In Fierce Appetites: Loving, Losing and Living to Excess in my Present and in the Writings of the Past (Sandy Cove, 2022), Dr. Elizabeth Boyle weaves together the past and the present together, creating a beautiful memoir and reflection. To quote the book blurb, “Not only does Elizabeth Boyle write dazzling accounts of ancient stories, familiar and obscure, from Ireland and further afield, but she uses her historical learning to grapple with the raw and urgent questions she faces, questions that have bedeviled people in every age. She writes on grief, addiction, family breakdown, the complexities of motherhood, love and sex, memory, class, education, travel (and staying put) with unflinching honesty, deep compassion, and occasional dark humour.” This book is for academics and non-academics alike and for those interested in musings on the Middle Ages, a multifaceted life, and the events of 2020. Fierce Appetites was published by Sandycove, an imprint of Penguin Books, in 2022.

Dr. Elizabeth Boyle is a lecturer in the Department of Early Irish at Maynooth University and former Head of the Department. She is the author of numerous works, including the History and Salvation in Medieval Ireland (Routledge, 2021) which was featured on a previous New Books in Irish Studies podcast.

Dr. Danica Ramsey-Brimberg is a multidisciplinary researcher, who recently graduated with her PhD in History from the University of Liverpool and is an editorial assistant for the Church Archaeology journal.

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