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The nine surviving children of the Hegarty clan gather in Dublin for the wake of their wayward brother Liam. It wasn't the drink that killed him - although that certainly helped - it was what happened to him as a boy in his grandmother's house, in the winter of 1968. The Gathering is a novel about love and disappointment, about thwarted lust and limitless desire, and how our fate is written in the body, not in the stars. Winner of the Man Booker Prize ISBN 9780099501633 -
"Dream big. You can't put a limit on your dreams because nothing is impossible" Katie Mullan, Ireland Hockey Captain. Are you ready to be inspired? Open this book and discover a world of courage, bravery and adventure. Adventurers, explorers, inventors, dreamers... for a small country Irish people have had a huge impact internationally. From helping street children in India, to saving Jewish children during World War II and exploring new worlds, their reach has been worldwide. From Michael Collins to Rosie Hackett, Lady Gregory to Tom Crean, this book celebrates the brave and daring Irish. Be inspired by some of Ireland's most daring and fearless men and women. ISBN 9781788491273 Great for Ages 7-12 -
Two days after the Winter Solstice in 2019 Kerri and her partner M moved to a small, remote railway cottage in the heart of Ireland. They were looking for a home, somewhere to stay put. What followed was a year of many changes. The pandemic arrived and their isolated home became a place of enforced isolation. It was to be a year unlike any we had seen before. But the seasons still turned, the swallows came at their allotted time, the rhythms of the natural world went on unchecked. For Kerri there was to be one more change, a longed-for but un-hoped for change. Cacophony of Bone maps the circle of a year - a journey from one place to another, field notes of a life - from one winter, to the next. It is a telling of a changed life, in a changed world - and it is about all that does not change. All that which simply keeps on - living and breathing, nesting and dying - in spite of it all. When the pandemic came time seemed to shapeshift, so this is also a book about time. It is, too, a book about home, and what that can mean. Fragmentary in subject and form, fluid of language, this is an ode to a year, a place, and a love, that changed a life. ISBN 9781838856298 -
It is late June in Ballylack and school's finally out. Hannah Adger is looking forward to eight long weeks of fun and freedom, but when her classmate Ross succumbs to a violent and mysterious illness, it marks the beginning of a summer like no other. As more children fall ill, questions about what - or who - is responsible pitch the village into conflict and fearful disarray. Hannah, ever the outsider, is haunted by guilt as she remains healthy while her friends are struck down. Isolated and afraid, she prays for help. What happens next will force her to question everything she believes. Bursting with Carson's trademark wit, profound empathy and soaring imagination, The Raptures explores how tragedy will both unite and tear a small community 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. The Raptures is an unmissable novel of 2022. It will cement Jan Carson's reputation as one of the most exciting and inventive writers of her generation. ISBN 9781781620472 -
A thriller, a hilarious comic satire about an archetypal village police force, a surrealistic vision of eternity, the story of a tender, brief, unrequited love affair between a man and his bicycle, and a chilling fable of unending guilt, 'The Third Policeman' is comparable only to 'Alice in Wonderland' as an allegory of the absurd. Distinguished by endless comic invention and its delicate balancing of logic and fantasy, 'The Third Policeman' is unique in the English language. ISBN 9780007247172 -
'I'm here to remember - all that I have been and all that I will never be again.' At the bar of a grand hotel in a small Irish town sits 84-year-old Maurice Hannigan. He's alone, as usual -though tonight is anything but. Pull up a stool and charge your glass, because Maurice is finally ready to tell his story. Over the course of this evening, he will raise five toasts to the five people who have meant the most to him. Through these stories - of unspoken joy and regret, a secret tragedy kept hidden, a fierce love that never found its voice - the life of one man will be powerfully and poignantly laid bare. Heart-breaking and heart-warming all at once, the voice of Maurice Hannigan will stay with you long after all is said. 'A hugely enjoyable, engrossing novel, a genuine page-turner.' Donal Ryan. 'Beautifully written, unhurried and thoughtful, and a character you love from the off' Kit de Waal. ISBN 9781473683020 -
The President has just returned from his summer holidays but Aras an Uachtarain just isn't the same without the President's cat. Luckily the good people of Ireland are ready to help him. From a Kerry fisherman to a hairy biker and a group of singing hippies, prepare to meet an array of wonderful characters on a funny adventure through some of Ireland's iconic landmarks. Will the President's cat find his way home? And, if he does, will the Aras have a cat among the pigeons? Great for Ages 0-6. ISBN 9780717184859 -
Bestselling author of 'Room' Emma Donoghue returns with 'Akin' a brilliant tale of love, loss and family. Noah is only days away from his first trip back to Nice since he was a child when a social worker calls looking for a temporary home for Michael, his eleven-year-old great-nephew. Though he has never met the boy, he gets talked into taking him along to France. This odd couple, suffering from jet lag and culture shock, argue about everything from steak hach to screen time, and the trip is looking like a disaster. But as Michaels sharp eye and ease with tech help Noah unearth troubling details about their familys past, both come to grasp the risks that loved ones take for one another, and find they are more akin than they knew. Written with all the tenderness and psychological intensity that made 'Room' a huge bestseller, 'Akin' is a funny, heart-wrenching tale of an old man and a young boy who unpick their painful stories and embark on writing a new one together. ISBN 9781529019988 -
