The fifteen short stories in this collection immerse readers in rural Ireland. They are full of singing and laughing, pranks and family disputes, desperation and comfort. Mike Mac Domhnaill’s distinctive voice and prose-poetry-like writing style bring to life characters both familiar and vivid.

He makes the visceral pain of grieving real, and forcefully reminds readers of the disconnect between memory and reality, and how that disparity has its own healing power. The stories in Sifting are marked by an authenticity of character and dialogue, and peppered with references to Irish history and culture.

'In Sifting, Mike Mac Domhnaill’s striking first short story collection, the present is tattooed with the scars and marks of the past...Mac Domhnaill is an accomplished stylist, and these are among the pieces that boast the rhythms and musical lilt of prose poetry. Sifting is a most impressive first collection.'   Billy O'Callaghan, Irish Examiner  

'These people, places and situations are wonderfully observed; full of the wry humour and the lilt and roll of west Limerick. There is a richness and a verisimilitude to the dialogue and a natural rhythm to the language that draws in and holds the reader, who becomes an eavesdropper, present but unseen.'  Donal Ryan

'Mike Mac Domhnaill writes with confidence, absolute confidence. There's a breath of life in the fifteen stories. There's a roguery about Mike and a great sense of humour...[He] has found, in the far away spaces of his mind, parts and versions of ourselves.'  Clíodhna Ní Anluain, RTE Radio 1  

'I love it. It brought be back and did exactly what a collection like this should do. I would highly recommend it.' Fran Curry, Tipp FM