We’ve independently chosen our favourite titles to sell in our bookshops and online. And remember – we offer Free Postage in ROI on orders over €30 – just choose the Free Postage option at checkout.
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The Irish language has thirty-two words for field. Among them are: Geamhar - a field of corn-grass Tuar - a field for cattle at night Reidhlean - a field for games or dancing Cathairin - a field with a fairy-dwelling in it The richness of a language closely tied to the natural landscape offered our ancestors a more magical way of seeing the world. Before we cast old words aside, let us consider the sublime beauty and profound oddness of the ancient tongue that has been spoken on this island for almost 3,000 years. In Thirty-Two Words for Field, Manchán Magan meditates on these words - and the nuances of a way of life that is disappearing with them. ISBN 9780717187973 -
Old Ireland in Colour brings to life the rich history of Ireland and the Irish through the colour restoration of these stunning images of all walks of Irish life throughout nineteenth and twentieth century. From the chaos of the Civil War to the simple beauty of the islands; from legendary revolutionaries to modest fisherfolk, every image has been exquisitely transformed and every page bursting with life. Using a combination of cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology and his own historical research, John Breslin has meticulously colourised these pictures with breath-taking attention to detail and authenticity. With over 250 photographs from all four provinces, and accompanied by fascinating captions by historian Sarah-Anne Buckley, Old Ireland in Colour breathes new life into the scenes we thought we knew, and brings our ancestors back to life before our eyes. -
Staff Pick: About the institutional abuse that was inflicted on the Irish people through the Catholic Church, Hogan does not shy away from difficult topics and tries to get every perspective she can – although some people are less willing to talk than others. A difficult, yet essential book that everyone should read. Sarah J. -
Why the moon travels by Oein DeBharduin is a collection of haunting folktales, a retelling of stories from the Traveller oral tradition in lyrical prose and beautifully illustrated by artist Leanne McDonagh. The book will be the first of its kind published in Ireland that captures several aspects of the rich Traveller culture, expression and intricate understandings. ISBN 9781916493506 -
On the Beara peninsula in West Cork, a temperate rainforest flourishes. It is the life work of Eoghan Daltun, who had a vision to rewild a 73-acre farm he bought, moving there from Dublin with his family in 2009. An Irish Atlantic Rainforest charts that remarkable journey. Part memoir, part environmental treatise, as a wild forest bursts into life before our eyes, we're also invited to consider the burning issues of our time: climate breakdown, ecological collapse, and why our very survival as a species requires that we urgently, and radically, transform our relationship with nature. This is a story as much about doing nothing as taking action - allowing natural ecosystems to return and thrive without interference, and in doing so heal an ailing planet. Powerfully descriptive, lovingly told, An Irish Atlantic Rainforest presents an enduring picture of the regenerative force of nature, and how one Irishman let it happen. -
Through the collection of photographs and essays in this book you will get a rare glimpse into the lives of the women of An Garda Síochána and what they bring to policing. You get an insight into the experiences of the early trailblazers who inspired significant numbers of women to follow in their footsteps. And you will read about those who are instrumental in keeping people safe every day, including the women who work at the top echelons of An Garda Síochána. Their varied stories and journeys are ones of inspiration, devotion and commitment to policing. We hope you will enjoy reading about the positive impact they bring to policing and the communities they serve. ISBN XGARDA -
The Dictionary of Hiberno-English is the leading reference book on Hiberno-English - the form of English commonly spoken in Ireland. It connects the spoken and the written language, and is a unique national dictionary that bears witness to Irish history, struggles and the creative identities found in Ireland. Reflecting the social, political, religious and financial changes of people's ever-evolving lives, it contains words and expressions not usually seen in a dictionary, such as 'kibosh', 'smithereens', 'Peggy's Leg', 'hames', 'yoke', 'blaa', 'banjax' and 'luban'. It is a celebration of an irrepressible gift for the creative, expressive and reckless manipulation of the English language. This updated edition includes a new introduction by Blindboy Boatclub. ISBN 9780717190201 -
