Local Writers
We are lucky to have such energy and talent in our pool of local writers. Louise Kennedy is making a huge international impact with her short stories and then best selling novel Trespasses, but there are many others too! Anna Burns has won NI its first Booker Prize, for Milkman.
Pauline Burgess, Sheena Wilkinson and Kelly McCaughrain are inspiring our young writers with their teen/YA fiction, whilst Jan Carson, Michelle Gallen, Susannah Dickey, Rosemary Jenkins, Jamie Guiney, Olivia Rana and Bernie McGill are producing compelling short stories and fiction, to name but a few. Come in and browse or email for recommendations.
Thriller lovers are well catered for by Claire Allan, Sharon Dempsey and Steve Cavanagh, plus many others writing in the south of Ireland.
We also try to support debut writers and those just starting out on their publishing journey, by stocking their books in store - look out for Jim Simpson, Rosemary Mairs and others in store. Please email to ask for new writing recommendations.
And of course, the wonderful children and picture book writers, such as the by now legendary Oliver Jeffers ( yes, he's from Northern Ireland!), Barry Falls, Chris Haughton, Paddy Donnelly, Martin Waddell and other new and emerging authors and illustrators.
Dara McNulty and Kerri Ni Dochartaigh are bringing new insights to nature writing for young and old.
And politics ... always a fresh take, always someone with brains to consider how best to address this troubled corner of the world. Look to Glenn Paterson, Malachi O'Doherty, Eamonn Mallie and Susan McKay for insight and wisdom.
Look! It’s a Woman Writer! Edited By Eilis Ni Dhuibhne (paperback, April 2021)
£30.00
This is a scholarly and yet intensely readable book. It takes female writers who were largely born in the 1950's and asks each one to reflect on her experience of being published, read and taken seriously as a writer in Ireland. The vast majority of these women do so, against a backdrop of raising families, holding down 'proper' jobs and generally swimming against the tide of what is expected from them. I found it inspiring, and humbling. In the words of Mark Twain, many of us might say "I'm writing a novel" to which his sharp reply was "Neither am I". These pioneers demonstrated through sheer will and dedication , to actually follow through. Some are more personal, some more academic, but an essential read for anyone interested in gender studies, writing in Ireland and creative endeavour.
Maybe, Chris Haughton ( paperback April 2021)
£7.99
From Chris Haughton comes a funny, suspenseful and keenly observed cautionary tale about pushing boundaries and indulging your more mischievous, cheeky side (when nobody is looking). Three little monkeys, and their big monkey, are sat high up on their branch in the forest canopy. "Ok, monkeys! I'm off," says the big monkey."Now remember. Whatever you do, do NOT go down to the mango tree. There are tigers down there." Mmm ... mangos! think the little monkeys. They LOVE mangos. Hmm ...
maybe ... maybe they could just look at the mangos? That'd be ok, right?
Milkman, by Anna Burns ( paperback 2019)
£9.99
Longlisted for the 2018 Booker Prize.
Anna Burns is originally from Belfast but is now based in England.
Milkman is “ a story of hearsay, silence and deliberate deafness. It is the story of inaction with enormous consequences “
Powerful, stream of consciousness prose that feels exhausting but gets under your skin as an astute account of Northern Ireland’s social landscape, and ultimately delivers humour, and insight -it's quite brilliant.
In an unnamed city, where to be interesting is dangerous, an eighteen-year-old woman has attracted the unwanted and unavoidable attention of a powerful and frightening older man, 'Milkman'. In this community, where suggestions quickly become fact, where gossip and hearsay can lead to terrible consequences, what can she do to stop a rumour once it has started? Milkman is persistent, the word is spreading, and she is no longer in control . .
Molly and the Sock Bunny, Jess M Jez ( paperback, 2024)
£7.99
Local author Jessica has created not just a sock bunny, but a lovely story for children who might be feeling a bit nervous about things. First in the book comes the story, of Molly who doesn't really want to spend a night away from her own house and stay with Granny.
Then Granny comes up with the ingenious idea of the sock bunny with his big ears for whispering all your worries into. The latter part of the book helpfully tells you how to make a sock bunny from an old pair of socks! ( with a QR code to a video tutorial as well)
Mrs Harts Marriage Bureau, Sheena Wilkinson ( paperback March 2024)
£9.99
In a world of lonely hearts, are there enough happy endings to go around? Marriage matchmaker seeks assistant; discretion essential, rose-tinted glasses optional… Matchmaker Martha Hart never got her happy ending: the Great War destroyed those dreams. Instead, her life's mission is to bring hope to other lonely hearts, though eligible bachelors are thin on the ground in 1930s Yorkshire.She hopes her new assistant, April McVey, will breathe new life into the bureau. The irrepressible Irish girl with the knack for putting her foot in it is full of modern ideas, but doesn't appear to have a romantic bone in her body. When lonely widower Fabian, and his enigmatic sister require their help, the bureau face their toughest challenge.
