Nuala Ní Chonchúir

Nuala Ní Chonchúir writes novels, poetry, and short fiction, publishing internationally under the name Nuala O’Connor. Nora: A Love Story of Nora and James Joyce refers to her historical novel more fully titled Nora: A Love Story of Nora Barnacle and James Joyce. Published by Harper Perennial in 2021, it recounts the relationship from Nora Barnacle’s perspective, beginning in Dublin and following the couple through years of travel, family life, financial strain, and literary work. O’Connor uses close first-person narration to give Nora an interior life beyond her familiar place in James Joyce’s biography. The novel draws on historical research while remaining an imaginative reconstruction rather than documentary testimony. Its changing European settings help show how domestic experience and artistic ambition shaped one another. The distinction matters because Ní Chonchúir is her Irish-language name, while this novel’s published byline uses Nuala O’Connor.