Irish Writing
A Ghost in the Throat, Doireann ni Ghiofra (paperback October 2021)
£9.99
In the present day, a young mother narrowly avoids tragedy. On encountering the poem, she becomes obsessed with its parallels with her own life, and sets out to track down the rest of the story. A devastating and timeless tale about one woman freeing her voice by reaching into the past and finding another's.
A Lethal Legacy : A History of Ireland in 18 Murders by Fin Dwyer (paperback Sept 024)
£10.99
From the creator of The Irish History Podcast comes a fascinating look at Irish history through the lens of murder. In A Lethal Legacy, Fin Dwyer charts 200 years of Irish history, opening up our past as never before, by observing the grand societal changes of our times through the intimate lens of eighteen murders and the lives and communities they altered forever.
From the desperate retributions of the Land War of the nineteenth century, through the unprecedented tumult of the revolutionary years, to the causes that helped to shape contemporary Ireland, these previously overlooked cases of human tragedy offer a fresh perspective on a history we think we know. Astonishing, illuminating and compelling, A Lethal Legacy chronicles Ireland’s turbulent past through one of our most enduring fascinations – the act of killing – and in mapping the causes and aftermath of these cases, Dwyer offers us a fresh new understanding of the fires that forged modern Ireland.
A Little Unsteadily into Light : New Dementia-Inspired Fiction ( 2 Sept 2022)
£14.99
To live with dementia is to develop extraordinary and various new ways of being – linguistically, cognitively and practically. The storyteller operates similarly, using words and ideas creatively to reveal a slightly different perspective of the world.
In this anthology of fourteen new short stories, commissioned by Jan Carson and Jane Lugea, some of the best contemporary writers from Ireland and the UK powerfully and poignantly explore the depths and breadth of the real dementia experience, traversing age, ethnicity, class and gender, sex and consent.
Each writer’s story is drawn from their own personal experience of dementia and told with outrageous and dark humour, empathy and startling insight. Here are heroes and villains, tricksters and saints, mothers, fathers, lovers, friends, characters whose past has overshadowed their present and characters who are making a huge impact on the world they currently find themselves in. They might have dementia, but dementia is only a small part of who they are. They will challenge, frustrate, inspire and humble you.
Above all, these brilliant pieces of short fiction disrupt the perceived notions of what dementia is and, in their diversity, honesty and authenticity begin to normalise an illness that affects so many and break down the stigma endured by those living with it every day.
A New Dream, Nigel Tilson and William Cherry ( paperback)
£17.00
The story of Northern Ireland’s UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 journey
This is the ultimate underdog story: the story of a team who were resigned to operating in the backwaters of women’s international football before an inspirational figure instilled belief and passion in them. Players who had pulled on the green jersey year upon year, campaign after campaign, never dreamt they could reach the heights of appearing at a major tournament. That was until Kenny Shiels came along and sparked a new dream. He was a coach who had been there and done that in several countries, winning plenty of trophies along the way. Shiels had successfully managed a Northern Ireland international boys’ team in the past but he was keen to bring his know-how to the senior international stage. The veteran manager immediately set about reinvigorating the experienced players in the squad which he inherited - and introducing younger players who could step up to a higher level. He found a blend that worked. And he moulded a togetherness which players often describe as “one big family’. Flanked by his son Dean, goalkeeping coach Dwayne Nelson and a strong backroom team, he instilled a hunger and drive that led to a maiden appearance at a major tournament. Through words and the brilliant pictures of William Cherry this book charts, in chronological order, Northern Ireland’s incredible journey to UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 - often against the odds - and the part the senior women’s team played in the record-breaking tournament in Englan
A Thread of Violence, Mark O’Connell ( paperback June 2024)
£16.99
From an award-winning author comes a tale of a notorious double-murder, for readers of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, or Emmanuel Carrere's The Adversary. In 1982 Malcolm Macarthur, the wealthy heir to a small estate, found himself suddenly without money. The solution, he decided, was to rob a bank.To do this, he would need a gun and a car. In the process of procuring them, he killed two people, and the circumstances of his eventual arrest in the apartment of Ireland's Attorney General nearly brought down the government. The case remains one of the most shocking in Ireland's history.
Mark O'Connell has long been haunted by the story of this brutal double murder. But in recent years this haunting has become mutual. When O'Connell sets out to unravel the mysteries still surrounding these horrific and inexplicable crimes, he tracks down Macarthur himself, now an elderly man living out his days in Dublin and reluctant to talk.