Are Martha and April about to discover that in the search for love, it's possible to find something else that's just as wonderful…? ‘A briskly witty delight’ Irish Times 'A charming treat of a novel, full of heart and hope' Hazel Gaynor
One Day At a Time, Hilary Scott ( paperback April 2022)
£11.99
Hilary Scott is a psychologist and bereavement counsellor. Her book is based on years of personal experience and training, supporting the bereaved through a structure and pace that offers practical and psychological support on a day by day basis.
A thoughtful gift for anyone going through the different phases of grief, to understand that this range of emotions is normal and part of the healing process. A really practical and comforting guide.
Openings, Lucy Caldwell ( paperback May 2024)
£14.99
The much-anticipated new collection from the BBC National Short Story Award-winning author of Multitudes and Intimacies.
I still sometimes wonder if one could draw a window in the wall, or in the air, and step through it together. To somewhere else, entirely new. From a passionate affair in Blitz-era London, to a highly charged Christmas party in Belfast, to a trip to Marrakech which could form a new family, the thirteen striking stories of Openings pulse with possibility and illuminate those fleeting but recognisable moments of heartbreak and hope that can change the course of a life.
'It takes a writer as subtle, compassionate and clear-eyed as Caldwell to track the hidden forces that work upon us, to illuminate our secret selves. This is prose that liberates.'CLAIRE KILROY
People in Glasshouses, M R O’Donnell ( paperback March 2023)
£14.99
People in Glasshouses: An Exploration of Restoration and Transformation
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with the fundamental nature of reality, existence, and the relationship between mind and matter. It is a powerful lens through which one can view the world and themselves, and it has become increasingly important in the fields of restoration and transformation, particularly in the context of Palm Houses/Glasshouses and personal development. In his debut book, M.R. O’Donnell engages a deep dive into these themes.
The concept of restoration involves the preservation and renewal of something that has been lost or damaged. In the case of Palm Houses/Glasshouses, restoration is often necessary to maintain the structural integrity of the building and the health of the plants inside. Metaphysically speaking, restoration is about returning something to its original state of being, bringing it back to a state of wholeness and harmony. This is the difficult, complex and nuanced journey M.R. O’Donnell courageously undertakes.
In order to achieve restoration, it is necessary to first understand the fundamental nature of the thing being restored. This requires a metaphysical stance that goes beyond the surface level and delves deeper into the essence of the thing itself. By understanding the true nature of the Palm House/Glasshouse and the plants within it, one can better understand the root causes of any damage or deterioration and work to address them at their source. What about self? M.R. O’Donnell not only poses questions, but also answers. And, they are not always what one might expect.
Research has shown that taking a metaphysical stance in the restoration process can have a significant impact on the final outcome. For example, a study conducted by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew found that incorporating metaphysical principles into the restoration of the Palm House resulted in a more harmonious and sustainable structure, with plants that were healthier and more vibrant.
Transformation, on the other hand, is about changing something into a new form or state of being. In the context of Palm Houses/Glasshouses, transformation might involve redesigning the layout of the building or introducing new plant species. Metaphysically speaking, transformation is about tapping into the underlying potential and energy of a thing and using that to bring about change. Change in self and better understanding of self is surely something we should all strive for.
Priya Mistry and the Paw Prints Puzzle, Babita Sharma (Hardback March 2024)
£12.99
Introducing Priya Mistry - corner shop super sleuth! She's a Mistry by name, and mysteries are her game. When some puzzling paw prints appear on the floor of her family's corner shop, Priya grabs her mission kit and kicks off an investigation. Can Priya crack the case and uncover the mysterious creature before it eats all the food in the shop?This is a fantastically fun and mischievously mysterious picture book that is perfect for little detectives!
Great for ages 3 - 6
Quickly, While They Still Have Horses, by Jan Carson ( hardback April 2024)
£9.99
Now in paperback from Feb 2025
In sixteen sparkling stories, Jan Carson introduces us to worlds and characters that feel real enough to touch. All of life is here: the thrill of growing up, the grief when youth is over; first love, mature love, parenthood and loss - all shot through with profound compassion, warm wit, and boundless imagination.
