish author / Christmas reference nexus, the included works cover a wide territory including contemporary works (keeping in mind the authors are mostly from the 20th century) and those that hearken back to days of yore. Some are secular; while others are explicitly Catholic.

I enjoyed this anthology, finding it to be a fine selection of masterfully composed writings.

[Kats · Rating 4 out of 5]

A seasonal short-story read-along with great friends, this collection contained a couple of duff ones, and a lot of really wonderful stories, quite Christmassy and certainly very Irish. Much to my surprise I loved The Dead by James Joyce as I had fully expected to struggle reading it, but it was totally accessible for this low-brow reader, actually quite compelling and thought-provoking. At the end of a Christmas party, one of the guests sings a song that sets off one of the other characters and has her share an emotional memory with her husband. Here is the link to the song, it's lovely:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AN9Y...

My other favourites were Shopping for Christmas Dinner by Anne Enright, Christmas Pudding by Colm Toibin and Another Christmas by William Trevor.
Not the happiest of Christmas stories, but certainly very memorable.

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much better than a very Italian Christmas, but not very uplifting.

[Cathryn Conroy · Rating 5 out of 5]

With an all-star literary lineup from W.B. Yeats and James Joyce to Colm Tóibín and Claire Keegan, this is a delightful collection of Christmas stories by Irish writers. Some of the 14 stories are festive and fun, while others are dark and desolate, but they all have one thing in common: Without exception, they are excellent.

A few of my favorites (and this was a difficult choice because they are ALL so good!):
• "The Christmas Cuckoo," by Frances Brown: This is a morality tale about two very poor brothers named Scrub and Spare living on a bleak moor in the north country. One day a large gray cuckoo bird flies into their bedraggled hut, and even though they have barely any food, the brothers share it with the cuckoo. They give the bird a warm place to sleep until spring. To reward them, the bird says he will bring them magical tree leaves—a golden one that offers wealth or a green one that offers happiness. Scrub chooses the golden one, while Spare chooses the green one. How each fares with his treasure is the point of the story.

• "Candle and Crib," by K.F. Purdon is the story of Big Michael and his wife, an older couple who live in Ardeeno. They are missing their only son, Art, who went to the city to make his way in the world. Art married, but they have never met his bride. Although there is much missed communication, which is critical to the plot, Art, his wife, and their new baby are visiting for Christmas. How they arrive and are received is a spiritual blessing.

• "Men and Women," by Claire Keegan is the story of a simple Irish family that raises sheep. The story is told from the point of view of the daughter, a young girl who believes in Santa. But it's during this Christmas season that her eyes are opened not only to the reality of Santa, but also to the reality of the life her mother lives—a woman who is not loved or respected by her husband. This is a sad story with a powerful ending.

Get into the Christmas spirit with a wee trip to Ireland through this magnificent book of short stories.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The New Vessel Press’s 2021 collection of Irish Holiday short stories is entitled A Very Irish Christmas: The Greatest Irish Holiday Stories of All Time. The collection has fourteen pieces. The collection has three poems. The poems are “The Wexford Carol”, W.B. Yeats’ “The Magi”, and Maire Mhac a tSaoi’s “Christmas Eve” translated by Garibel Fitzmaurice. The collection uses the 1928’s transcription of the “Wexford Carol” by William Henry Gratten Flood. The eleven short stories include the holiday writings of Anne Enright, Canon Patrick Augustine Sheehan, Aisling Maguire, Frances Browne, Colin Toibin, K. F. Purdon, Bernard MacLaverty, Claire Keegan, Elizabeth Bowen, William Trevor, and James Joyce. By far the story in the collection by James Joyce entitled “The Dead” set around a Christmas Party in Dublin, Ireland, in the early 20th Century of Dublin. Joyce’s short story is 39 pages out of a collection that is 139 pages long. The collection has pieces from the 19th Century until the early 21st Century. The earliest writer in the collection is Frances Browne who lived between 1816 and 1879. Browne wrote the short story, “The Christmas Cuckoo.”Several of my favorite stories include Claire Keegan’s “Men and Woman”, Bernard MacLaverty’s “The Troubles at Christmas”, James Joyce’s “The Dead”, K.F. Purdon’s “Candle and Crib”, Colm Toibin’s “Christmas Pudding”, and Aisling Maguire’s “Whimsical Beasts.” I found the biographical sketch of each writer at the end of the collection interesting and these sketches added to my understanding of the stories. I enjoyed reading this collection of Irish Holiday stories, it seems to be a very well chosen collection of stories.

[Michael Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christmas swirls around you from all angles in "A Very Irish Christmas - The Greatest Irish Holiday Stories of All Time''. You start with a modern shop-til-you-drop crazy market spree with Anne Enright and you finish your holiday back in 1907 with James Joyce and his legendary Dublin characters in "The Dead ''. Other giants of Irish literature such as Yeats and Tobin make appearances as well and the tone varies from fables and fairy tales to the drama of The Troubles. My personal favorite was K.F. Purdon's "Candle and Crib". Written in 1914, this involves a husband and wife's disappointment when their son has apparently chosen to ignore them at Christmas. A clever twist at the end took me by surprise. An excuse to read "The Dead" again was a big plus. Having watched the brilliant movie version countless times, I had not read the original in much too long a time. That was a treat in itself.