As the two men circle one another, O'Connell is pushed into a confrontation with his own narrative: what does it mean to write about a murderer?
After Dad, Claire Shiells (Paperback Sept 2022)
£9.99
A bittersweet love story exploring why good people sometimes do bad things... Millie Malone, a spirited, thirty-something journalist returns home to Northern Ireland after a life-changing decision leaves her London life in ruins. A family reunion soon unravels, opening old wounds and igniting new grievances regarding the murder of her father by the IRA decades earlier.Retreating to the family cottage in Donegal, Millie soon meets Finn McFall, a fisherman originally from west Belfast, who loves to paint and recite Irish poetry. In the new modern Ireland, Millie believes religion is no longer a barrier for love. But she soon finds home is a place still struggling with a fragile peace and simmering sectarianism.
As events unfold, Millie is forced to decide between love and loyalty, eventually having to ask herself the ultimate question: can love really conquer all?
Bad Bridget : Elaine Farrell and Leanne McCormick (paperback Jan 2024)
£10.99
Bad Bridget : Crime, Mayhem and the Lives of Irish Emigrant Women,
Ireland in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was not a good place to be a woman. Among the wave of emigrants from Ireland to North America were many, many young women who travelled on their own, hoping for a better life. Some lived lives of quiet industry and piety.
Others quickly found themselves in trouble - bad trouble, and on an astonishing scale. Elaine Farrell and Leanne McCormick, creators of the celebrated 'Bad Bridget' podcast, have unearthed a world in which Irish women actually outnumbered Irish men in prison, in which you could get locked up for 'stubbornness', and in which a serial killer called Lizzie Halliday was described by the New York Times as 'the worst woman on earth'. They reveal the social forces that bred this mayhem and dysfunction, through stories that are brilliantly strange, sometimes funny, and often moving.
From sex workers and thieves to kidnappers and killers, these Bridgets are young women who have gone from the frying pan of their impoverished homeland to the fire of vast North American cities. Bad Bridget is a masterpiece of social history and true crime, showing us a fascinating and previously unexplored world.
Barcelona, Mary Costello (paperback April 2025)
£9.99
In Barcelona, we meet a cast of characters who live turbulent inner lives. In a Spanish hotel room a marriage unravels as a young wife is haunted by a past love. A father travels to Paris to meet his scientist son and is exposed to his son's true nature.
A woman attends a reading by a famous author and comes to some painful realisations about her own marriage. The stories in Barcelona reveal the underlying disquiet of modern life and the sometimes brutal nature of humanity. Whether on city streets, long car journeys or in suburban rooms, we glimpse characters as they approach those moments of desperation - or revelation - that change or reshape fate.
Before My Actual Heart Breaks,Tish Delaney (paperback Oct 2021)
£9.99
_'If I could go back to being sixteen again, I'd do things differently.''Everyone over the age of forty feels like that, you total gom,' says my best friend Lizzie Magee. When she was young Mary Rattigan wanted to fly. She was going to take off like an angel from heaven and leave the muck and madness of troubled Northern Ireland behind.Nothing but the Land of Happy Ever After would do for her. But as a Catholic girl with a B.I.T.C.H. for a Mammy and a silent Daddy, things did not go as she and Lizzie Magee had planned.
Now, five children, twenty-five years, an end to the bombs and bullets, enough whiskey to sink a ship and endless wakes and sandwich teas later, Mary's alone. She's learned plenty of hard lessons and missed a hundred steps towards the life she'd always hoped for. Will she finally find the courage to ask for the love she deserves? Or is it too late?'
. . A touching tale of how one woman survives a tough beginning to eventually end up exactly where her heart belongs.' ANNE GRIFFIN, author of When All is Said
Being Various, New irish Short Stories ed. by Lucy Caldwell (paperback Oct 2020)
£10.99
Anthology of new writing from Ireland
Featuring brand new short stories from Kevin Barry, Eimear McBride, Belinda McKeon, Lisa McInerney, Danielle McLaughlin, Stuart Neville, Sally Rooney, Kit de Waal and many more. Ireland is going through a golden age of writing: that has never been more apparent.
Following her own acclaimed short-story collection, Multitudes, Lucy Caldwell guest-edits the sixth volume of Faber's long-running series of all new Irish short stories, continuing the work of the late David Marcus and subsequent guest editors, Joseph O'Connor, Kevin Barry and Deirdre Madden.