In 'A Certain Degree of Ownership', a distracted couple on a beach fail to notice their baby crawl perilously towards the sea. In 'Troubling the Water', a rumour spreads at a public swimming pool and chaos ensues. In 'Fair Play' a dishevelled father loses his two sons in an adventure park.
Every so often, an irresistible suggestion of the other world will surprise and delight, reaffirming Carson as a thrillingly original and audacious talent, and making Quickly, While They Still Have Horses the perfect introduction for readers new to her work. If you enjoyed Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected, you will like this!
Rathlin : A Wild Life, by Ruby Free ( paperback Sept 2024)
£12.99
In 2021, Ruby Free, 21, got her dream job working on an RSPB reserve. But this position wasn’t for the faint hearted – it meant moving to live on Rathlin Island, off the County Antrim coast. One of the wildest and most biodiverse corners of the UK and Ireland, to Ruby, who had grown up in the south-west of England, it felt both thrilling and very far from home.
Ruby thought she knew what wildness was but arriving on the island alongside a quarter of a million seabirds, her perception of it changed forever. From swimming with seals and late-night trips to hear the call of the corncrake, to spotting dolphins from her front door and getting to know some very special seabirds, this is the story of Ruby’s time on Rathlin. It’s also the story of what happened next – how Ruby took everything she’d learned through living on the island to the following stage of her life.
Heartfelt, impassioned and full of joy, Rathlin, A Wild Life is a love letter to the island and the wildlife Ruby finds there, but it’s also a call to action; a reminder of everything we stand to lose if we don’t change.
Shannon Country, Paul Clements ( large paperback, Sept 2020)
£13.99
In August 1939 the Irish travel writer Richard Hayward set out on a road trip to explore the Shannon region just two weeks before the Second World War broke out. His evocative account of that trip, Where the River Shannon Flows, became a bestseller. The book, still sought after by lovers of the river, captures an Ireland of small shops and barefoot street urchins that has long since disappeared.
Eighty years on, inspired by his work, Paul Clements retraces Hayward's journey along the river, following - if not strictly in his footsteps - then within the spirit of his trip. From the Shannon Pot in Cavan, 344 kilometres south to the Shannon estuary, his meandering odyssey takes him by car, on foot, and by bike and boat, discovering how the riverscape has changed but is still powerful in symbolism. While he recreates Hayward's trip, Clements also paints a compelling portrait of twenty-first century Ireland, mingling travel and anecdote with an eye for the natural world.
He sails to remote islands, spends times in rural backwaters and secluded riverside villages where the pub is the hub, and attempts a quest for the Shannon connection behind the title of Flann O'Brien's novel At Swim-Two-Birds. On a quixotic journey by foot, boat, bike and car, Paul Clements produces an intimate portrait of the hidden countryside, its people, topography and wildlife, creating a collective memory map, looking at what has been lost and what has changed. Beyond the motorways and cities, you can still catch the pulse of an older, quieter Ireland of hay meadows and bogs, uninhabited islands and remote towpaths. This is the country of the River Shannon that runs through literature, art, cultural history and mythology with a riptide pull on our imagination.
* signed copies available *
She And I, Hannah King (paperback 19 Jan 23)
£8.99
She and I : gripping psychological suspense from a fantastic new Northern Irish voice
Not only beautifully written but gripping and full of soul' SARAH PEARSE, author of THE SANATORIUM'
Best friends share everything. But murder is different. Isn't it? Keeley and Jude are closer than blood. They share everything: clothes, secrets, drinks - and blame. So when they wake up after a New Year's party to find Keeley's boyfriend stabbed to death beside them, they agree to share one more thing: the story they'll tell the police. But who is their story really meant to protect? As the murder investigation begins to send uncomfortable ripples through their community, the history of the girls' claustrophobic relationship comes under scrutiny, will the girls find there's such a thing as sharing too much?'
A taut and unrelenting mystery, expertly woven with the bruising drama of girlhood' ANNA BAILEY, author of TALL BONES
Skittles, Neil Speers ( paperback June 2022)
£9.99
An eclectic set of short stories, written in verse, and often using the North Antrim vernacular.
Beautifully illustrated on front cover with Neil's own art.
Snowflake, Louise Nealon ( Paperback April 2022)
£9.99
Tender, laugh-out-loud funny, and deeply moving' Louise O'Neill, author of After the Silence
Eighteen-year-old Debbie White lives on a dairy farm with her mother, Maeve, and her uncle, Billy. Billy sleeps out in a caravan in the garden with a bottle of whiskey and the stars overhead for company. Maeve spends her days recording her dreams, which she believes to be prophecies.
