‘Tis the season for… Reading! We’ve chosen our favourite new books for adults to enjoy this Christmas so browse our personal selection and unwrap a fab new read… And remember, postage is free in ROI on orders over €30. Just choose the Free Shipping option at checkout.
-
Pick up one of our exclusive two-tone Gutter Bookshop mugs! Made especially for our bookshop, they are dishwasher/microwave safe and each design features a famous Oscar Wilde quotation on the front and back of the mug. This mug : "Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast" Oscar Wilde - in green. Mugs are packed securely in a gift box with sufficient packaging materials to prevent breakages. -
Most people think I save dogs, but really they saved me. Niall Harbison is a dog hero based in Thailand. He spends his days feeding, caring for and rescuing the many street dogs he comes across. With every rescue there’s a story. Like the sweet gentle McMuffin who was found with many tumours and hours from death, only to be nursed back to health. She now lives with Niall and is a popular member of the pack. Then there is King Whacker – who escaped a vicious attack and is now ruling the nest living up to his name as the king of the all good dogs. And who could resist the puppy eyes of little Rodney, the beautiful dog with big paws who is melting millions of hearts around the world. Originally from Dublin, Niall was the owner of a successful advertising company. After selling it, he moved to Thailand where his addictions – drugs and alcohol – almost got the better of him. One day he woke up in hospital, close to death, and realised that something had to change. And that was what spurred him on to start saving and helping street dogs. His aim is to help 10,000 street dogs. This is his story. ISBN 9780008627218 -
Truman Capote makes whisky-soaked fruitcake in Alabama; Laurie Lee slides across a frozen pond in Gloucestershire; and Shirley Jackson is outwitted by a wily Santa Claus at the bank. Ghosts haunt the Christmases of Muriel Spark and Elizabeth Bowen, while Dostoyevsky, Daphne du Maurier and Italo Calvino take a cynical view of the season and Selma Lagerlof and Angela Carter celebrate its miracles. Ranging from Cork to Lagos to the Wild West, and from Paris to San Paolo to outer space, this is Christmas as imagined by some of the greatest short-story writers of all time. -
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. -
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 -
The Barnes family is in trouble. Dickie's once-lucrative car business is going under - but rather than face the music, he's spending his days in the woods, building an apocalypse-proof bunker with a renegade handyman. His wife Imelda is selling off her jewellery on eBay while their teenage daughter Cass, formerly top of her class, seems determined to binge-drink her way to her final exams. And twelve-year-old PJ is putting the final touches to his grand plan to run away from home. Where did it all go wrong? A patch of ice on the tarmac, a casual favour to a charming stranger, a bee caught beneath a bridal veil - can a single moment of bad luck change the direction of a life? And if the story has already been written - is there still time to find a happy ending? ISBN 9780241353967 -
Stephen King's HOLLY marks the triumphant return of beloved King character Holly Gibney. Readers have witnessed Holly's gradual transformation from a shy (but also brave and ethical) recluse in Mr Mercedes to Bill Hodges's partner in Finders Keepers to a full-fledged, smart, and occasionally tough private detective in The Outsider. In King's new novel, Holly is on her own, and up against a pair of unimaginably depraved and brilliantly disguised adversaries. When Penny Dahl calls the Finders Keepers detective agency hoping for help locating her missing daughter, Holly is reluctant to accept the case. Her partner, Pete, has Covid. Her (very complicated) mother has just died. And Holly is meant to be on leave. But something in Penny Dahl's desperate voice makes it impossible for Holly to turn her down. Mere blocks from where Bonnie Dahl disappeared live Professors Rodney and Emily Harris. They are the picture of bourgeois respectability: married octogenarians, devoted to each other, and semi-retired lifelong academics. But they are harbouring an unholy secret in the basement of their well-kept, book-lined home, one that may be related to Bonnie's disappearance. And it will prove nearly impossible to discover what they are up to: they are savvy, they are patient, and they are ruthless. Holly must summon all her formidable talents to outthink and outmanoeuvre the shockingly twisted professors in this chilling new masterwork from Stephen King. 'I could never let Holly Gibney go. She was supposed to be a walk-on character in Mr Mercedes and she just kind of stole the book and stole my heart. Holly is all her.' STEPHEN KING ISBN 9781399712927 -