This is the new paperback edition.
Belfast Song, Mary Marken ( paperback August 2024)
£10.99
At the heart of Belfast Song are Nan Rose Murphy and Bridie Corr, childhood friends, who have been taken on as millies at a Belfast spinning mill when the story opens in 1911. They come of age against a tempestuous background of a city and a country seething with conflict – as workers struggle for a living wage, as women organise for the right to vote, and as nationalists and unionists prepare to fight each other over Irish independence from England. Then two shots in Sarajevo in 1914 spark a war across Europe and spin them, their families and their tight knit community off in directions they could never have imagined.
When those who survive the war return home, the women have to deal with the consequences of war on the men they love, and on themselves and their families. Nan Rose narrates the story up until January 1914. Then, other voices join in through letters from Sheffield and the French WW1front, in voices as individual as fingerprints. ( Written with a great ear for dialogue and local idiom, this looks great! Linda )
Best Loved Irish Legends, Eithne Massey ( paperback 2018)
£11.99
Stories from long, long ago, part of an ancient oral tradition, handed down from generation to generation and written down by the Christian monks of medieval Ireland.
This hugely popular book is now available in paperback.
FAVOURITE LEGENDS include The Salmon of Knowledge - How Cu Chulainn Got His Name - The Children of Lir - The King with Donkey's Ears- Fionn and the Giant - The White Wolfhound- Oisin
Big Girl Small Town, by Michelle Gallen ( paperback Feb 2021)
£9.99
Already shortlisted for a Women Comedy writing award, this has been described as Derry Girls meets Milkman. The unique blend of comedy and tragedy, with Michelle Gallen's 'Majella', is outrageous and honest.
Other people find Majella odd. She keeps herself to herself, she doesn't like gossip and she isn't interested in knowing her neighbours' business. But suddenly everyone in the small town in Northern Ireland where she grew up wants to know all about hers.
Since her da disappeared during the Troubles, Majella has tried to live a quiet life with her alcoholic mother. She works in the local chip shop (Monday-Saturday, Sunday off), wears the same clothes every day (overalls, too small), has the same dinner each night (fish and chips, nuked in the microwave) and binge watches Dallas (the best show ever aired on TV) from the safety of her single bed. She has no friends and no boyfriend and Majella thinks things are better that way.
But Majella's safe and predictable existence is shattered when her grandmother dies and as much as she wants things to go back to normal, Majella comes to realise that maybe there is more to life. And it might just be that from tragedy comes Majella's one chance at escape. 'It's a smasher' Kathy Burke
Blank Pages, Bernard MacLaverty ( paperback August 2022)
£9.99
The extraordinary new story collection from one of Ireland's greatest writers and bestselling author of Midwinter Break. Bernard MacLaverty is a consummately gifted short-story writer and novelist whose work - like that of John McGahern, William Trevor, Edna O'Brien or Colm Toibin - is deceptively simple on the surface, but carries a turbulent undertow. Everywhere, the dark currents of violence, persecution and regret pull at his subject matter: family love, the making of art, Catholicism, the Troubles and, latterly, ageing.Blank Pages is a collection of twelve extraordinary new stories that show the emotional range of a master. 'Blackthorns', for instance, tells of a poor out-of-work Catholic man who falls gravely ill in the sectarian Northern Ireland of 1942 but is brought back from the brink by an unlikely saviour. The most recently written story here is the harrowing but transcendent 'The End of Days', which imagines the last moments in the life of painter Egon Schiele, watching his wife dying of Spanish flu - the world's worst pandemic, until now.
Much of what MacLaverty writes is an amalgam of sadness and joy, of circumlocution and directness. He never wastes words but neither does he ever forget to make them sing. Each story he writes creates a universe.
Body of Truth, Marie Cassidy ( paperback June 2024)
£9.99
When the body of true crime podcaster Rachel Reece is found in Dublin's Phoenix Park, the pressure is on police for a quick solve. The victim is well-known host of the Abandoned podcast, which explores unsolved murders of Irish women, often asking difficult questions of historic investigations.
Dr Terry O'Brien, recently arrived from Scotland, is the pathologist on the case. It quickly becomes clear that a senior detective is intent on pointing the finger at a particular suspect, but Terry is unconvinced and quietlybegins her own research. Soon she is immersed in cold-case files.
As she retraces Rachel's footsteps, Terry finds herself increasingly at odds with her superiors, wondering who she can and can't trust. She knows the pathology never lies. But when her forensic skills reveal something that might hold the key to solving Rachel's murder, she doesn't know how close she is to the knife-edge of danger.
