Before she was a Mammy, before she had Chisellers, and before they made her a Granny, Agnes Browne was Agnes Reddin, a young girl-or a Young Wan- growing up in the Jarro in Dublin. Brendan O'Carroll takes readers back to the heart of working-class Dublin, this time in the 1940s.  Together with her soon to be lifelong best friend Marion Delany, young Agnes manages to survive the indignities and demands of Catholic school, the unwanted births of siblings, days spent in the factories and markets, and nights in the dance hall as rock-and-roll invades Dublin.But on the eve of her wedding night, the Jarro is alive with gossip—will Agnes be turned away at the altar?  For the whole parish knows Agnes's not-so-well-kept secret.  And with a mother falling further into dementia, and a younger sister turning to a life of crime, it's up to Agnes alone to keep her splintering family together, while trying to create one of her own. Filled with O'Carroll's trademark wicked wit and loving, larger-than-life characters, The Young Wan shows the hardscrabble beginnings of the ultimate Irish mother and family.

    He comes ashore in Liverpool when his ship needs repairs and meets lovely young Stella Bennett on the quayside, searching for her lost kitten. The young couple fall in love and want to marry but the Bennetts have other plans for Stella and when she gives birth to a baby, Ginny, Michael is dismayed by the child's ginger hair and convinced she is not his. He returns to Ireland, leaving the slovenly Granny Bennett to rear Ginny. The child accepts her lot, expecting little from life but knowing that, in order to escape from the slums, she must attend school. Granny Bennett prefers Ginny to skivvy for her, but when a sympathetic teacher comes into her life, Ginny decides she must better herself and the obvious way to do so is to find her father...A Kiss and a Promise is classic Katie Flynn, full of warmth and passion and sure to please the many fans of the beloved saga writer.

    Honoured for their gifts and feared for their wrath, the fairies remind us to respect both the world we live in and forces we cannot see.In Meeting the Other Crowd, Eddie Lenihan presents a book about a hidden Ireland, a land of mysterious taboos, dangers, other worldly abductions, enchantments and much more. It is a world which most Irish people acknowledge exists, but which few of them, except the very oldest or professional folklorists, know much more about.Eddie Lenihan opens our eyes to this invisible world with the passion and bluntness of a great storyteller. In doing so he provides one of the finest collections of Irish folklore in modern times.

    Pat Monaghan has studied and taught many integrated studies in poetry, science, mythology, feminist spirituality, environmental studies, chaos theory, and religion. All of these disciplines inform her writing, but none distract from the poetic story-telling or the mystical lore she encounters and then conveys. Her journey takes her to a churchyard with a fountain representing St. Bridget, perhaps a Christian representation of the Celtic goddess of water, fire, and transformation, called Brigit. Monaghan describes spiral petroglyphs and ancient sacred caves, bogs and woods where fairies have played their tricks on humans, and water falls that became sacred spots. The stories instruct and teach, as Monaghan points to ways that these myths still reveal the truths of human life, and the contradictions of love and hate, mother and seductress, harmony and struggle that are embodied in women’s lives — in all of human existence.

    His memory will outlast the ages. Born of a noble Welsh family, he is violently torn from his home by Irish raiders at age sixteen and sold as a slave to a brutal wilderness king. Rescued by the king's druids from almost certain death, he learns the arts of healing and song, and the mystical ways of a secretive order whose teachings tantalize with hints at a deeper wisdom. Yet young Succat Morgannwg cannot rest until he sheds the strangling yoke of slavery and returns to his homeland across the sea. He pursues his dream of freedom through horrific war and shattering tragedy—through great love and greater loss—from a dying, decimated Wales to the bloody battlefields of Gaul to the fading majesty of Rome. And in the twilight of a once-supreme empire, he is transformed yet again by divine hand and a passionate vision of "truth against the world," accepting the name that will one day become legend . . . Patricius!

