Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt and The Lost Child of Philomena Lee by Martin Sixsmith are two memoirs that had me transfixed and transformed back to old Ireland.
In McCourt's autobiography, he depicts Irish poverty from the eyes of a poor Catholic child growing up in the Great Depression, where Ireland was struck even harder than America.
In Sixsmith's biography, he tells the story of an unwed Irish mother being forced to give up her baby in 1952. Both are equally captivating as they are devastating, and both unveil how far Ireland has come as a nation.
Although much progress needs to be made, Ireland's society at large no longer ostracizes unwed women for having children or LGBTQ+ people for simply existing.