A page-turning forensic thriller from Ireland's former state pathologist that uncovers the secrets of the mortuary.
Boys Don’t Cry, Fiona Scarlett ( paperback Feb 2022)
£9.99
What readers are saying:'Fiona Scarlett is certainly up there with the likes of Roddy Doyle . . . A beautifully written, authentic novel, that will make you both laugh and cry, I just want to recommend this book to everyone.'
'This is a heartbreaking and very emotional novel that is exquisitely written. Fíona's writing style helps to bring such raw emotion to the text that it was impossible to not shed a tear!'
'I cried so much reading this book . . . A stunning read that I'll be thinking about for a long time.'
'There is a lot of humour to balance the heartache . . . All humanity is here, in all its shades, and that's what stays with you long after you finish reading. A brilliant debut.'
Breakdown, Cathy Sweeney ( paperback Feb25)
£9.99
Irish Tatler's Woman of the Year for Literature
AN Post Irish Book Awards's Best New Irish Writers
A novel about one woman's decision to leave everything behind 'Thrillingly relatable' Harper's Bazaar'This funny, thoughtful novel will resonate with lots of women' Good Housekeeping'You won't be able to put this down. A fascinating study of a woman who has sacrificed her dreams' The Gloss'A masterful account of one woman's dramatic rebellion against society's demands'Daily Express'A vivid portrait of a woman adrift' ObserverMothers are not supposed to go on road trips . .
. But one winter morning in Dublin, an ordinary woman wakes up in her ordinary home, her husband next to her in bed, her teenage children sleeping nearby. And - without thinking much about it - walks out the front door and never comes back.
So begins a journey which will take her into service stations and shopping centres, hotel bars and hairdressers - and the beds of strange men. Until finally, forty-eight hours later, alone in a cottage in Wales, the woman faces up to what she has been ignoring inside herself, her family, modern society: signs of breakdown.
Burning the Big House, Terence Dooley ( paperback April 2023)
£11.99
Burning the Big House : The Story of the Irish Country House in a Time of War and Revolution
The gripping story of the tumultuous destruction of the Irish country house, spanning the revolutionary years of 1912 to 1923 During the Irish Revolution nearly three hundred country houses were burned to the ground. These "Big Houses" were powerful symbols of conquest, plantation, and colonial oppression and were caught up in the struggle for independence and the conflict between the aristocracy and those demanding access to more land. Stripped of their most important artifacts, most of the houses were never rebuilt, and ruins such as Summerhill stood like ghostly figures for generations to come.
Terence Dooley offers a unique perspective on the Irish Revolution, exploring the struggles over land, the impact of the Great War, and why the country mansions of the landed class became such a symbolic target for republicans throughout the period. Dooley details the shockingly sudden acts of occupation and destruction-including soldiers using a Rembrandt as a dart board-and evokes the exhilaration felt by the revolutionaries at seizing these grand houses and visibly overturning the established order.
Children’s Children, Jan Carson ( paperback Feb 2025)
£9.99
Read the debut short story collection from the multi-award-winning author of The Raptures, now updated with a new bonus story. '
A floating six-year-old tethered to the backyard fence; two siblings watching their parents argue inside a greenhouse; a human statue who’s lost the ability to move; a support group for the haunted: the characters in Children’s Children are all falling apart in their own peculiar ways. Told in Jan Carson’s distinctive voice, her debut short story collection contains absurdist, darkly humorous and heartbreaking stories which explore the concept of legacy, and the impact of one generation upon the next.
'These stories are pure magic, funny, sharp, heartbreaking, the short form at its absolute best. Jan Carson is a unique and very special writer, one of the greatest of the modern fabulists' DONAL RYAN, author of Heart, Be at Peace'Story after story glints with the strange, hard magic of the North . .
Close To Home, Michael Magee ( hardback April 2023 / paperback April 2024)
£14.99
He was supposed to leave and never come back. But Sean does come back. Arriving home after university, he finds Anthony's drinking is worse than ever.
Meanwhile the jobs in Belfast have vanished, Sean's degree isn't worth the paper it's written on and no one will give him the time of day. One night he loses control and assaults a stranger at a party, and everything is tipped into chaos. Close to Home witnesses the aftermath of that night, as Sean attempts to make sense of who he has become, and to reckon with the relationships that have shaped him, for better and worse.
