Dr Richard Buckley returns to his beloved Dunderrig, disillusioned and damaged by the futility of war. At his side is Solange Allingham, his best friend’s widow who has lost everything she ever loved. Richard’s wife Edith is bitter at what she sees as her husband’s betrayal of his country by wearing a British uniform. After giving birth to twins, she withdraws into a silent world, finally leaving her family for strange new bedfellows. Solange is obliged to overcome her own heartbreak to become the mother Edith’s children so badly need. James and Juliet are inseparable and incorrigible and the life blood of Dunderrig. As they grow up, they come of age into a world where despite the horrors of the past, war looms large yet again. From tranquil West Cork to wartime Belfast, from neutral Dublin to occupied France, the twins lives diverge in unforeseen ways as Dunderrig waits anxiously once more for the safe return of its children.

    In Derry they both start to realise that sometimes you have to say goodbye to what you thought you always wanted, in order to find what you have needed all along. Editorial Reviews “One of the most scrumptious books i think I’ve ever read”All Things Books“Like a hug in a book! ... ideal book for those who doubts there's such a thing as having it all” – Woman’s Way“An amazing story of first love and how, even years later, the feelings can still exist. Based on a true story, this was my favourite tale of true love in recent years. Sweet, warm and endearing, it stayed with me for weeks after I had finished it. For all of us that believe there is a soulmate out there for everyone.” Bleach House LibraryQuite simply, this is one of the nicest, warmest and moving love stories I have read in years and I found myself very emotional while reading it. It had some personal meaning to me, as it was a similar tale to a relative of mine, and I had to stop reading a few times in order to pull myself together. I didn’t want it to end and the lump in my throat remains with me, even as I write this review. Writing.ieI LOVED this book. I was completely absorbed in it ...I really couldn't put it down - At Home with Mrs M“A feel-good, touching and amusing tale which readers will find hard to put down” – Irish Independent

    Then, at her childhood home in Queens, Majella discovers the diary of her maternal ancestor Ginny—and is shocked to read a story of murder in her family history. With the famine upon her, Ginny Doyle fled from Ireland to America, but not all of her family made it. What happened during those harrowing years, and why does Ginny call herself a killer? Is Majella genetically fated to be a bad mother, despite the fierce tenderness she feels for her baby? Determined to uncover the truth of her heritage and her own identity, Majella sets out to explore Ginny’s past—and discovers surprising truths about her family and ultimately, herself.

    But this particular tour with its cast of unintentionally hilarous characters leaves seasoned tour guide Conor speechless for the first time in his life. Among this eclectic group are Corlene, a gold digging multiple divorcee on the prowl; Patrick, a love-starved Boston cop; Dylan, a goth uilleann piper; Dorothy, a poisonous college professor who wouldn't spend Christmas; Elliot, a wall street shark who finally shows his true colours, and then there's Ellen, back on Irish soil after so many years to discover a truth no-one could have guessed, least of all herself. And thats just a few of the colourful cast.The locals they meet on their journey, eccentric West Brits, passionate musicians, Ukranian waitresses and Garda high flyers all help to make this a tour that nobody will ever forget. And of course, there's Conor, stuck in the thick of it all, solving problems and mending hearts, but what about his own?

    Her irresponsible Da is dead. She is grief-stricken and alone – but for the first time in her life free to please herself. After her mother deserted the family, Ivy became the sole provider for her Da and three brothers. Pushing a pram around the well-to-do areas of Dublin every day, she begged for the discards of the wealthy which she then turned into items she could sell around Dublin’s markets. As she visits the morgue to pay her respects to her Da, a chance meeting introduces Ivy to a new world of money and privilege, her mother's world. Ivy is suddenly a woman on a mission to improve herself and her lot in life. Jem Ryan is the owner of a livery near Ivy’s tenement. When an accident occurs in one of his carriages, leaving a young girl homeless, it is Ivy he turns to. With Jem and the people she meets in her travels around Dublin, Ivy begins to break out of the property-ridden world that is all she has ever known. Through Streets Broad and Narrow is a story of strength and determination in the unrelenting world that was Dublin tenement life.

