One Dublin One Book 2023 Launch
Published on 27th February 2023
The chosen title for One Dublin One Book 2023 officially launched today: The Coroner’s Daughter by Andrew Hughes.
Everyone in Dublin is invited to read this captivating book in April.
Dublin UNESCO City of Literature is delighted to announce the programme of events for this year’s One Dublin One Book which features The Coroner’s Daughter by Andrew Hughes (Transworld) following on from Nora by Nuala O’Connor in 2022. This annual Dublin City Council initiative, supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, encourages reading for pleasure. One Dublin One Book aims to encourage everyone in Dublin to read a designated book connected with the capital city during the month of April.
Events will include:
The author in conversation with Niall MacMonagle to discuss his journey from archivist to writer of historical fiction, and to explore the themes, settings, and characters in his novels.
The Anatomy of Crime discussion with author Andrew Hughes and deputy state pathologists Dr Heidi Okkers and Dr Jill Roman.
James Scannell from the Old Dublin Society on the police intelligence reports from various newspapers around the 1800s.
Meteorologist Joanna Donnelly on freak weather events in Irish history.
Andrew Hughes, Nicola Cassidy and Sinéad Crowley on writing vivid and authentic female protagonists.
One Dublin One Book aims to encourage everyone in Dublin to read a designated book connected with the capital city during the month of April every year. This annual project is a Dublin City Council initiative, led by Dublin UNESCO City of Literature and Dublin City Libraries, which encourages reading for pleasure. The initiative is also funded by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.
Dublin’s Lord Mayor, Caroline Conroy who launched the programme at Hugh Lane Gallery said “I’m a fan of the One Dublin One Book initiative inspiring people across the city to revel in the delights of reading every April. The canvas for this year’s selection is familiar city territory. Names may have changed but the buildings, squares and streets are still there, 200 years later.”
Dublin City Librarian, Mairead Owens, said: “The Coroner’s Daughter is a story rooted in Dublin city of the early 19th Century with fascinating themes such as forensic science, religion, and the role of women in Ireland at the time. It is also an entertaining detective story, which I’m sure will engage the readers of Dublin and beyond. I’m looking forward to the discussions that will take place among readers next April.”
Copies of The Coroner’s Daughter have been purchased by Dublin City Libraries and are available to borrow from all public libraries nationwide, and on e-book format through the free BorrowBox library app. The e-audiobook will be available on 1st April via Borrowbox. The new One Dublin One Book edition of The Coroner’s Daughter is also available to buy from all good book shops. The National Council for the Blind Ireland have created a Braille version of the book.
Andrew Hughes says “I’m so thrilled that The Coroner’s Daughter has been chosen for this year’s One Dublin One Book. The city has always been a huge source of inspiration, providing me with a setting and a cast of characters, and I love uncovering stories hidden in Dublin’s old houses. Although I’m from Wexford, I went to college in the city and have lived in Drumcondra for more than twenty years. My extended family are Dubliners, so it’s a huge source of pride to have my book celebrated in this way. I sincerely hope readers enjoy following Abigail and her forensic investigations. I can’t wait for the events to begin in April.”
The Book
1816 was the year without a summer. A rare climatic event has brought frost to July, and a lingering fog casts a pall over Dublin – a city stirred by zealotry and civil unrest, torn between evangelical and rationalist dogma.
Amid the disquiet, a young nursemaid in a pious household conceals a pregnancy and then murders her newborn. Rumours swirl about the identity of the child’s father, but before an inquest can be held, the maid is found dead. When Abigail Lawless, the eighteen-year-old daughter of the city coroner, by chance discovers a message from the maid’s seducer, she is drawn into a world of hidden meanings and deceit.
An only child, Abigail has been raised amid the books and instruments of her father’s grim profession. Pushing against the restrictions society places on a girl her age, she pursues an increasingly dangerous investigation. As she leads us through dissection rooms and dead houses, gothic churches and elegant ballrooms, watching from the shadows is a sinister figure whom she believes has killed twice already, and is waiting to kill again . . .
Determined, resourceful and intuitive, and more than just a dutiful daughter or society débutante, Abigail Lawless emerges as a memorable young sleuth operating at the dawn of forensic science.
Book Clubs
Why not chose The Coroner's Daughter for your next book club read? Andrew Hughes has compiled a series of questions to get your book club discussion started.
Download Questions for Book Clubs (PDF, 581kb)
The Author
Photo by Frank Gavin Photography
Born in Co. Wexford, Andrew Hughes was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. A qualified archivist, he worked for RTÉ before going freelance. It was while researching his social history of Fitzwilliam Square – Lives Less Ordinary: Dublin’s Fitzwilliam Square, 1798-1922 – that he came across the true story of John Delahunt, a Victorian murderer and Dublin Castle informer. His debut novel, The Convictions of John Delahunt, was shortlisted for the Bord Gáis Irish Crime Book of the Year. The Coroner’s Daughter, a tale of a young lady sleuth operating at the dawn of forensic science, was nominated for the CWA Historicl Dagger. Andrew lives in Drumcondra, where he continues to work on archival and historical research projects, as well as Dublin-set crime fiction.
The Publisher
The Coroner’s Daughter is published by Transworld, a division of Penguin Random House.