This world is Debbie's normal, but she is about to step into life as a student at Trinity College in Dublin. As she navigates between sophisticated new friends and the family bubble, things begin to unravel. Maeve's eccentricity tilts into something darker, while Billy's drinking gets worse.
Debbie struggles to cope with the weirdest, most difficult parts of herself, her family and her small life. But the fierce love of the White family is never in doubt, and Debbie discovers that even the oddest of families are places of safety. A startling, honest, laugh and cry novel about growing up and leaving home, only to find that you've taken it with you, Snowflake is a novel for a generation, and for everyone who's taken those first, terrifying steps towards adulthood.
Spies in Canaan, David Park ( paperback May 2023)
£8.99
Michael has travelled a long way from his boyhood under the endless skies of the Midwest. His retirement is peaceful, if solitary. But one day there is a visitation: a mysterious car on the seafront, and a package delivered.
From its contents, Michael understands that he has been commissioned to undertake a final journey. As Michael makes his way deep into a distant desert - a strange and liminal landscape that lies between hell and redemption - he undertakes another journey, into long-suppressed memories: of Vietnam and the dying days of war, and to face a final accounting for what was done. Taut, atmospheric and moving, Spies in Canaan is a powerful elegy to the pain of love, the guilt of old age, and the grace of atonement.
'It is seldom that one can say a book is perfect, but this is as close as I've seen in a very long time' SUNDAY INDEPENDENT'
Stuck in the Middle with Ewe, Holly Crawford ( paperback April 2022)
£9.99
Stuck in the Middle with Ewe: or how I lost my heart and found my flock in Northern Ireland', is a chaotic, funny and poignant tale, recounting how an English journalist fell in love with a Northern Irish farmer, his sheep and a new way of life. Holly Crawford has finally found the man of her dreams. This is good.Unfortunately he lives 500 miles away on the other side of the Irish Sea. This is bad. Never one to do things by halves, Holly decides there's only one thing for it: she will marry him (during a pandemic) and relocate to his homeland.
Having swapped deadlines for dairies and suits for Wellington boots, she's soon causing chaos as she encounters cantankerous cows, riotous rams and cute lambs while finding out just what it takes to be a farmer's wife. She has one husband, 200 sheep and not a clue.
Sweet Home, Wendy Erskine ( short story), paperback June 2020
£9.99
A gripping, wonderfully understated book that oozes humanity, emotion and humour.' Guardian
Warm, compassionate and funny, Sweet Home captures life in contemporary East Belfast, in all of its forms. Set in the author's native Belfast, the ten stories in Sweet Home lay bare the heartbreak and quiet tragedies that run under the surface of everyday lives. A lonely woman is fascinated by her niqab-wearing neighbours; a middle-aged teacher becomes obsessed with a young Gaelic football player; and an employer covers for his two employees caught having sex in a public toilet. Wendy Erskine offers perfectly formed, brilliantly observed portraits of people trying to carve out a life for themselves, all the while being buffeted by the loss, grief and regret that come their way.
Winner of the 2020 Butler Literary Award, Shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize 2019, Shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize 2019, Longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award 2019'A Book of the Year in the Guardian, The White Review, Observer, New Statesman, TLS.
Sword of the War God, Tim Hodkinson ( hardback and paperback 2024)
£20.00
Featuring breathtaking battles, fearsome foes, and vehement vows of vengeance, SWORD OF THE WAR GOD is an epic historical adventure adventure set amongst the blood and tumult of fifth-century Europe, where the dying Roman Empire, the mighty Huns, and heroes from Norse mythology vie for power. 'Epic, violent storytelling and great fun to read' The Times'Tim Hodkinson has created a fascinating and undeniably epic tale... Highly recommended!' Theodore Brun'A relentless tale from start to finish that will leave you breathless for more.' Richard CullenIn a world of war and ruin, men and gods collide.
436 AD. The Burgundars are confident of destroying Rome's legions, for the Empire is weak. Their forces are strong and they have beaten the Romans in battle before.
But they are annihilated, their king killed, his people scattered. Their fabled treasure is lost. For Rome has new allies: the Huns, whose taste for bloodshed knows no bounds.
Many years later, the Huns, led by the fearsome Attila, have become the deadliest enemies of Rome. Attila seeks the Burgundars’ treasure, for it includes the legendary Sword of the War God, said to make the bearer unbeatable. No alliance can defeat Attila by conventional means.
With Rome desperate for help, a one-eyed old warlord from distant lands and his strange band of warriors may have the answers... but oaths will be broken and the plains of Europe will run with blood before the end. Drawing on Norse mythology and European history, Sword of the War God is an epic historical adventure perfect for fans of Bernard Cornwell, Joanne Harris, Neil Gaiman and Christian Cameron.
