Bernard MacLaverty Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Collections

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Bernard MacLaverty is an Irish bestselling author of literary fiction from Glasgow. The author was born in Belfast, where he spent much of his life until he was an adult and moved to Scotland with his wife and children.

He would initially live in Islay and then in Edinburgh before finally making his home in Glasgow. After graduating from school with advanced-level qualifications in Chemistry and English, he decided to try to find employment.

He would ultimately end up at Queen’s University’s anatomy department where he was a lab technician. He spent more than a decade working at the university before he went back to school to train as a teacher studying English.

Over the years, MacLaverty has been at various times a guest author at Iowa State University and the University of Augsburg. He has also been a visiting professor and writer at Glasgow’s University of Strathclyde and John Moores Univerity in Liverpool.
For a two-year period in the mid-eighties, he worked at the University of Aberdeen as a writer in residence. He is also a member of Aosdana, which brings together creative artists in Ireland.

Two years after moving to Scotland and while he was still teaching, he published “Secrets and Other Stories,” a collection of short stories in 1977. It was this work that would be the winner of the Scottish Arts Council Book Award.

In addition to that bestselling work, he is also the author of the 2006 published “Matters of Life and Death,” the 1982 work “A Time to Dance and Other Stories,” and “The Great Profundo and Other Stories,” which was published in 1987.

Bernard MacLaverty would also become the publisher of several novels over the years. His first published work was “Man in Search of a Poet,” which came out in 1978.

His second novel was the 1980 published novel “Lamb,” which was the runner-up of the Guardian Fiction Award and winner of the Book Award by the Scottish Arts Council.

This was the novel that would later on become adapted into a film that had Liam Neeson in the starring role.

He has also written several other awards that have been adapted for the Silver Screen, shortlisted for several prestigious prizes, and been a winner of several.

Outside of his fiction writing, Bernard MacLavery has authored plays for radio and TV. Some of his most popular works include the BBC-commissioned “Sometime in August,” “My Dear Palestrina,” “The Daily Woman,” and “Phonefun Limited.”
He was also the director and writer of the BAFTA Award-winning short film “Bye Child.” “My Dear Palestrina” was the winner of the Pharic MacLaren Special BBC Award.

Given his proficiency, he has received much critical acclaim. He has developed a reputation for his understated style and beautiful precision that makes his works accessible to just about anyone.
MacLaverty has been living in Scotland for about half of his years and has been writing since the late 1970s.

“Midwinter Break” by Bernard MacLaverty is a work that shows readers why he is one of the most highly regarded Irish writers of his generation.

In this work, Stella and Gerry Gilmore are a retired couple that is flying to Amsterdam from their home in Scotland. They are going to have a long vacation to refresh themselves with some sightseeing as they take stock of their remaining years.
They have an easy-going familiar and safe relationship but soon enough discover that they may not be on the same page on some important things.

Garry used to work as an architect but has now become set in his ways and can be very forgetful. Stella has started hating his lifestyle and is angry that he constantly undermines her faith.
Things are only made worse when they start taking stock and remember some troubled times in their native Ireland.

As their vacation comes to a close, we get insights into how apart the two are and can only watch them struggling to save their marriage.

Bernard MacLaverty shows his exceptional skills as he writes a compassionate and accurate story to make for a heartrending, intimate, and tender story.

Bernard MacLaverty’s “Cal,” is a beautiful story that introduces Cal McCluskey and his father. The two are Catholics living in what is predominantly a protestant area in Ireland.

He is always pained to look up and see the many Union Jacks even as he was always taunted whenever he came out with the white and red Ulster flag.

Cal is often the subject of intimidation, taunting, and insults but he always did his best to ignore his opponents. But it was not so easy as he loved to ride his Giro and hang around street corners, where he was often targeted by paramilitary scouts.
Ultimately, he decided to join the cause and provide his services as a driver for Skeffington and Crilly who were his fellow republicans.

He has a lot of time on his hands and with little hope of finding a job in that hostile environment, he can often be found at the local library perusing cassettes and books.
Things get interesting when he one day notices that there is a new woman working at the library counter.

Bernard pens a beautiful story of a love affair that is sure to end in disaster. Cal has some dark secrets that would be certain to end their relationship if they were ever to come out.

“Grace Notes” by Bernard MacLaverty tells the story of Catherine McKenna who is going to attend her father’s funeral back in Northern Ireland.

She is a native of a small town about 40 miles south of Belfast. She had been born the only child of Brendan McKenna who is the owner of a pub and a proud catholic. She has been away living on the Island of Islay and Glasgow for about five years.
When she was young, she had been sent to a convent school, which is where her teachers notices that she had a gift for music. She had then been sent to Miss Bingham who was to give her piano lessons. It was this teacher that helped to hone her talents.
Catherine would later study composition at Queens University and then went to Glasgow for further studies. It was after her schooling in Glasgow that she began moving away from the influence of her parents.

It is a work that chronicles her dysfunctional relationship with her parents even as she struggles in her personal life and ambitions to become a composer.

While she is very creative, she sometimes suffers from bouts of depression making her a very complicated character.