Drawing from his own experiences, Michael Magee examines the forces which keep young working class men in harm's way, in a debut novel which shines with intelligence and humanity on every page. Close to Home is an extraordinary work of fiction about deciding what kind of a man you want to be and finding your place in the scarred city you call home.
Confessions, Catherine Airey ( hardback Jan 2025)
£16.99
It is late September in 2001 and the walls of New York are papered over with photos of the missing.
Cora Brady’s father is there, the poster she made taped to columns and bridges. Her mother died long ago and now, orphaned on the cusp of adulthood, Cora is adrift and alone. Soon, a letter will arrive with the offer of a new life: far out on the ragged edge of Ireland, in the town where her parents were young, an estranged aunt can provide a home and fulfil a long-forgotten promise.
There the story of Cora's family is hidden, and in her presence will begin to unspool…An essential, immersive debut from an astonishing new voice, Confessions traces the arc of three generations of women as they experience in their own time the irresistible gravity of the past: its love and tragedy, its mystery and redemption, and, in all things intended and accidental, the beauty and terrible shade of the things we do.
Constellations: Reflections from Life, Sinead Gleason (paperback, Apr 2020)
£10.99
Shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize 2020**Winner of non-fiction book of the year at the Irish Book Awards*'
I have come to think of all the metal in my body as artificial stars, glistening beneath the skin, a constellation of old and new metal.
A map, a tracing of connections and a guide to looking at things from different angles. How do you tell the story of a life in a body, as it goes through sickness, health, motherhood? How do you tell that story when you are not just a woman but a woman in Ireland? In the powerful and daring essays in Constellations Sinead Gleeson does that very thing. All of life is within these pages, from birth to first love, pregnancy to motherhood, terrifying sickness, old age and loss to death itself.
Throughout this wide-ranging collection she also turns her restless eye outwards delving into work, art and our very ways of seeing. In the tradition of some of our finest life writers, and yet still in her own spirited, generous voice, Sinead takes us on a journey that is both uniquely personal and yet universal in its resonance. H
Did Ye Hear Mammy Died, Seamas O' Reilly ( paperback June 2022)
£10.99
THE IRISH TIMES NO. 1 BESTSELLER and AN POST BIOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR
Seamas O'Reilly's mother died when he was five, leaving him, his ten brothers and sisters and their beloved father in their sprawling bungalow in rural Derry. It was the 1990s; the Troubles were a background rumble (most of the time), and Seamus at that point was more preoccupied with dinosaurs, Star Wars and the actual location of heaven than the political climate.
Did Ye Hear Mammy Died? is a book about a family of argumentative, loud, musical, sarcastic, grief-stricken siblings, shepherded into adulthood by a man whose foibles and reticence were matched only by his love for his children and his determination that they would flourish. It is the moving, often amusing and completely unsentimental story of a boy growing up in a family bonded by love, loss and fairly relentless mockery
Dinner Party : A Tragedy, Sarah Gilmartin (paperback July 2022)
£9.99
** This is one of the most astute, enjoyable books I've read this year so far!** Linda
Kate has taught herself to be careful, to be meticulous. To mark the anniversary of a death in the family, she plans a dinner party - from the fancy table settings to the perfect Baked Alaska waiting in the freezer. Yet by the end of the night, old tensions have flared, the guests have fled, and Kate is spinning out of control.
But all we have is ourselves, her father once said, all we have is family. Set between the 1990s and the present day, from a farmhouse in Carlow to Trinity College, Dublin, Dinner Party is a dark, sharply observed debut that thrillingly unravels into family secrets and tragedy. As the past catches up with the present, Kate learns why, despite everything, we can't help returning home.
Duffy and Son, Damian Owens ( paperback August 2023)
£9.99
A heart-warming and hilarious novel about life, love, and the weight of all we leave unsaid, Duffy & Son is a quietly moving masterpiece from one of Ireland's most gifted comic writers. Eugene Duffy is turning 70; his son Jim is turning 40. For decades now, they've been running the family hardware shop and living in good-natured bachelor harmony.But time is marching on, and with thoughts of old age weighing heavily on his mind, Eugene is growing increasingly concerned about his son's future. He resolves to help in the best way possible: by finding Jim a wife. And he's not going to let anyone - let alone Jim himself - stand in his way.