    Swirling with rumour and secrets, the town is gripped by fear of a serial killer. But the truth could be even darker.Not everyone who's lost wants to be found...Surrounded by people and places she tried to forget, Paula digs into the cases as the truth twists further away. What's the link with two other disappearances from 1985? And why does everything lead back to the town's dark past- including the reasons her own mother went missing years before?Nothing is what it seems...As the shocking truth is revealed, Paula learns that sometimes, it's better not to find what you've lost.

    Fingal Flahertie O'Reilly as the irascible senior partner of a general practice in the colourful Irish village of Ballybucklebo.But there was a time, shortly after arriving in Ballybucklebo, that Dr. O'Reilly was not widely accepted by the villagers. This touching short story tell of how O'Reilly, with a little help, began to overcome their objections.Whether you're visiting for the first time, or you're a long-time resident, you'll enjoy this fun glimpse into life Patrick Taylor's village of Ballybucklebo.

    Here, and in the towns beyond, the young live hard and wear the scars. Amongst them, there’s jilted Jimmy, whose best friend Tug is the terror of the town and Jimmy’s sole company in his search for the missing Clancy kid; Bat, a lovesick soul with a face like “a bowl of mashed up spuds” even before Nubbin Tansey’s boot kicked it in; and Arm, a young and desperate criminal whose destiny is shaped when he and his partner, Dympna, fail to carry out a job. In each story, a local voice delineates the grittiness of Irish society; unforgettable characters whose psychological complexities and unspoken yearnings are rendered through silence, humor, and violence.With power and originality akin to Wells Tower’s Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned and Claire Vaye Watkins’ Battleborn these six short stories and one explosive novella occupy the ghostly, melancholic spaces between boyhood and old age. Told in Barrett’s vibrant, distinctive prose, Young Skins is an accomplished and irreverent debut from a brilliant new writer.

    On the surface, he has everything success, money, a big house and he is never short of an attractive woman by his side, but a tragic road accident shatters Jack's world. Raised as an Irish Traveller, Luke Kiernan hasn't had it easy, and when he wakes in a Dublin hospital to find the man he's hated since childhood at his bedside, he's hungry for revenge.Two very different worlds collide, bringing new dangers, exposing past deceits, and unearthing dark family secrets buried long ago. But from tragedy springs the promise of a fresh start with two women who are intent on helping Jack and Luke mend their lives.Can new love heal old wounds, or are some scars there for good?

    Having always believed that her grandparents didn’t want to see her, she finds that the opposite is true: her grandmother had been seeking her out all along, and it was her own mother who willfully kept them apart.Devastated that her past has come back to haunt her, Valerie realizes that her daughter’s anger might cause their troubled family history to repeat itself in a new generation. Rich with emotion and featuring magnificent descriptions of Ireland, With All My Love deftly weaves the stories of the past and present to take us into the heart of a family at war. As the truth is revealed, so too are the complex yet enduring bonds between mothers and daughters.

    They are 300 times more effective than an ordinary patrol... If we are going to have murderers and terrorists roaming the towns, then we have to have somebody who is able to go out and find them.” Contemporary press report Some think it stood for ‘Military Reconnaissance Force’, others ‘Mobile Reconnaissance Force’. Many people thought it didn’t exist at all and was made up, a figment of the press’s imagination. To the members of the group that was just fine. It added to the illusion, and the speculation about the unit’s name and mission only added to the uncertainty amongst their targets — terrorists — members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, the IRA, the provos. For decades there has been argument in the media and amongst politicians about the possible existence and extent of a shoot-to-kill policy in Northern Ireland. MRF Shadow Troop confirms there was such an agenda in the early, chaotic days of British military intervention across the Irish Sea. Amongst the mountain of speculation there is little of any accuracy or authority relating to this period. Simon Cursey was recruited into the Military Reaction Force — the unit’s true name — in 1972. This book is his personal account of his time with the group and in it he reveals the truth about their operations — the briefings, missions, political wrangling, and government-sanctioned law-bending. With documents and photographs to corroborate all his revelations, MRF Shadow Troop is a fascinating, exciting but above all accurate historical text about the pioneers of counter-terrorism.