    I had my reasons. But I went."So admits Michael Forsythe, an illegal immigrant escaping the Troubles in Belfast. But young Michael is strong and fearless and clever -- just the fellow to be tapped by Darkey, a crime boss, to join a gang of Irish thugs struggling against the rising Dominican powers in Harlem and the Bronx. The time is pre-Giuliani New York, when crack rules the city, squatters live furtively in ruined buildings, and hundreds are murdered each month. Michael and his lads tumble through the streets, shaking down victims, drinking hard, and fighting for turf, block by bloody block.Dodgy and observant, not to mention handy with a pistol, Michael is soon anointed by Darkey as his rising star. Meanwhile Michael has very inadvisably seduced Darkey's girl, Bridget -- saucy, fickle, and irresistible. Michael worries that he's being followed, that his affair with Bridget will be revealed. He's right to be anxious; when Darkey discovers the affair, he plans a very hard fall for young Michael, a gambit devilish in its guile, murderous in its intent.But Darkey fails to account for Michael's toughness and ingenuity or the possibility that he might wreak terrible vengeance upon those who would betray him.A natural storyteller with a gift for dialogue, McKinty introduces to readers a stunning new noir voice, dark and stylish, mythic and violent -- complete with an Irish lilt.

    It is also more open to balanced examination now--at the end of its long war in the north of Ireland--than it was even a few years ago.Richard English's brilliant book offers a detailed history of the IRA, providing invaluable historical depth to our understanding of the modern-day Provisionals, the more militant wing formed in 1969 dedicated to the removal of the British Government from Northern Ireland and the reunification of Ireland.English examines the dramatic events of the Easter Rising in 1916 and the bitter guerrilla war of 1919-21, the partitioning of Ireland in the 1920s, and the Irish Civil War of 1922-23. Here, too, are the IRA campaigns in Northern Ireland and Britain from the 1930s through the 1960s. He shows how the Provisionals were born out of the turbulence generated by the 1960s civil rights movement, and examines the escalating violence that introduced British troops to the streets of Northern Ireland.He also examines the split in the IRA that produced the Provisionals, the introduction of internment in 1971, and the tragedy of Bloody Sunday in 1972. He then discusses the struggle over political status, culminating in the Hunger Strikes of the early 1980s and describes the Provisionals' emergence as a more committed political force throughout that decade, a politicization that made possible the peace process that has developed over the last decade.English offers a dazzling synthesis of the motives, actions and consequences of the IRA. Neither romanticizing the IRA nor condemning them outright, this is a balanced, definitive treatment of one of the world's leading revolutionary movements.

    Features a simple and penetrating new approach to understanding and notating ornamentation that goes beyond any previous method, exploring ornamentation techniques never described in print before. Also includes adaptations for Boehm-system flute players, guidance on breathing and phrasing, 49 ornamentation exercises, history and theory of traditional Irish flute and whistle music, and 27 meticulous transcriptions of recordings by these important Irish flute and tin whistle players: John McKenna ,Tom Morrison, William Cummins, S amus Ennis, Willie Clancy, Paddy Taylor, Paddy Carty, Grey Larsen, Josie McDermott, Matt Molloy, Cathal McConnell, Mary Bergin, Donncha O Briain (Denis O'Brien), Desi Wilkinson, Breda Smyth, Se

    After emigration he worked his way across the USA. He then took part in the Klondike gold-rush and vividly recounts his adventures. Home on holidays in 1901 he fell in love and used the money from the gold to buy land and a home.

    He takes his subject head-on without a shred of sentimentality or self-pity. In spite of its difficult subject, this is not a dark book. Gregory Orr has said of Donnelly that “everything he writes is suffused with tenderness and intelligence, lucidity and courage.” This is Donnelly’s first book.

    Yet, as this book demonstrates, such collusion and associated conspiracies have been a central feature of the British response to the conflict in Ireland for more than thirty years. That response, argues Paul Larkin, amounts to a Holy War, or Jihad, in the name of Protestantism and the British monarchy. That war has been swathed in secrecy and denial, protected by notions of 'national security' that pervade every corner of the legal system and the political establishment ­ a very British Jihad.Investigative journalist Paul Larkin made his first film for Spotlight ­ BBC Northern Ireland's current affairs programme ­ in February 1989. It was about the solicitor Pat Finucane, murdered by loyalists operating with the assistance of British military intelligence. There began a trail that first led Larkin to the diary of British agent and UDA intelligence officer Brian Nelson. What Nelson's diary revealed was that British military intelligence and covert units, including the Force Research Unit and 14th Intelligence, were intimately involved with loyalist armed groups. These groups had been equipped with armaments sourced in South Africa and smuggled into Northern Ireland with the full knowledge of MI5. Paul Larkin made many films for Spotlight over the next seven years, examining among other things controversial killings, the burgeoning illicit drugs trade, the role of informers and agents, thelinks between soldiers, police officers and loyalist gunmen, RUC cover-ups and the notorious Portadown based 'ratpack' led by 'king rat' Billy Wright. He went on to produce a special investigation into the Dublin/Monaghan bombings for RTÉ. The research for these films was the raw material for this book. Building on his earlier investigations, Larkin presents a detailed and revealing account of many aspects of Britain's 'dirty war'. He provides a unique insight into the political pressures exerted on journalists who dare to investigate the unsavoury relationships between the intelligence agencies, politicians, the police, the British Army and loyalism.

