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Books like The Irish brawn drain

Loved The Irish brawn drain by Patrick McGovern? Here are 7 books with the same pull, and why each one fits.

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7 books

  1. 1Brooklyn

    Brooklyn

    Colm Tóibín

    A novel about a young Irish woman who emigrates to New York in the 1950s, covering the personal cost of leaving Ireland for work.

  2. 2The Irish Diaspora

    The Irish Diaspora

    Donald Harman Akenson

    A historical survey of how and why Irish people left Ireland and settled across the English-speaking world.

  3. 3The American Irish

    The American Irish

    Kevin Kenny

    A history of Irish immigrants in the United States, with attention to their work, communities and settlement.

  4. 4Black '47 and Beyond

    Black '47 and Beyond

    Cormac Ó Gráda

    An economic history of the Irish Famine and the emigration that followed it.

  5. 5'Tis

    'Tis

    Frank McCourt

    A memoir of a young Irishman's emigration to New York and his early years working there.

  6. 6Angela's Ashes

    Angela's Ashes

    Frank McCourt

    A memoir of a poor childhood in Limerick, which shows the economic pressures that pushed many Irish families toward emigration.

  7. 7The Commitments

    The Commitments

    Roddy Doyle

    A novel about working-class Dublin life and the grit of ordinary young people, a useful companion for the physical side of Irish working life.

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