This week for Irish Fiction Friday, we feature The Dolocher, the first adult novel by author Caroline Barry, who currently lives in the midlands of Ireland. Her first two novels are Young Adult novels: The Rocket Girl and Isadora Elzbeth. According to an interview, which you can read here, her current work in progress is another gothic novel set in Georgian Ireland, currently titled Chawke and Flin.
In her own words from the above article:
The Dolocher is inspired by a local Dublin tale of a demon spirit that haunted the streets of Dublin attacking women. It originated in Georgian Dublin. Ground zero for the Dolocher was a debtor’s prison with the suitably gothic name of The Black Dog. This prison was demolished in the year 1789. I happened upon the original ghost story in an old journal called The Dublin Penny Journal and found some early Victorian Guide books that elaborated on the story. I was particularly inspired by the idea of demonic possession.
Here is a link to the first 48 pages of the novel. And you can purchase the entire work here.