    The best biography I have read in years. John F. Deane, Irish IndependentThis is a brave, strong book. John Montague, Irish TimesA strong and thoughtful work. Emanuel Keogh, Sunday Business PostFor anyone interested in Kavanagh, interested in the development of Irish poetry and the particularities of Irish culture, this book is, of course, an absolute must, but I would defy anyone to pick up this book and not find themselves immediately engrossed. Melissa Murray, Sunday TribuneAntoinette Quinn has written a wonderful biography of this complex spirit: deeply researched, full of fascinating detail and entirely readable from beginning to end. This is the book we ve been waiting for. Anthony Cronin, Sunday Independent. . . superbly researched and replete with arcane details of his life. Dan McCarthy, Irish Examiner"

    Book acquired by Warner Brothers.This memoir divides comfortably between the North [of Ireland] and New York. Millar's vivid recollection of privations withstood during the blanket protest offers grim testimony to the limits of human endurance. Like others around him Millar would not be broken, even when political conviction was reduced to dogged resistance against a repressive prison regime. He then emigrated to New York, worked in illicit casinos. The American chapters unveil a gambling underworld run by New York's Irish gangs. The empire wasn't built to last but Millar eyed a much bigger prize. Teaming up with an associate to rob $7.2 million from the hitherto impregnable Brinks Security operation in Rochester. It was a daring and bloodless heist. “Brilliant."Irish Examiner“Michael Mann’s Heist meets Jim Sheridan’s In The Name of The Father, and you come close to what awaits you in On The Brinks. An unbelievably cool book.”Village Voice, New York"Brilliant. Powerful..."Irish Times“His memoir, On The Brinks, has all the makings of a Hollywood blockbuster…cool narration of a life on the edge…he has a distinctive style and a compelling story. With the right marketing, his book will become a bestseller.” Books Ireland

    Under the Brehon Laws women had the right to own property, rule territories, seek an education, and sue for divorce. Celtic women were also warriors, frequently taking up arms and marching into battle with their brothers and husbands.

    Cosham's finely honed delivery brings verdant valleys, quaint villages, and drunkards' and maidens' conversations to listeners' ears. What is not to love?!

    

    From its Celtic ancestry to its thoroughly modern economy, its predominantly Catholic faith to its thriving music and arts, Ireland is a top choice of Europeans seeking a friendly, cosmopolitan place to unwind, and Irish Americans seeking connections with their forbears. Experience the wonder of Ireland as you have always imagined it would be.- Kayak among hidden islands with Brian Wilson- Share a poignant moment with relatives you never knew you had with Brian Moore- Dance with delight with Niall Williams and Christine Breen- Encounter friendly con artists with Thom Elkjer- Explore ancient ruins with David W. McFadden- Climb St. Patrick’s holy mountain with Colm Tóibín- Pilot your own boat up the River Shannon with Kent E. St. John- Discover the root of "The Troubles" with Cecil Woodham-Smith- Explore Jonathan Swift’s Dublin with Rebecca Solnit- Walk the Kerry Way with Tim O’Reilly- Share Heinrich Böll’s thoughts on Irish rain

    The book offers ways to engage children - within the tradition and outside it - so they anticipate each festival with excitement and pleasure. It also includes recipes, crafts and activities with easy-to-follow instructions. Well-loved traditions and modern interpretations blend into a reference book suitable for teachers, parents and others seeking a practical and original introduction to Irish festivals and celebrations.

    Special emphasis is placed on Swift's problematic relationship with the land of his birth, Ireland, and on his place as a political writer in a highly politicized age.