Reminiscent of Fredrik Backman's bestselling novel A Man Called Ove, Duffy and Son contains a likeable but curmudgeonly main character, wry humour, tremendous heart, as well as a strong sense of community
Eva and the Perfect Rain : A Rainy Irish Tale, Tatyana Feeney
£8.99
Eva wakes up to find that it's raining - again! She is thrilled because she can't wait to use her new umbrella but after breakfast the rain is too soft for an umbrella. The rain is lovely but it's just not perfect umbrella rain!Eva spends the day searching and hoping for the perfect umbrella rain that's not too windy, too thundery or too drizzly. Finally, she finds it in a sun shower and a rainbow shines making it the most perfect rain of all.Embrace rainy Ireland with Eva in this beautiful and delightful picture book!
Exciting Times, Naoise Dolan ( paperback, March 2021)
£8.99
Likely to fill the Sally-Rooney-shaped hole in many readers' lives' IRISH TIMES
'Droll, shrewd and unafraid - a winning debut' Hilary Mantel
* Longlisted for Women's Prize for Fiction 2021 * NOW IN PAPERBACK ( cover as hardback)
When you leave Ireland aged 22 to spend your parents' money, it's called a gap year. When Ava leaves Ireland aged 22 to make her own money, she's not sure what to call it, but it involves: - a badly-paid job in Hong Kong, teaching English grammar to rich children; - Julian, who likes to spend money on Ava and lets her move into his guest room; - Edith, who Ava meets while Julian is out of town and actually listens to her when she talks; - money, love, cynicism, unspoken feelings and unlikely connections.
This is an acutely self conscious and clever tale.
Exile, Aimee Walsh - hardback May 24
£16.99
Leaving home was hard. Returning is impossible. Fiadh's life is turned completely upside down on a night out in Belfast.
Pretty soon everyone has heard about what happened; it is impossible to keep the rumours from spreading, the gossip from spiralling out of control. And just as she was beginning to finally figure everything out: she was feeling positive about her move to Liverpool, she was starting to get on top of her uni work and had made some new friends. Now her life is in freefall and Fiadh is helpless to do anything about it.
She starts missing assignment deadlines, stops turning up to class and doesn't respond to any of her friends' messages. Her nights revolve around random hook ups, fuelled by drink and drugs. Without the tightknit group of friends she left behind at home or the support of the new friends she has made in Liverpool, Fiadh's life quickly descends into chaos, a chaos that nearly costs her everything.
Aimée holds a PhD in Irish Literature and Cultural History. Exile is her debut novel.
Eyewitness to War and Peace, Eamonn Mallie ( paperback Feb 2024)
£17.99
In this gripping memoir, Eamonn Mallie takes us on an extraordinary journey through his life as a journalist in Northern Ireland. From the frontlines of the Troubles to the corridors of power, Mallie’s fearless reporting and unrelenting pursuit of the truth have made him a legendary figure in Irish journalism. Having gained unparalleled access to key players, Mallie shares his reflections on his groundbreaking interviews with John Hume, Gerry Adams, Margaret Thatcher, Ian Paisley, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and a host of other influential figures involved in the peace process. From adrenaline-fuelled moments on the ground to frank conversations with political heavyweights, Eyewitness to War and Peace is a captivating read that sheds new light on the challenges and triumphs of navigating the world of journalism in a divided society. An unflinching testament to the power of investigative reporting and the enduring pursuit of peace, this is a must-read for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of Northern Ireland’s troubled past and its hopeful future.
Falling Animals, Sheila Armstrong ( Paperback from July 2024)
£14.99
'Lush, lyrical and cleverly-constructed. A beautiful book.' Louise Kennedy, author of Trespasses The disquieting story of an unidentified man as told by those who crossed paths with him on the last day of his life, Sheila Armstrong's debut novel is haunting, lyrical and darkly suspensefulOn an isolated beach set against a lonely, windswept coastline, a pale figure sits serenely against a sand dune staring out to sea. His hands are folded neatly in his lap, his ankles are crossed and there is a faint smile on his otherwise lifeless face.
Months later, after a fruitless investigation, the nameless stranger is buried in an unmarked grave. But the mystery of his life and death lingers on, drawing the nearby villagers into its wake. From strandings to shipwrecks, it is not the first time that strangeness has washed up on their shores.
Told through a chorus of voices, Falling Animals follows the crosshatching threads of lives both true and imagined, real and surreal, past and present. Slowly, over great time and distance, the story of one man, alone on a beach, begins to unravel. Elegiac and atmospheric, dark and disquieting, Sheila Armstrong's debut novel marks her arrival as one of the most uniquely gifted writers at work in literary fiction today.