Taking liberties, Leontia Flynn ( paperback August 2023)
£12.00
These poems emerge from the experience of being a single mother in Belfast, and against a background of seemingly continuous crisis. Political upheaval and anxiety, violence and death are all registered in these poems, which ask questions about where independence is balanced by our relationships with others, and where our inner lives meet the globally connected world.
These are poems about cities - living, travelling and working in cities, getting sick and dying in cities - but also about retreating from all that: to her daughter at home, the budgie, cat and tortoise, or escaping to the park, the municipal pool, the Irish countryside, Newfoundland, or Paris, or into a Nina Simone song.
This is a necessary book - a book very much of our time - with a consistent tone that is brave and bleak, but which also carries with it some much-needed humour, and a wealth of beautiful writing.
Everyone should be reading her' OBSERVER
Tennis Lessons, Susannah Dickey ( paperback April 2021)
£9.99
For readers who want to laugh and cry: the brave, beautiful, sometimes brutal story of a young misfit and her rocky road to womanhood, stopping at each year along the way. 'I loved Tennis Lessons so much' ELIZABETH DAY
You're strange and wrong. You've known it from the beginning.
This is the voice that rings in your ears. Because you never say the right thing. You're a disappointment to everyone.
You're a far cry from beautiful - and your thoughts are ugly too. You seem bound to fail, bound to break. But you know what it is to laugh with your best friend, to feel the first tentative tingles of attraction, to take exquisite pleasure in the affront of your unruly body.
You just need to find your place. From dead pets and crashed cars to family traumas and misguided love affairs, Susannah Dickey's revitalizing debut novel plunges us into the private world of one young woman as she navigates her rocky way to adulthood. 'Brilliant .
. . stays in the mind long after reading' IRISH TIMES'A beautifully written and psychologically incisive bildungsroman...the arrival of a young writer to watch' OBSERVER
The End of The World is A Cul De Sac, Louise Kennedy ( paperback May 2022)
£9.99
A SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR
The secrets people kept, the lies they told. In these visceral, stunningly crafted stories, people are effortlessly cruel to one another, and the natural world is a primitive salve.
Here, women are domestically trapped by predatorial men, Ireland's folklore and politics loom large, and poverty - material, emotional, sexual - seeps through every crack. A wife is abandoned by her new husband in a ghost estate, with blood on her hands; a young woman is tormented by visions of the man murdered by her brother during the Troubles; a pregnant mother fears the worst as her husband grows illegal cannabis with the help of a vulnerable teenage girl; a woman struggles to forgive herself after an abortion threatens to destroy her marriage. Announcing a major new voice in literary fiction for the twenty-first century, these sharp shocks of stories offer flashes of beauty, and even humour, amidst the harshest of truths.
The Epic Trilogy of the Squirrels, David Mitchell ( paperback June 2023)
£7.99
This is a really funny and cute set of 3 stories about squirrels who normally live in the park but find themselves in all sorts of scrapes including turning up at the airport.
Lovingly written by local dad ( and eminent QUB professor), illustrated by his daughter, and raising library book funds for local primary school Strandtown.
What a brilliant thing :)
The Fire Starters, Jan Carson (Paperback, March 2020)
£9.99
**WINNER of the EU Prize for Literature**'One of the most exciting and original Northern Irish writers of her generation' SUNDAY TIMES'
At once grittily real, wildly magical and insanely alluring - a siren-song of a novel (Donal Ryan)
Dr Jonathan Murray fears his new-born daughter is not as harmless as she seems. Sammy Agnew is wrestling with his dark past, and fears the violence in his blood lurks in his son, too.
The city is in flames and the authorities are losing control. As matters fall into frenzy, and as the lines between fantasy and truth, right and wrong, begin to blur, who will these two fathers choose to protect?Dark, propulsive and thrillingly original, this tale of fierce familial love and sacrifice fizzes with magic and wonder.
Jan Carson's distinctive voice brings Belfast alive in this original novel, I thoroughly enjoyed it. - Linda
The First Move, Jenny Ireland ( paperback April 2023)
£8.99
For 13+ and adults like me who enjoy a good YA read!
Juliet believes girls like her - girls with arthritis - don't get their own love stories. She exists at the edges of her friends' social lives, skipping parties to play online chess under a pseudonym with strangers around the world. There, she isn't just 'the girl with crutches'.