    She looked like a barber's pole, or a lolly that had to be licked.'Scarlet plucks her twelve-string guitar with nails the colour of glazed cherries and Belfast music hack Jessie (Jay to his friends) Black is smitten. He charms his way on to her tour bus as her band head for Dublin, but the second they cross the border he feels the heat of a sniper's bullet...Who wants Jay dead? Or rather, who doesn't want him dead? Any number of people might, with some justification, have pulled the trigger. There's Scarlet's stalker, the gun-toting shoe fetishist. And the still-grieving widow of Northern Ireland's international goalkeeper, Miles Huggins, who Jay inadvertently killed. Not to mention the property magnate who was blackmailed into handing Jay the key's to Belfast's first-ever million-pound flat. Or the RUC Chief Constable who has given Jay an ultimatum. Or, now you come to mention it, how about Sinn Fein numero uno Martin O'Hanlon, whose cover Jay's been strong-armed into exposing? However it's when Scarlet goes missing that things start getting serious and Jay has to go it alone.A story of blackmail, corruption and exploding peacocks, 'Big Jessie' is the new firecracker thriller from the author of the WHSmith Award-winning 'London Irish'.

    It is an epic account of the coming together of a nation and a city. This is the tale of those who escaped a nightmare existence in the poorest and most deprived country in Europe and changed the city of Glasgow forever. Irish brings to life the horrot of those grim days and reveals the unimaginable suffering endured as a result of the Potatoe Blight. It describes in vivid detail the hazards and hardships faced by those fleeing Ireland in search of a better life overseas, including a startling account of one of the most deplorable maritime crimes ever committed, the voyage of the SS Londonderry. The coming of the Irish to Glasgow had a bigger impact on the city than other event. Now, for the first time, the truth about this most significant and stirring episode is vividly unfolded. It tells of the contribution made by Irish labourers in Glasgow to the Industrial Revolution; reveals that the legendary football clubs of Celtic and Rangers may never have existed were it not for the migrant's arrival; and describes the "Partick War", and the occasion of the first-ever Orange Walk.

    Written in English, it gives text, source music, and the translation of 54 songs - mainly vision poems, laments, courtly love songs and the songs of the people. The collection includes material from recently discovered music manuscripts, which are reconnected here to their original texts. The catalogue section includes facsimile copies of unpublished dance tunes. As both a researcher and traditional singer, N Uallach in gives a unique insight into her native Gaelic song tradition.

    By turns beautiful, poignant, frightening, and funny, Eyewitness is a personal pictorial record of life in Northern Ireland over nearly forty years.  Murphy's photographs are accompanied by detailed and candid captions revealing the events, people, and atmosphere in the region.

    Half a million Irish men and women left these shores in the nineteen-fifties, forced by decades of economic stagnation to make their lives elsewhere. For many of these emigrants, mostly young and unskilled, Britain was their only hope of survival. Abandoned by the Irish state, this forgotten generation went in search of employment and security, the dignity of a future that was denied them at home. For many of these youthful emigrants, exile held the promise of adventure and excitement, freedom from the oppressions of de Valera's Ireland. Yet no two emigrant experiences were the same. In a series of compelling interviews - honest, angry, and funny - these vibrant voices reflect the diversity of lives lived away from the homeland, an unconsidered people's struggle to plant new lives in an alien soil.

    A rich and colourful celebration of the poetic heritage of Ireland, this CD and book anthology features classic and contemporary Irish poems read by 100 of the best-known voices in Irish life, including Maeve Binchy, Bono, Pierce Brosnan, The Corrs, Bertie Ahern, Bob Geldof, Seamus Heaney, Marian Keyes and Sinead O'Connor. The collection includes famous poems such as Yeats's "The Fisherman" and Wilde's "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" alongside new work from Ireland's finest living writers. As well as forming a living testament to the best of Irish writing, the collection is also a reminder that words, both oral and written, do make a difference with all royalties going to Focus Ireland, the country's largest and most respected charity for the homeless.

    It's like having a friend show you around, taking you to the places locals like best. Our expert authors have already gone everywhere you might go--they've done the legwork for you, and they're not afraid to tell it like it is, saving you time and money. No other series offers candid reviews of so many hotels and restaurants in all price ranges. Every Frommer's Travel Guide is up-to-date, with exact prices for everything, and exciting coverage of sports, shopping, and nightlife. You'd be lost without us Completely updated every year (unlike most of the competition), "Frommer's Ireland" features gorgeous color photos of the fishing villages, seaside cliffs, and quaint country pubs that await you. It's a highly personal guide that's fun to read and even more fun to use on the road. Our expert author offers insights into how to discover the real Ireland. You'll find complete details on lovely small towns, natural wonders, castles, literary landmarks, world-class golf courses, mysterious ancient ruins, and Dublin's cutting-edge nightlife.

