Martin McDonagh's The Banshees of Inisherin follows neighbors Pádraic (Colin Farrell) and Colm (Brendan Gleeson) who have a sudden falling out. "The starting point was to capture the sadness of a breakup, be it a love breakup or a friendship one," McDonagh said. "Being on both sides of that is an equally horrible position. To treat the sadness of both sides as truthfully as possible was the main thing I wanted to get right with this."

The friendship break-up is set during the backdrop of the Irish Civil War, and was filmed in the Aran Islands, off the west cost of Ireland. The following books all grapple with loss, friendship, small communities, Irish history, and other themes that weave throughout Banshees. So while there may never be a sequel to this film, you can continue reading works in a similar vein:

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

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The heart of The Banshees of Inisherin is about the falling out of lifelong friends Pádraic and Colm. In Edna O'Brien's The Country Girls trilogy, set just a few decades after Banshees, confidantes Caithleen and Bridget leave their home in the Irish countryside and navigate city life. At the heart of both is a reflection of friendship in Ireland.

Graywolf Press

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Anna Burns's Milkman, set during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, is a tale, per the publisher, of "gossip and hearsay, silence and deliberate deafness. It is the story of inaction with enormous consequences." Though the historical context of Banshees is very different, how a tight-knit community grapples with the minefield of gossip is fascinating.

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In The Sea, Max Morden is a middle-aged Irishman who returns to the seaside town where he grew up after his wife, Anna, passes away. How he copes with grief, and loneliness, is at the heart of The Sea, as are meditations on his childhoods spent in Ballyless.

Yale University Press

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$15.55

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A masterpiece of modern Irish literature, Cré na Cille was only recently translated into English (it was first published in 1949). It's set entirely in a graveyard, where the recently dead discuss local gossip, flirt, and carry on feuds. It's satirical, darkly comic, and entirely in dialogue. (Another translation is The Dirty Dust, translated by Alan Titley.)

New York Review of Books

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Like Banshees, Troubles is also set during the Irish War of Independence. It's set at a once-famous hotel in south east Ireland that is losing its glamour. Through the characters in the hotel, it's a lens to view the Anglo-Irish aristocracy in Ireland, and the war serves as a simmering backdrop of the plot.

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The Slowworm's Song, one of the newest books on this list, is British, but about Ireland, so we're counting it. Ex-British solider Stephen is summoned to an inquiry in Belfast regarding an incident he was involved in during the Troubles, and he starts writing a letter to his formerly estranged daughter, Maggie, about that fateful night. It's a moving story about redemption, guilt, and atonement.

Tordotcom

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This historical fantasy is set in the Aran Islands, like Banshees, and also imagines a fictional island: Inis Caillte. This fourth Aran Island is "populated solely by the lost" and "heals the ailments of all those who reach its shores." It's a tale of community, loss, and healing—in the landscape of the Irish islands.

Little, Brown and Company

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If you want more Irish humor, Séamus O'Reilly's memoir is a sad but funny tale of childhood grief. Séamus's mother passes away when he is 5 years old, leaving behind him and ten brothers and sisters. His father becomes a single dad to 11, and raises them all in Northern Ireland on his own. It's extremely tender and hilarious.

Biblioasis

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If you want to travel back further in Irish history, Doireann Ní Ghríofa imagines the life of Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill, an Irish noblewoman in the 1700s who writes a poem about the murder of her husband, and interweaves her tale with a young mother in present day Ireland who becomes obsessed with Eibhlín and her poem.

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Set in 1985, this Irish historical fiction novel is about Bill, a coal merchant, who confronts his past in the weeks leading up to Christmas after he makes a delivery to the local convent. Like Colm and Pádraic in Banshees, he is an unforgettable protagonist.

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This is a slightly different genre: The Last Four Days of Paddy Buckley is a twist on a crime novel. Paddy Buckely, an undertaker, accidentally kills the brother of one of Dublin's most notorious mobsters. What follows is part thriller, part black comedy, part love story.

William Collins

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If you're looking to read more about the Irish Civil War, journalist Fergal Keane dives into his past—and follows the life of his grandmother Hannah during the Irish Civil War and the revolution after the 1916 Rising.

Vintage

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$16.99

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Maggie O'Farrell's This Must Be the Place follows Daniel Sullivan, an Irish-American linguistics lecturer, and his wife, Claudette, a former film star, who are living in the remote Donegal countryside. Yet when Daniel finds out about the fate of a former girlfriend, their marriage is thrown into question. Like Banshees, the story centers around a falling out between loved ones.

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Last, The Banshees of Inisherin is not Martin McDonagh's first work set in the Aran Islands. He's written three plays set off the coast of County Galway: The Cripple of Inishmaan (1996), The Lieutenant of Inishmore (2001), and The Banshees of Inisheer (never published). The first two are available to read as a script—though not a novel, it still transports you to the world of Banshees.