The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop

It’s just a two-hour car ride on the ferry from Scotland to Ireland, but during the Troubles it was a journey from 20th-century civilisation into the heart of darkness. ‘The Last Crossing’ is a brilliant excavation of the recent past. McGilloway’s book begins with as frightening and visceral a scene as in any Scorsese movie and explores the aftermath in only the way a great author can.