If, like Kane, you're a Denied Access Area spy for the CIA, then boundaries have no meaning. Your function is to go in, do whatever is required, and get out again - by whatever means necessary. You know when to run, when to hide - and when to shoot. But some places don't play by the rules. Some places are too dangerous, even for a man of Kane's experience. The badlands where the borders of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan meet are such a place - a place where violence is the only way to survive. Kane travels there to exfiltrate a man with vital information for the safety of the West - but instead he meets an adversary who will take the world to the brink of extinction. A frightening, clever, vicious man with blood on his hands and vengeance in his heart... -
Pick up one of our exclusive two-tone Gutter Bookshop mugs! Made especially for our bookshop, they are dishwasher/microwave safe and each design features a famous Oscar Wilde quotation on the front and back of the mug. This mug : "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." Oscar Wilde - in blue. Mugs are packed securely in a gift box with sufficient packaging materials to prevent breakages. -
Due to sudden demand we have now sold our existing stock of Prophet Song. The publisher is reprinting more copies and we expect fresh stock at the start of December 2023. Please only order if you are happy to wait. A fearless portrait of a society on the brink as a mother faces a terrible choice, from an internationally award-winning author. On a dark, wet evening in Dublin, scientist and mother-of-four Eilish Stack answers her front door to find the GNSB on her step. Two officers from Ireland's newly formed secret police are here to interrogate her husband, a trade unionist. Ireland is falling apart. The country is in the grip of a government turning towards tyranny and Eilish can only watch helplessly as the world she knew disappears. When first her husband and then her eldest son vanish, Eilish finds herself caught within the nightmare logic of a collapsing society. How far will she go to save her family? And what - or who - is she willing to leave behind? Exhilarating, terrifying and propulsive, Prophet Song is a work of breathtaking originality, offering a devastating vision of a country at war and a deeply human portrait of a mother's fight to hold her family together. 'Paul Lynch is peerless' Donal Ryan, author of Strange Flowers An Irish Times 'Book to Look Forward to in 2023' Winner of the Booker Prize 2023 -
Reconnect with the seasons in Britain and Ireland with this month-by-month guide to the world around us - including tide tables, sunrises and moon phases; garden feasts, wildlife and folklore; seasonal recipes, snacks and more. The Almanac: A Seasonal Guide to 2024 gives you the tools and inspiration you need to celebrate, mark and appreciate each month of the year in your own particular way. Divided into the 12 months, a set of tables each month gives it the feel and weight of a traditional almanac, providing practical information that gives access to the outdoors and the seasons, perfect for expeditions, meteor-spotting nights and beach holidays. This year's edition focuses on the natural wonders of the garden, celebrating the beautiful flora and fauna at your doorstep. There are also features on each month's unique nature, plus a flower and a snack of the month. You will find yourself referring to The Almanac all year long, revisiting it again and again, and looking forward to the next edition as the year draws to a close. -
Due to sudden demand, this title is now reprinting. We expect new stock to arrive in Late November 203. Please only order if you are happy to wait. In late l991 and early 1992, at the time of the first Intifada, Joe Sacco spent two months with the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, travelling and taking notes. Upon returning to the United States he started writing and drawing Palestine, which combines the techniques of eyewitness reportage with the medium of comic-book storytelling to explore this complex, emotionally weighty situation. He captures the heart of the Palestinian experience in image after unforgettable image, with great insight and remarkable humour. The nine-issue comics series won a l996 American Book Award. It is now published for the first time in one volume, befitting its status as one of the great classics of graphic non-fiction. -