    Broderick's Catholic family lived in County Tyrone --the heart of rebel country. In That’s That, he brings us into this world and delivers a deeply personal account of what it was like to come of age in the midst of a war that dragged on for over two decades.  We watch as he and his brothers play ball with the neighbor children over a fence for years, but are never allowed to play together because it is forbidden. We see him struggle to understand why young men from his community often just disappear. And we feel his frustration when he is held at gunpoint at various military checkpoints in the North. At the center of his world—and this story—is Colin’s mother. Desperate to protect her children from harm, she has little patience for Colin’s growing need to experience and understand all that is happening around them. Spoken with stern finality, "That's that" became the refrain of Colin's childhood.      The first book to paint a detailed depiction of Northern Ireland's Troubles, That’s That is told in the wry, memorable voice of a man who's finally come to terms with his past.

    The characters who populate these stories are people afflicted by life and circumstance, hauled from some idyll and confronted with such real world problems as divorce, miscarriage, cancer, desertion, bereavement and the disintegration of love.

    Four families each lost three relatives; in other cases, children were left orphaned after both parents were murdered. For years there were claims that loyalists were helped and guided by members of the RUC and Ulster Defence Regiment. But, until now, there was no proof. Drawing on 15 years of research, and using forensic and ballistic information never before published, this book includes official documents showing that the highest in the land knew of the collusion and names those whose fingers were on the trigger and who detonated the bombs. It draws on previously unpublished reports written by the PSNI's own Historical Enquiries Team. It also includes heartbreaking interviews with the bereaved families whose lives were shattered by this cold and calculated campaign.

    Writing in the New York Times, William Boyd summoned the shades of Yeats, Joyce and Flann O'Brien, insisting that ‘MacLaverty sits perfectly comfortably’ in their company. The Guardian simply said ‘MacLaverty is a master.’Melding his native Irish sensibilities to those of his adopted west-coast Scotland, these tales attend to life’s big events: love and loss, separation and violence, death and betrayal. But the stories teem with smaller significant moments too – private epiphanies, chilling exchanges, intimate encounters. A writer of great compassion, insight and humanity, MacLaverty surprises us time and again with the sensitivity of his ear, the accuracy of his eye. Each of these extraordinary stories – with their wry, self-deprecating humour, their elegance and subtle wisdom – gets to the very heart of life.The Collected Short Stories includes most of Secrets, A Time to Dance, The Great Profundo, Walking the Dog and Matters of Life & Death.