Ronan is the new kid: good looking, smart, a bad boy plagued by guilt over what happened to his brother Ciaran. Chesslife is his escape. Juliet thinks Ronan thinks someone like Ronan could never be interested in someone like her - and she wouldn't want him to be anyway - he always acts like he's cooler than everyone else. Little do they know they've already discovered each other online, and have more in common than they think . . .
From Spring 2024, Jenny has another new teen book out, The Boy Next Door, also available below!
The Ghost Limb, Claire Mitchell ( November 2022, paperback)
£15.00
Where did the spirit of 1798 go?
Did northern Protestants forget their history?
Who are the keepers of the flame?
In The Ghost Limb a group of northern Protestants retrace the steps of the United Irishmen, who worked for the unity of Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter over two hundred years ago. In a quest to reconnect with this lost heritage, they walk and talk their way through the landscapes of County Down and Antrim. They go to political meetings, take Irish language classes, visit graveyards, pubs, churches and protests. They commune with radical ghosts and personal ancestors. And they chalk messages on walls.
As they search for the spirit of 1798, they bring a new politics alive in the present. They begin to imagine a different future.
The book pulls together history, politics and personal stories, with a little magical thinking, to bring alternative Protestant identities back into the light.
The Golden Hare, Paddy Donnelly (paperback from Feb 2025)
£13.99
Meara and Grandad set out on a journey to find the Golden Hare, a mythical, shape-shifting creature that can jump to the moon in two-and-a-half leaps! Along the way, they discover all sorts of treasures in the trees, under the ground and in the waves. And who knows where that clever Golden Hare might be hiding ...
A gorgeous story and illustration from Northern Irish illustrator and author Paddy Donnelly, who is always generous with his time and calls in to sign his books when he's in Belfast :)
paperback 9781788495950 available from Feb 2025
The Raptures, Jan Carson ( paperback from Jan 2023)
£9.99
When several children from the same village start succumbing to a mysterious illness, the quest to discover the cause has devastating and extraordinary consequences. It is late June in Ballylack. Hannah Adger anticipates eight long weeks' reprieve from school, but when her classmate Ross succumbs to a violent and mysterious illness, it marks the beginning of a summer like no other.As others fall ill, questions about what - or who - is responsible pitch the village into conflict and fearful disarray. Hannah is haunted by guilt as she remains healthy while her friends are struck down. Isolated and afraid, she prays for help.
Elsewhere in the village, tempers simmer, panic escalates and long-buried secrets threaten to emerge. Bursting with Carson's trademark wit, profound empathy and soaring imagination, The Raptures explores how tragedy can unite a small community - and tear it apart. At its heart is the extraordinary resilience of one young girl.
As the world crumbles around her, she must find the courage to be different in a place where conforming feels like the only option available. Darkly funny, highly inventive and deeply moving, The Raptures is an unmissable novel of 2022.
The Roads That Lead Us Home, Lynne Kennedy ( paperback July 2024)
£10.99
Amsterdam 1648, Captain Andrew Ross, a young soldier of the Scots Brigade serving in the Dutch Republic falls in love with the beautiful Catharina Meyer, daughter of a rich merchant family of Amsterdam. Newly married Captain Andrew begins to plan a life for himself and his bride in his beloved Scotland but soon the newly weds find themselves caught up in a web of deception and lies which changes the course of their young lives forever.
New England 2016 and Janey McKay leaves New York and makes her way back to her childhood home after the collapse of her marriage. She fills her first long, lonely New England winter by joining the local Historical Society, embarking on a journey of ancestral discovery which takes her back along the ancient roads of Scotland, Ireland and The Netherlands in search of her ancestors. What she discovers challenges everything she thought she knew about her family's past.
The Saint of Lost Things, Tish Delaney ( paperback April 2023)
£8.99
Lindy Morris is stuck. She lives in rural Ireland, banished to a lonely bungalow by her Granda Morris, with only her Auntie Bell and the TV for company. But one day Lindy realises that life is not quite what she thought it was: her mother's disappearance and her own lost years need to be brought out into the light.Suddenly Lindy is awake, uncovering the very secrets that will release her from her past. Told with devastating wit and poignancy, THE SAINT OF LOST THINGS is the triumphant story of an unlikely heroine as she makes her bid for freedom.
The Slain Birds, Michael Longley ( paperback Sept 2022)
£12.99
Michael Longley's new collection takes its title from Dylan Thomas - 'for the sake of the souls of the slain birds sailing'.The Slain Birds encompasses souls, slayings and many birds, both dead and alive. The first poem laments a tawny owl killed by a car. That owl reappears later in 'Totem', which represents the book itself as 'a star-surrounded totem pole/ With carvings of all the creatures'.