    In ancient times it was called the Brugh na Boinne. Today this area is designated as a World Heritage site and is Ireland's first protected Archaeological Park. Its rich fertile soils and south-facing slopes are set in County Meath in the most accessible, low-lying part of Ireland, close to the Irish Sea. This is where the great pre-historic tomb-building tradition of Atlantic Europe reached its zenith. It is where legend says the foundations of Irish Christianity were laid and is also the home of Ireland's first medieval Cistercian monastery at Mellifont. On the banks of the Boyne in 1690 one of the most important battles in Irish history was fought.The Bend of the Boyne had a pivotal role to play in Irish history and this is evident in its abundant physical remains, which can be traced among its fields and riverbanks. Through the interpretation of these remains this book presents an understanding of how this landscape was organized and exploited by communities over seven thousand years of settlement. This book draws heavily on the results of an extensive program of excavation at Knowth, Newgrange and Monknewtown and archaeological survey, which has greatly increased our knowledge of prehistoric societies. Using a wide range of maps, color photographs and historic as well as new drawings, it traces the gradual evolution of the landscape to the present day. The book is also concerned with the future of this protected cultural landscape and recommends actions to ensure its protection and preservation.

    He shows us in this marvellous book that everything that lives is connected ... his is the view of the wise man: we have much to learn from him.' - Jane UrquhartWith the 'sea in his blood', Michael Kirby has spent nearly a century in a deep bond with the people, animals and landscapes of the south Iveragh Peninsula in Kerry. And throughout his remarkable life, he has lovingly recorded all that he has seen, on land and on the ocean wave.Here are stories of spectral ships, enchanted seals and seabirds 'speaking in perfect Irish'; shipwrecks, smugglers and sword-wielding coastguards; and characters like Seamus Fada ('an expert on astronomy and cures for smelly feet') and beachcomber Jamesie Stock ('like a cormorant on a rock, not even a bottle floated ashore but Jamesie's watchful eye floated beside it'). Spanning nine decades of local lore, Kirby tells the history of Ballinskelligs Cable Station; explains the deadly workings of second world war mines; recalls his hard times on the railroads of Depression-era America; and recounts his and his father's dramatic struggle with a man-eating shark.Completing the cycle begun with Skelligside, this second volume of memoir fuses traditional storytelling with the keen observations of a first-class naturalist to create a lyrical vision of a world and a way of life now almost lost.'Kirby revels, like few authors do today, in the sheer wonder of Creation. Poet, painter, storyteller, folklorist and fisherman emerge and merge in this glowing book.' - Gabriel Rosenstock'Michael Kirby is a special man whose perception of life has been well honed in a special place - Ballinskelligs. The man itself evokes mystery, and Michael has spent more than ninety years looking at and learning about this magical spot on the tip of the Iveragh Peninsula... His ability to draw a perfect picture with a few words transports the reader to the headlands; you can almost find yourself leaning into the wind as the monks did centuries ago.' - Bill Cullen, Ireland on Sunday.'Kirby claims he was born with the sea in his blood. That may well be, but he was also born with words already formed in his head. He writes charmingly with colour, fun, and a flair few others have ever bettered... That a man of such an age could summon up the energy and motivation to write with such committed endeavour, care and beauty is a magnificent triumph of giving us everything he has to offer... Michael Kirby claims he once heard a razorbill singing in Irish, and who am I to argue? For, make no mistake, this is a book set apart, a classic of its kind by a man set apart in a charmingly set apart way.' - Tom Widger, Sunday TribuneMICHAEL KIRBY, born in 1906, is a native of Ballinskelligs, County Kerry. He is author of eight books in Irish under the name Micheal Ua Ciarmhaic. This is his second book in English.

    Primarily associated with the Orange Order, these huge, elaborately ornamented drums, three feet in diameter and weighing up to 40 pounds, can achieve sounds of 120 decibels. In search of stories, facts, and myths of the north's 200-year old fife and drum tradition.

    In Crime and Empire, Upamanyu Pablo Mukherjee examines a wide range of nineteenth-century British fictions about crime in India--from writers such as Wilkie Collins, Walter Scott, and Conan Doyle to historical, parliamentary, and medical narratives.