Paperback from May 2024
Foster, Claire Keegan ( paperback)
£8.99
From the author of the Booker-shortlisted Small Things Like These, a heartbreaking, haunting story of childhood, loss and love by one of Ireland's most acclaimed writers. 'A real jewel.' Irish Independent'A small miracle.' Sunday Times'A thing of finely honed beauty.' Guardian'Thrilling.' Richard Ford'As good as Chekhov.' David MitchellIt is a hot summer in rural Ireland. A girl is sent to live with foster parents on a farm, not knowing when she will return home.
In the strangers' house, she finds a warmth and affection she has not known before and slowly begins to blossom in their care. But in a house where there are meant to be no secrets, she discovers how fragile her idyll is.
Now a stunning and emotional film, The Quiet Girl ( part Irish / Eng with subtitles)
Frogs for Watchdogs, Sean Farrell ( large paperback Feb 2025)
£14.99
After years of moving from place to place, a young family finds shelter in an isolated house in the Irish countryside. Their father is missing, Mum is a healer and B a formidable big sister. In his strange new territory, a wild little boy gives voice to his experience.
Jerry Drain, a local famer, is stealing hay from the barn, someone is making nasty phone calls to the house at night and darkness is gathering at the edges of their lives. With his ferocious imagination the boy will do everything in his power to protect his family. But Jerry will not go away and Mum seems to be falling under his spell.
It will be a year of major wins and baffling defeats for the boy, as Jerry’s true nature insists on revealing itself. Dark, funny, tender and raw, Frogs for Watchdogs thrums with the intensity of childhood. Above all, it is an ode to the blended family: the bewildering joy, wary safety and profound new bonds of love.
I loved the boy's voice in this, how one feels his dark and sinister suspicions and how that too, gradually lifts. A clever and beguiling narrative... Linda
Ghost Mountain, Rónán Hession ( hardback May 2024)
£18.00
Ghost Mountain, is a simple fable-like novel about a mountain that appears suddenly, and the way in which its manifestation ripples through the lives of characters in the surrounding community. It looks at the uncertain fragile sense of self we hold inside ourselves, and our human compulsion to project it into the uncertain world around us, whether we're ready or not. It is also about the presence of absence, and how it shadows us in our lives.
Mountains are at once unmistakably present yet never truly fathomable.
Ronan's writing is sublimely simple, yet moving - a real favourite of mine. Linda
Grapefruit Moon, Shirley McMillan ( paperback August 2023)
£8.99
Wealthy, popular Charlotte and quiet, working class Drew couldn't be more different, but both face a common enemy at Cooke's Academy in the form of the Stewards - an elite group of students whose power to manipulate school culture is feared by pupils and teachers alike. Drew, a newcomer to Cooke's, must navigate the strict codes of masculinity laid down by the Stewards in order to have a hope of moving on to university, while Charlotte dreams of speaking freely about the constraints and abuses of the culture which is propelling her towards a life she's not sure she wants. Through drag art and poetry the unlikely pair follow a dangerous trajectory which will lead them closer to one another and further away from the paths laid out for them.
SMcM is brilliant at talking the language of the 15+, not patronising or didactic, she really 'gets' the age group and her stories are gripping. Not just for the teens either! L
Greener, Grainne Murphy ( paperback May 2024)
£9.99
As teenagers, Helen, Annie and Laura were inseparable, bonding over family, boys, and their dreams for the future. But when school ended, so did their friendship.
Twenty-five years later, a snowstorm forces the three women to spend time together, leaving them wondering if they can reconcile the gap between who they are and who they used to be.
GREENER is an exploration of the changing dynamics of adult friendships and asks whether old friends can ever let us become new people.
'Heartbreaking, philosophical and funny' Niamh Prior
'Set in the latter days of the pandemic, Greener is a quiet yet powerful novel which examines the nature of friendship and the compromises that people make in their lives' Madeleine D'Arcy
'Murphy is an accomplished writer with the gift of transferring everyday life onto the page assuredly' Anne Griffin
‘Gráinne Murphy's keen-eyed exploration of the complexities of adult friendship brims with warmth and humour' Danielle McLaughlin
Hagstone, Sinead Gleeson ( hardback April 2024)
£16.99
The haunting debut novel from beloved, Irish no. 1 bestselling author, Sinéad Gleeson. The sea is steady for now.The land readies itself. What can be done with the woman on the cliff? On a wild and rugged island cut off and isolated to some, artist Nell feels the island is her home. It is the source of inspiration for her art, rooted in landscape, folklore and the feminine.