'Slain birds' exemplify our impact on the creatures and the planet. But, in this book's cosmic ecological scheme, birds are predators too, and coronavirus is 'the merlin we cannot see'. Longley's soul-landscape seems increasingly haunted by death, as he revisits the Great War, the Holocaust and Homeric bloodshed, with their implied counterparts today.
Yet his microcosmic Carrigskeewaun remains a precarious 'home' for the human family. It engenders 'Otter-sightings, elvers, leverets, poetry'. Among Longley's images for poetry are crafts that conserve or recycle natural materials: carving, silversmithing, woodturning, embroidery.
This suggests the versatility with which he remakes his own art. Two granddaughters 'weave a web from coloured strings' and hang it up 'to trap a big idea'. The interlacing lyrics of The Slain Birds are such a web.
The Sun Is Open, Gail McConnell (paperback 2021)
£9.99
The Sun is Open sifts through a boxed archive of public and private materials related to the life and death of the author's father, who was murdered by the IRA outside their Belfast home in 1984. Moving between child and adult voices, past and present, this startlingly innovative debut attempts to decode the fragments left behind and, with them, piece together a history and a life. 'Each page of The Sun Is Open is rich with exquisite and surprising language, pain, and wisdom.' - Maggie Nelson'The Sun is Open employs a grammar in which everything is significant, from Wendy Houses, to the very hairs of your head, to the poetry of First Aid instructions, to slaters.This is meticulous and painstaking - sometimes pain-making work - making the words fit the columns, be they inches of newsprint or entries in an Account Book, negotiating or nudging the meanings into alternative senses.
The Troubles With Us, Allie O’Neill (Paperback out June 2022)
£9.99
A hilarious memoir about growing up in Northern Ireland in the 90s towards the end of the Troubles and a brilliantly propelling narrative of the extraordinary background story of her mother. Her mother's vivid personality and witty colloquialisms dominate the book and help to give a social history of life in Belfast from the 1950s onwards. Growing up on the Falls Road in 1990s Belfast, Alix O'Neill has seen it all - burnt-out buses blocking the route to school, the police mistaking her father for a leading terrorist and a classmate playing hide and seek with her dad's prosthetic hand (blown off making a device for the IRA).Not that she or her friends are up to speed with the goings-on of the resistance. They're too preoccupied with the obsessions of every teenage girl - booze, boys and Boyzone - to worry about the violence on their doorstep. Besides, the odd coffee jar bomb is nothing compared to the drama about to explode in Alix's personal life.
Desperate to leave Northern Ireland and the trials of her mother's unorthodox family - a loving yet eccentric band of misfits - behind, she makes grand plans for the next stage. But it's through these relationships and their gradual unravelling that Alix begins to appreciate not only the troubled history of where she comes from, but the strength of its women. Warm, embarrassing and full of love and insight, The Troubles with Us is a hilarious and moving account of the madness and mundanities of life in Northern Ireland during the thirty-year conflict.
It's a story of mothers and daughters, the fallout from things left unsaid and the lengths a girl will go to for fake tan.
The Vanishing Elephant, Charles Way and Sabine Dargent
£9.99
In the heart of Bengal, a young boy named Opu dreams of becoming an elephant trainer. When he befriends Janu, an Asian elephant, their friendship is a first step on an adventure so huge, it spans decades and continents. On their separate paths, they face fearsome encounters, stormy seas and strange new worlds.
It works as a great story to read aloud to younger children and to share with older children, the layout and shape of the book is great for shared reading.
This moving story of friendship and belonging from award winning theatre company Cahoots was named Critic's Pick by the New York Times. The live show is coming to Belfast for one week only this Autumn! Don't miss it - book via the Grand Opera House Belfast, at www.goh.co.uk.
The Watch House, by Bernie McGill (paperback)
£9.99
THE WATCH HOUSE by Bernie McGill is the story of the modern world arriving on Rathlin, a remote Irish island, at the very end of the nineteenth century, with dramatic consequences for a young woman named Nuala. As the twentieth century dawns on the island of Rathlin, a place ravaged by storms and haunted by past tragedies, Nuala Byrne is faced with a difficult decision. Abandoned by her family for the new world, she receives a proposal from the island's aging tailor.
For the price of a roof over her head, she accepts. Meanwhile the island is alive with gossip about the strangers who have arrived from the mainland, armed with mysterious equipment which can reportedly steal a person's words and transmit them through thin air. When Nuala is sent to cook for these men - engineers, who have been sent to Rathlin by Marconi to conduct experiments in the use of wireless telegraphy - she encounters an Italian named Gabriel, who offers her the chance to equip herself with new skills and knowledge.