Every flavor of Irish Christmas is sampled in this collection. Only Ebenezer Scrooge and maybe George Bailey in "It's a Wonderful Life" have had more holiday stimuli. Five stars for this holiday stay.

Thank you to New Vessel Press and Edelweiss for providing the Advance Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Carla · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Very Irish Christmas is an anthology of stories by well known Irish Authors, all set at Christmas. As with any anthology, I liked some of these stories better than others. Although they are set at Christmas time, I wouldn't necessarily call them Christmas stories. I think my favourite of the bunch was The Magi by W.B. Yeats. I really felt the Christmas spirit in that one. This was closely followed by Candle and Crib by K.F. Purdon. Some of the stories were magical, some simple Christmas traditions and one that was set during The Troubles. I didn't realize that a couple of them are excerpts from novels - from The Green Road by Anne Enright and from Cal by Bernard McLaverty, which makes sense as I thought I needed more. Overall, this was an interesting anthology that gave me a taste of celebrating Christmas in Ireland and few stories from beyond.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favorite story: Candle and Crib by K. F. Purdon (demonstrates many Irish Christmas traditions; religious aspect; can see where it will end from the start but it’s exactly the sort of Christmas tale that helps you revel and find joy in the holiday; this particular story would definitely would be a lovely yearly read to celebrate Christmas)

The Dead by James Joyce (incredibly well-written; sad)

The Christmas Cuckoo (loved this! Reads like an original Grimm’s fairy tale; choosing between the magical gold vs merry leaf and thusly is it better to be rich or joyful)

Shopping for Christmas Dinner by Anne Enright (so elliptical! Everything appears festive on the outside but what is unsaid reveals the sadness and meaninglessness of the lady’s shopping toils. Probably the best written of all the 13 entries in this book but fair warning, it’s not happy or riveting)

[Lisa Montgomery · Rating 4 out of 5]

I purchased this book along with the Italian one because we Irish love to spin a tale.
The book blurb says, "See how Christmas is done in snowy Dublin and on the mean streets of Belfast, from west coast to east, and even across sea and ocean to Irish communities in London and New York City. Put a flickering candle in the window and a steaming dinner on the table, and celebrate the Irish way―Nollaig Shona Daoibh―and Merry Christmas!"
There are a few stories one would not expect in a "Christmas" anthology, but there was more "uplifting" tales in this one than the Italian collection.
It is a good collection of the traditional, the dark and a bit morbid, and the mundane parts of a person's life.

[Sam Spade · Rating 4 out of 5]

I typically each Christmas season find a Holiday tome to dive into. A Very Irish Christmas was my first choice this year. VIC is a book of short stories about the Irish Celebration of Christmas. It is very easy to read and not to intense. One Chapter called the Tommy Cran I have to admit I had no clue as to what was going on. Another chapter was simply a woman shopping for the family Christmas meal. So like I said nothing to extreme but a very easy read. So if you want a read that avoids giving you the holiday blues this is the book. In this series of books they have other nationalities such as a Very Italian Christmas, A Very French Christmas, so whatever your persuasion is you can find it in this series.

[Grace MacLaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read A Very French Christmas and A Very German Christmas last year and I sort of...hated them? They were dude heavy, it seemed like the translations were bad...rough stuff. But I was thrilled to find that I loved this anthology. The Aisling Maguire and Claire Keegan stories are two of my new favorites, both masterpieces, and the other stories are all very interesting and well-written.

[Libby · Rating 3 out of 5]

While these might be "the greatest Irish holiday stories", many were just excerpts from larger works, not complete stories. There were glimpses of different characters but not enough to make me care. I finished the book and found that I couldn't remember most of the selections without going back to look at them. Best for those who already know the writers and their works.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the 3 poems, a couple of the stories left me luke warm, a couple I disliked, and the rest I liked very much. But I had to remember that the Irish seem to have a dark, somewhat pessimistic view of life in much of their literature. There are a couple more of these books (different countries) I would like to read as Christmas holiday books.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars - This was a mixed bag for me. I tend to like heartwarming stories at Christmas and I've come to realize that the Irish lean towards a grimmer view of the holiday. However, these authors are masters at their craft (Elizabeth Bowen, Colm Toibin, William Trevor, James Joyce) so the quality of the writing is top notch.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though this is listed with James Joyce as the author, it is actually a collection of Irish stories, or in some cases, excerpts from larger works that are set at Christmastime. They cover a wide range of settings, characters and themes, but are all distinctly Irish.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with so many short story collections, I like a few, loved a couple, a couple were meh. Overall there was enough holiday cheer, introspection, and malaise to feel very Christmas-y!

[Kat O · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh

[Andlandm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good set of Irish short stories, but "Christmas" means only a mention for most. And many of the stories have dark endings. Loved Colm Toibin's "Christmas Pudding" story.

[C.J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few whingdingers. Quite a few eh-oh's.

[Kathi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just Sad! Not the kind of stories I care to read at Christmas time! Only a couple of them were at all filled with Christmas cheer.

[Adriene · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed the stories, the first one was my favorite. A book to read every year at the holidays.

[John Gilbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Knocked down a star for the complete absence of leprechauns.