Future Popes of Ireland

Author: Darragh Martin
When Pope John Paul II visits Ireland in 1979 Granny Doyle gets it in her head that the first Irish pope will come from her family. And so she hands her daughter-in-law a bottle of blessed water to sprinkle on her bed.
Little did she know that she would die in childbirth and leave Granny Doyle to look after her grieving husband, newborn triplets and Peg, her first daughter.
This is the premise from which the book sets off. It then traces the lives of the Doyles across three decades and explores what events tore them apart and which brought them back together.
Granny Doyle pins all her hopes on John Paul, the reckless and wayward triplet who experiments with drugs and makes profits out of comic videos on Youtube under the alias Pope John Paul III. But his joviality and wildness isn’t enough for the darkness growing in him.
Under his shadow live Rosie, the revolutionary with the blue hair, and Damien who eventually comes out as gay to everyone except his incredibly traditional and religious grandmother. Peg tries to help out as much as she can but then an event, which pitched life against faith, finds her vanished from their lives.
Future Popes of Ireland is at times extremely funny and on occasion deeply sad. It is a beautiful narrative that traces the lives of the family and helps us understand who the characters are and why they ended up where they are. A story of love, loss and self-discovery.
It’s Darragh Martin’s first venture into the world of fiction for adults and he has delivered an incredibly bittersweet and meaningful portrayal of an Irish family in a country on the verge of change while they’re battling its ghosts, trying to overcome their loss and trying to find the meaning of life in a messy world.
> Naomi Round