The mysterious Inions, a commune of women who have travelled there from all over the world, consider it a place of refuge and safety, of solace in nature. All the islanders live alongside the strange murmurings that seem to emanate from within the depths of the island, a sound that is almost supernatural – a Summoning as the Inions call it. One day, a letter arrives at Nell’s door from the reclusive Inions who invite Nell into the commune for a commission to produce a magnificent art piece to celebrate their long history.
In its creation, Nell will discover things about the community and about herself that will challenge everything she thought she knew. Beautifully written, prescient and eerily haunting, Sinéad Gleeson’s debut novel takes in the darker side of human nature and the mysteries of faith and the natural world.
Hagstone, Sinead Gleeson ( paperback March 2025)
£9.99
For artist Nell, the island is her home and the source of inspiration for her art.
The Iníons, a reclusive community of women, consider it a place of refuge and solace in nature. All the islanders live there alongside strange murmurings that seem to emanate from the depths of the landscape, a sound that is almost supernatural – a Summoning, as the Iníons call it. One day, a letter from the Iníons arrives at Nell’s door.
They invite her to produce an artwork celebrating their Samhain anniversary and Nell cannot resist accepting. But as the fateful day approaches, Nell senses tensions building beneath the placid surface of the commune. Will she be able to unearth the truth behind the events unfolding around her? And how far will someone go to protect what they hold most dear? Beautifully written and gripping, Sinéad Gleeson’s debut novel takes in the darker side of human nature and the mysteries of faith and the natural world.
Perfect for readers of Margaret Atwood and Sarah Moss.
Happy Couple, Naoise Dolan (paperback April 2024)
£9.99
Meet the happy couple. Luke and Celine, are in mutual unrequited love with each other, set to marry in a year's time. The best man, Archie, is meant to want to move up the corporate ladder and on from his love for Luke; yet he stands where he is, admiring the view.
The bridesmaid, Phoebe, Celine's sister, has no long-term aspirations beyond smoking her millionth cigarette and getting to the bottom of Luke's frequent unexplained disappearances. Then there's the guest, Vivian, who with the benefit of some emotional distance, methodically observes her friends like ants. As the wedding approaches and these five lives intersect, each character will find themselves looking for a path to their happily ever after - but does it lie at the end of an aisle? Naoise Dolan, author of Exciting Times, makes the Marriage Plot entirely her own in a sparkling ensemble novel that is both ferociously clever and supremely enjoyable.
Harpy, Caroline Magennis ( hardback May 2024)
£18.99
Harpy is a tonic; a tongue-in-cheek manual for dealing with Spanish Inquisition-style questioning about saying pass to procreation and building an enriching life beyond the nuclear family' VOGUE'
Harpy made me nod in recognition, and shake my head with sorrow, and then it made me laugh out loud' EMILIE PINE, author of NOTES TO SELF and RUTH & PEN
Each generation has more childfree women than the one before. For many, it is an active decision made for a wide range of reasons. Despite this growing trend, we continue to live in a society where women are often judged for deciding to remain childfree - for not conforming to narrow expectations.
For being a Harpy. In this timely and thoughtful book, Caroline Magennis looks beyond the often-divisive conversation around women who choose to be childfree and offers an alternative message of hope and celebration. With humour and intelligence, she explores why motherhood isn't right for everybody and how any woman - whether a parent or childfree - can live a full life, while also reminding the reader that your freedoms and the right to autonomy should never be taken for granted.
Heart Be At Peace, Donal Ryan ( Hardback August 2024)
£16.99
Some things can send a heart spinning; others will crack it in two... In a small town in rural Ireland, the local people have weathered the storms of economic collapse and are looking towards the future. The jobs are back, the dramas of the past seemingly lulled, and although the town bears the marks of its history, new stories are unfolding.
But a fresh menace is creeping around the lakeshore and the lanes of the town, and the peace of the community is about to be shattered in an unimaginable way. Young people are being drawn towards the promise of fast money whilst the generation above them tries to push back the tide of an enemy no one can touch…Told in twenty-one voices, Heart, be at Peace is a heartfelt, lyrical novel that can be read independently, or as a companion to Donal Ryan’s multi-award-winning novel, The Spinning Heart, voted ‘The Irish Book of the Decade’. *****