The electrifying behind-the-scenes account of a year that brought Ireland to the brink and back. Based on a wealth of original research and over a hundred interviews with cabinet members, public health officials, frontline workers, and ordinary people on whom the crisis exacted a personal toll, A State of Emergency is the incendiary untold story of Ireland’s response to the biggest public health emergency of the past century. Ranging from the halls of Government Buildings, where conflict between the new Cabinet and its public health advisors threatened to derail the official response, to the frontlines of the containment effort itself, where doctors, nurses, and the communities they served found themselves pushed to breaking point, A State of Emergency is a landmark work of journalism and a riveting insider account of the struggle to bring Ireland back from the brink. ISBN 9780008502850 -
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Is it possible to be young, progressive and a Catholic? Ellen Coyne is about to find out ... 'You know, this isn't a Catholic country anymore,' someone proudly declared in a Dublin pub where Ellen Coyne was celebrating the repeal of the Eighth Amendment. About to turn 30, like many her age, Ellen had left the Church a long time ago, but she had never stopped believing in and talking to God. Now, she suddenly realised she wasn't quite ready for this statement to be true, however much of a contradiction it seemed to present with some of her most strongly held views. Abandoning the Church had been an act of protest, a form of punishment. However, she began to wonder: who had really lost the most? Why should those who did the damage to the Church get to keep it and all its good bits, like going to Mass for the ritual and the community, having a clear guide for living a better life, and the comfort of believing it's not the end when somebody dies?But how could she ally herself to an institution she doesn't entirely agree with? In her first book, Ellen tries to figure out how much she really wants to go back to the Church, and if it is even the right thing to do. A stunningly intelligent and thoughtful debut work of non-fiction. ISBN 9780717188949 -
One night in December 1972, Jean McConville, a mother of ten, was abducted from her home in Belfast and never seen alive again. Her disappearance would haunt her orphaned children, the perpetrators of the brutal crime and a whole society in Northern Ireland for decades. Through the unsolved case of Jean McConville's abduction, Patrick Radden Keefe tells the larger story of the Troubles, investigating Dolours Price, the first woman to join the IRA, who bombed the Old Bailey; Gerry Adams, the politician who helped end the fighting but denied his IRA past; and Brendan Hughes, an IRA commander who broke their code of silence. A gripping story forensically reported, Say Nothing explores the extremes people will go to for an ideal, and the way societies mend - or don't - after long and bloody conflict. ISBN 9780008706012 -
The Open Gardens of Ireland as seen on Nation Wide. From the tiniest town garden to the grandest castle demesne and historic country house, from the most hidden sanctuary to our best loved public properties; this guide takes you on a grand tour of Ireland and 427 gardens that you can visit. Shirley is a regular columnist with the Irish Garden magazine and has published a number of books on Irish gardens: The O’Brien Guide to Irish Gardens (2001), The 100 Best Gardens in Ireland (2011) and The Open Gardens of Ireland (2017). With such experience, her knowledge of Irish gardens is extensive and gives her a perspective possessed by few others. -
The first volume in Tim Robinson's phenomenal Connemara Trilogy - which Robert Macfarlane has called 'One of the most remarkable non-fiction projects undertaken in English'. In its landscape, history and folklore, Connemara is a singular region: ill-defined geographically, and yet unmistakably a place apart from the rest of Ireland. Tim Robinson, who established himself as Ireland's most brilliant living non-fiction writer with the two-volume Stones of Aran, moved from Aran to Connemara nearly twenty years ago. This book is the result of his extraordinary engagement with the mountains, bogs and shorelines of the region, and with its folklore and its often terrible history: a work as beautiful and surprising as the place it attempts to describe. ISBN 9781844880669 -
John Creedon has always been fascinated by place names, from when he was a young boy growing up in Cork City to travelling around Ireland making his popular television show. In this brilliant new book, he digs beneath the surface of familiar place names, peeling back the layers of meaning behind them to reveal stories about the nature of the land of Erin and the people who walked it before us. Travel the highways, byways and boreens of Ireland with John and become absorbed in the place names such as 'The Land of Robins', 'Patrick's Bed', 'The Eagles Nest', 'Hidden Treasure' and 'The Valley of the Crazy'. All hold clues to help uncover our past and make sense of that place we call home, feeding both mind and soul along the way. That Place We Call Home is an absorbing non-fiction debut from one of Ireland's broadcasting national treasures. ISBN 9780717192021 -