As her friendship with Gabriel opens up horizons beyond the rocky and treacherous cliffs of her island home, Nuala begins to realise that her deal with the tailor was a bargain she should never have struck.
One of our bestselling novels. Vividly imagined and with a page turning suspense. A great read - Linda
The Welcome Centre, Peter Hollywood ( paperback March 2023)
£12.99
The Welcome Centre features an eclectic selection of 15 stories, many of them packed with literary references and allusions – from familiar book titles and author names to actual cameos by characters from other works. He even gives us a full-blown noir fiction follow-up to The Great Gatsby, which includes an appearance by Dashiell Hammett's boozy husband and wife crimebusters, Nick and Nora Charles, just for good measure.
The Wishkeeper’s Apprentice and The Magician Next Door, Rachel Chivers Khoo ( paperback Feb 2024)
£7.99
A beautifully illustrated and magical classic about the power of wishes for readers aged 7-10 "A story full of wishes and a big dollop of magic." Hannah Gold, author of The Last Bear "Ideal for newly confident readers." I'm often asked to recommend books for young Harry Potter fans and this sweet, funny fantasy adventure with age-appropriate peril is perfect. If you're moving up from Isadora Moon, or enjoy Loki, this is great!
The Wishkeeper's Apprentice
When Felix makes a very special wish, he doesn't expect to be offered a job as an apprentice to wishkeeper Rupus Beewinkle. Now Felix must save the town's wishes from the wishsnatcher, who wants to destroy hopes and dreams everywhere.
The Magician Next Door
Late one night a flying house crash-lands in ten-year-old Callie's garden in Northern Ireland. It is the home of magician Winnifred and all of her magical artefacts.
Winnifred asks for Callie's help finding her lost Wanderdust – until she realizes it is Callie's sadness that is causing her malfunctioning magic. With Winnifred's most precious magical possessions at risk from malicious fairies and dangerous giants, can Callie and her friend Sam find the Wanderdust in time to save the magician?
The Wishkeeper’s Apprentice, Rachel Chivers Khoo ( paperback May 2023)
£7.99
A beautifully illustrated and magical classic about the power of wishes for readers aged 7+ "Ideal for newly confident readers." The Independent
"A story full of wishes and a big dollop of magic." Hannah Gold, author of The Last Bear"
Wanted! A wishkeeper's apprentice. When Felix makes a very special wish, he doesn't expect to be offered a job as an apprentice to wishkeeper Rupus Beewinkle.
Now Felix must save the town's wishes from the wishsnatcher, who wants to destroy hopes and dreams everywhere. Beautiful black-and-white illustrations by Rachel Sanson.
Plenty of dialogue and chapter imagery to keep newly independent readers encouraged." - Irish Examiner
The Wonderful Discovery of Elizabeth Sawyer, Jonathan Vischer
£9.99
The year is 1621: a time of paranoia following the English Reformation. In London's Newgate prison, Elizabeth Sawyer, the mother of eleven children, lies shackled in her cell. Denounced as a witch by her woodland neighbours and condemned to death by the court, Elizabeth has one last chance to make her peace with this world.
By way of confession, she tells the prison chaplain three stories about her life. Chaplain Goodcole at first responds with revulsion. Like the court he condemns Elizabeth as wicked and depraved but as her execution draws near, his opinion shifts.
Does this 'ignorant' countrywoman know something that he doesn't? Has she indeed made a wonderful discovery, or has he, as his colleagues suspect, fallen under the spell of a wily and malign witch?Based on a true story, this novel is rooted in the struggles of rural women 400 years ago. Exploring different types of power, it unravels the fear and superstitions surrounding any girl or woman who spoke her mind.
Copies are usually signed !
These Days, Lucy Caldwell (paperback March 2023 )
£8.99
The new novel from the Winner of the BBC National Short Story Award 2021.
Two sisters, four nights, one city. April, 1941. Belfast has escaped the worst of the war - so far.
Over the next two months, it's going to be destroyed from above, so that people will say, in horror, My God, Belfast is finished. Many won't make it through, and no one who does will remain unchanged. Following the lives of sisters Emma and Audrey - one engaged to be married, the other in a secret relationship with another woman - as they try to survive the horrors of the four nights of bombing which were the Belfast Blitz, These Days is a timeless and heart-breaking novel about living under duress, about family, and about how we try to stay true to ourselves.
WINNER OF THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION
WINNER OF THE E. M. FORSTER AWARD
AS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4s BOOK AT BEDTIME