In the second book in The Wild Magic Trilogy, the queen and her raggedy witches have fled, but the kingdom is not yet healed. The castle is haunted by memories of its brutal past. The ghosts are angry, and one of them in particular possesses a magic which may be too much for even Mup and Mam to handle... "Ireland's answer to JK Rowling." Sunday Independent "A classic hero in the making." Parent Talk ISBN Great for Ages 9-12 9781406373929 -
Discover a delightful and unspoiled seaside village through this fact-packed compendium. Renowned for its castle, book festival and nearby island, Dalkey and neighbouring Killiney Hill Park have plenty of special places to find and history to uncover. A reliable reference book and a quirky guide, The Little Book of Dalkey and Killiney can be dipped into time and time again to reveal something new about the people, the heritage and the secrets of this charming coastal area. ISBN 9780750992169 -
I kept clear of Dog Cullen. Till the summer we turned seventeen, the summer the dolphin came to Carrig Cove . . . Donegal, 1976. When a dolphin takes up residence in Carrig Cove, Emer and her best friend, Fee, feel like they have an instant connection with it. Then Dog Cullen and his sidekick, Kit, turn up, and the four friends begin to sneak out at midnight to go down to the beach, daring each other to swim closer and closer to the creature . . . But the fame and fortune the dolphin brings to their small village builds resentment amongst their neighbours across the bay, and the summer days get longer and hotter . . . There is something wild and intense in the air. Love feels fierce, old hatreds fester, and suddenly everything feels worth fighting for. Great for Teens and Young Adults / ISBN 9780571355594 -
After signing up for the US army in the 1850s, aged barely seventeen, Thomas McNulty and his brother-in-arms, John Cole, fight in the Indian Wars and the Civil War. Having both fled terrible hardships, their days are now vivid and filled with wonder, despite the horrors they both see and are complicit in. Then when a young Indian girl crosses their path, the possibility of lasting happiness seems within reach, if only they can survive. ISBN 9780571340224 -
He is Ireland's most famous warrior, a legendary figure who has enchanted children for millennia. But who really was Fionn Mac Cumhaill? And what was he like when he was a child?In this wonderful, modern retelling of an ancient tale, based on a 12th-century manuscript, Ronan Moore brings young Fionn to life in a series of wild adventures. A cheeky kid, constantly trying to outsmart the adults around him, Fionn is on the run from his father's enemies who want him dead. Travel with him as he journeys throughout Ireland, evading capture, outwitting enemies, and training to become the greatest leader Ireland has ever known. Including the well-known myths of the Salmon of Knowledge and the Dragon of Tara, this book will appeal to all children as they follow Fionn's life up to the point of his becoming leader of the Fianna. Great for Ages 7-12 / ISBN 9780717185863 -
One night changes everything for Toby. He's always led a charmed life - until a brutal attack leaves him damaged and traumatised, unsure even of the person he used to be. He seeks refuge at his family's ancestral home, the Ivy House, filled with memories of wild-strawberry summers and teenage parties with his cousins. But not long after Toby's arrival, a discovery is made: a skull, tucked neatly inside the old wych elm in the garden. As detectives begin to close in, Toby is forced to examine everything he thought he knew about his family, his past, and himself. A spellbinding book from a novelist who takes crime writing and turns it inside out, The Wych Elm asks what we become, and what we're capable of, if we no longer know who we are. ISBN 9780241379530 -
Irish language edition of The Slug and the Snail. Drawn from the Irish Traveller storytelling tradition, DeBhairduin's tale is a gentle allegory about difference, self-acceptance and different ways of seeing the world. Two slugs travel happily together as brothers, until they meet a crow who shows them that they have no home.Ashamed, one of the slugs decides to make himself a home, and calls himself snail. The brothers grow apart andbecome suspicious of each other. The slug with no shell-house feels ashamed until he learns to see that the very road he travels is his home, and so he shall never be homeless. The happy slug no longer sees himself through the judging eyes of others, but proudly asserts his place in the world. Great for Ages 1-7. -
Living in the Big Apple feels like a movie, especially when Aisling finds her ex-boyfriend John on her doorstep. Can his new-found devotion (and his new six-pack!) lure her back home, or should she continue to chase the American dream with the Irish Mafia and Jeff the ridey fireman? Meanwhile, in Ballygobbard, it’s all go. Baby showers are the new hen parties, Mammy and Dr Trevor are more serious than Aisling thought, and the prospect of two evil stepsisters has her doubting her place in the family. Pulled between head, heart and home, Aisling strives to finally create her own happy ever after. -
Drawn from the Irish Traveller storytelling tradition, DeBhairduin's tale is a gentle allegory about difference, self-acceptance and different ways of seeing the world. Two slugs travel happily together as brothers, until they meet a crow who shows them that they have no home. Ashamed, one of the slugs decides to make himself a home, and calls himself snail. The brothers grow apart and become suspicious of each other. The slug with no shell-house feels ashamed until he learns to see that the very road he travels is his home, and so he shall never be homeless. The happy slug no longer sees himself through the judging eyes of others, but proudly asserts his place in the world. Great for Ages 1-7. -
After an uneventful Friday at the Dublin office, Cathal faces into the long weekend and takes the bus home. There, his mind agitates over a woman named Sabine with whom he could have spent his life, had he acted differently. All evening, with only the television and a bottle of champagne for company, thoughts of this woman and others intrude - and the true significance of this particular date is revealed. From one of the finest writers working today, Keegan's new story asks if a lack of generosity might ruin what could be between men and women. Is it possible to love without sharing? Hardback 64 pages