Richard Nairn has spent a lifetime studying - and learning from - nature. When an opportunity arose for him to buy a small woodland filled with mature native trees beside a fast-flowing river, he set about understanding all its moods and seasons, discovering its wildlife secrets and learning how to manage it properly. Wildwoods is a fascinating account of his journey over a typical year. Along the way, he uncovers the ancient roles of trees in Irish life, he examines lost skills such as coppicing and he explores new uses of woodlands for forest schools, foraging and rewilding. Ultimately, Wildwoods inspires all of us to pay attention to what nature can teach us. 'A book to inspire anyone who wants Ireland to grow more Irish trees.' Michael Viney. ISBN 9780717190218 -
We Don't Know Ourselves is a very personal vision of recent Irish history from the year of O'Toole's birth, 1958, down to the present. Ireland has changed almost out of recognition during those decades, and Fintan O'Toole's life coincides with that arc of transformation. The book is a brilliant interweaving of memories (though this is emphatically not a memoir) and engrossing social and historical narrative. The disintegration of the old alliance of Catholic church and state is mapped in a series of dramatic episodes. Certain themes recur - of things that were known but could never be acknowledged, of cruelty and corruption hidden in plain sight. This was the era of Eamon de Valera, Jack Lynch, Charles Haughey and John Charles McQuaid, of sectarian civil war in the North and the Pope's triumphant visit in 1979, but also of those who began to speak out against the ruling consensus - feminists, advocates for the rights of children, gay men and women coming out of the shadows. There is a quiet and sober anger in O'Toole's description of child abuse at every level of the state and educational system, the punishment of women as sexual beings, the IRA's psychological ability to portray themselves as victims of a conflict in which they were the worst perpetrators, and the sheer arrogance of the church's power. We Don't Know Ourselves is an essential book for anyone who wishes to understand modern Ireland. ISBN 9781784978341 -
Due to sudden huge demand for this title, all of our suppliers have now run out of stock. We will get more copies as soon as possible and we would currently expect to receive additional stock to fulfill orders on, or around, 10th February. In today's economy, where one-job careers are increasingly a thing of the past, workplace benefits are increasingly hard to come by, and the achievement of major life goals - like buying a house or starting a family - often depends on your ability to save, it's more important than ever that we understand how to get the absolute most from our money. In How to Be Good with Money, author, TV host and financial planner Eoin McGee shares his complete programme for financial well-being. This book is for anyone wondering how best to spend their money, how best to get out of debt and start saving for the things that really matter to them, and how to look after their financial future and retire early. ISBN 9780717186709 -
Call it a daily meditation on the world around us for nature-lovers and nature newbies alike, An Irish Nature Year gleefully explores the small mysteries of the seasons as they unfold - Who's cutting perfect circles in your roses? Which birds wear feathery trousers? And what, exactly, is an amethyst deceiver? An Irish Nature Year is an illustrated day book filled with plants, animals, birds and creepy-crawlies from all over the island of Ireland. With one short entry for every day of the year, nature columnist Jane Powers serves up 5 minutes' worth of wonderment to enjoy on your coffee break, on your commute, or to relax with at bedtime. From 'weeds' in the pavement cracks and surprising inhabitants of vacant lots, to unusual finds along our shoreline and hedgerows, you'll find more of the natural world to admire right under your nose, and relish the little things that mark the passing of the seasons across the ever-changing Irish landscape. ISBN 9780008392147 -
We hadn’t a clue ‘til we got the telly and then we wanted to be like Dallas. We were never happy, that we knew of. We were always longing for something else, so we kept doing the same. What we wouldn’t do to go back and give ourselves a good boot up the backside.’ When actor, playwright and comedian Seamus O’Rourke first published Standing in Gaps in 2020 it found a wide audience amongst readers in rural Ireland. With a distinct talent for seeing the absurd in the ordinary, mundane lives of people who ‘had nothing better to be at’ and making it hilarious, Standing in Gaps manages to turn back time and transport the reader to a place where everything moved slowly – and in the Leitrim of the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, that means really slowly. In this memoir about family, people and time, O’Rourke finds diamond-tipped-needles in bales of really bad hay, providing laughter and stories of mayhem for his many fans.