Inside the rise of the political party, once subordinate to the IRA, that is on the brink of taking power in IrelandSinn Fein is the most popular political party in both Northern Ireland and the Republic. A movement once synonymous with a paramilitary campaign is on the brink of taking real power through purely democratic means. But if Sinn Fein has mastered the art of electoral politics, it remains strangely opaque. Who really runs the party? How is it funded? And what can we expect of it as a party of government? Aoife Moore, Irish Journalist of the Year in 2021, explores these and other burning questions in The Long Game. Drawing on exclusive interviews with current and former members of Sinn Fein, she builds up a picture of a party undergoing a profound, and still incomplete , transformation. She looks at the key individuals and moments that put the party on its present course, and she explores tensions within the party and the wider republican movement. Packed with revelatory details, The Long Game is a groundbreaking telling of contemporary Ireland's biggest and most elusive political story. -
The perfect gift this Christmas season: a generous selection of some of the greatest festive stories of all time - now in a beautiful clothbound edition. This is a collection of the most magical, moving, chilling and surprising Christmas stories from around the world, taking us from frozen Nordic woods to glittering Paris, a New York speakeasy to an English country house, bustling Lagos to midnight mass in Rio, and even outer space. Here are classic tales from writers including Truman Capote, Shirley Jackson, Dylan Thomas, Saki and Chekhov, as well as little-known treasures such as Italo Calvino's wry sideways look at Christmas consumerism, Wolfdietrich Schnurre's story of festive ingenuity in Berlin, Selma Lagerlof's enchanted forest in Sweden, and Irene Nemerovsky's dark family portrait. Featuring santas, ghosts, trolls, unexpected guests, curmudgeons and miracles, here is Christmas as imagined by some of the greatest short story writers of all time. ISBN 9780241455654 -
Shocking news reaches the Thursday Murder Club. An old friend in the antiques business has been killed, and a dangerous package he was protecting has gone missing. As the gang springs into action they encounter art forgers, online fraudsters and drug dealers, as well as heartache close to home. With the body count rising, the package still missing and trouble firmly on their tail, has their luck finally run out? And who will be the last devil to die? -
You don't fully appreciate how large a donkey's head is until it's beside you in a Fiat Punto. The view in my mirror was furry and violent. I was driving blind. Driving with a donkey stuffed in the back seat; jackdaws pecking brains out through the roof of a confessional box; cat piss and astronauts. This is the world not as you see it, but as it is, twisted from the maverick mind of Blindboy Boatclub. These are stories of the strange unsettlings in the souls of men caught in between the past and the possible; stories of heart-blinding rage and disquieting compassion. Taking its title from a twelfth-century English manuscript of the same name, which dehumanised the people and culture of Ireland to facilitate domination, Topographia Hibernica is a collection that unravels the knotted threads of humanity, nature and colonisation from a contemporary Irish perspective. Called 'one of the most gifted writers of his generation' by the Irish Times, Blindboy Boatclub is the essential voice for the Irish condition in the twenty-first century. Topographia Hibernica is his unmissable new short-story collection. ISBN 9781529371628 -
Enjoy delicious meals, snacks and treats that put the joy back into Christmas cooking. 'What comes out of your kitchen means more than anything from a shop ever will. The satisfaction of the season can stem from the stove.' With her no-nonsense approach and inspirational ideas, combined with reassuring advice and easy-to-follow, reliable recipes, Nigella Christmas is guaranteed to bring comfort and joy, and make sure the season of goodwill stays that way. Here is everything you need to make your Christmas easy and enjoyable, from scrumptious cakes and puddings to the main event itself - turkey with all the trimmings, a vegetarian Christmas dinner or a wide range of delicious alternatives. With lusciously warm photography, evocative food writing and a beautiful hardback design, this is a book you will treasure for many years as well as a delicious Christmas present for friends and family. Seasonal support - soups, salads, sauces and serve-later side dishes The main event - from traditional roast turkey to the ultimate Christmas pudding with all the timings you need for a stress-free Christmas Day. -
Anne Doyle has a dark side: an affinity for the ghoulish, unexplainable and supernatural. Reincarnated as the mistress of macabre, Ireland's best-loved newsreader delights in presenting Tales of the Otherworld, a fabulously frightful anthology of Irish ghost stories that have thrilled, unnerved and, for better or worse, stayed with her over the years. Discover the very best of Irish ghost writing, from national treasures such as W.B. Yeats and Bram Stoker to contemporary work from Deirdre Sullivan and Roisin O'Donnell, each accompanied by charming, witty commentary from Anne herself. Reading this collection is like having an ice cube plucked straight from Anne's vodka soda and dropped down the back of your neck.