    You won’t find any dazzlingly handsome, wealthy action heroes or beyond belief beauties here, but real characters … hard working, Irish country folk who grow to depend upon each other through a dangerous and oppressive time in Ireland’s history … a time of hardship, fear and persecution.Liam Flynn travels across Tipperary, his destination the shores of Lough Derg, his objective to fulfill a lifelong dream. The perils he encounters on the road are only the beginning for this young itinerant carpenter. He finds himself thrust into an impossible situation when, with the help of an old Franciscan priest, he tries to save the tiny Irish village of Gortalocca. If he is discovered by the authorities, he faces almost certain execution for treason and, when the villagers discover what action he has taken in his efforts to help them, he becomes the object of their contempt and hatred.These are dangerous times in Ireland and, as the country struggles to piece itself back together after a hundred years of conflict, the very fabric of society has changed. English Parliament has begun to impose harsh Penal Laws in Ireland which will ban Catholics from voting, from receiving an education, even from practicing their own faith. Catholics can no longer own their own land. More than ninety percent of Ireland’s land will be confiscated and given to English and Irish Protestant landlords, who will charge the rightful owners rent as they try to eke out a living on land which their families have worked for generations. Liam and Father Grogan risk their lives in an effort to save their peaceful Irish village from dissolution.A consummate loner, Liam has led a solitary life so far but he finds romance in Gortalocca, not with a retiring Irish lass, but rather with the feisty daughter of Michael Hogan, the owner of Gortalocca’s only store and bar. Roisin grew up in a man’s environment and has seen enough to know that she will never wed if it means compromising herself by marrying a man she doesn’t love. Now, at the age of nineteen, Roisin Hogan is a spinster.There is plenty of fast-paced action in our story and villains abound, from Gortalocca’s homegrown bully, Sean Reilly, and his gang of thugs, to the menacing dark man who appears from nowhere, posing a threat to Liam’s plan and adding a further complication to his life.You will meet Moira, the ancient and mysterious old hag who lives alone in a tiny cottage, hidden deep inside the forest. Moira is one of the ‘wise ones’, a healer, with her own blend of the spiritual and the ritualistic, the Christian and the Pagan. She is feared by the villagers who think her a witch and do not dare to gaze upon her … unless one of them is ill, and then she is beckoned for help. Moira becomes the source of wisdom for Liam and a strange and shadowy, yet important, part of the plot.Of course, an Irish story would not be complete without humor, and there is plenty of ‘craic’ to be had here. In Hogan’s bar, you will experience, first hand, the humor which epitomises the character of the people of Ireland, and sustains them, especially in times of crisis … an unconscious humor, one of habit. You will sit at the bar with Paddy Shevlin, the pig farmer and Ben Clancy, the shepherd, whose banter provides a welcome respite from the tension, and who never let the truth spoil a perfectly good story.Allow yourself to be stirred into this cauldron of Irish stew.

    To foster her independence, she schedules a summer vacation in County Mayo intending to write her first book, and she’s counting on Ireland for inspiration. An idea presents itself when she tours Achill Island with a silver-tongued tour guide whose good looks prompt her to write more than her high-minded novel: she transcribes her years of longing in a steamy fantasy no one is meant to see.Years have passed since an accident claimed the self-absorbed wife who scorned Ben Connigan and his music. Since then, the former tin whistle ace has avoided marriage, though he never lacked for female companionship before he traded his high-tech career for the slow-paced life of a hometown tour guide. Ben has accepted the end of his run of discreet affairs, until he takes Gemma touring. Her passion for Ireland impresses him. Her love of Irish music soon compels him to dust off his whistles. Knowing she’ll leave at the end of the summer, he sees no harm in keeping her company—until he dares to dream of spending the rest of his life with her.But he knows it can’t be, not while the ghosts of their partners still haunt them. Not unless the music and myths of Ireland can help them find their way…

    From the storm-battered coastline of the north of Ireland to the sleeping villas of Andalusia, McGill’s characters grapple with the consequences of affairs, bereavement, alcoholism, illness and murder.Compassionate and quietly powerful, McGill’s stories capture intimate moments of loss, love, and healing in a troubled age.‘If I could be any other kind of writer, I would want to be Bernie McGill’ Ian Sansom‘A writer to watch out for’ Sunday Tribune

    As the subsequent years pass, unable to come to terms with the accident, the survivors set the path for a deeply troubled future for each generation that followed.Jonathan Melton had a traumatic childhood in which he ended up in foster care, but when he meets the wild, willful, sexually experienced and free spirited Sophia at university, everything changes. At first inept with women, Jonathan’s complex relationship with Sophia evolves from a one-way obsession into a genuine love and shared passion, as the relationship brings happiness, romance and joy to both their lives that neither thought was ever possible. The two marry, and Sophia gives birth to their first child; a beautiful baby daughter. Everything is seemingly perfect, until the evening that their tiny baby is found dead in her cot. As his world falls apart around him, Jonathan slips into a dark depression and, increasingly haunted by his past, becomes distant and dysfunctional as he struggles to cope with the loss of his daughter. His marriage to Sophia disintegrates, and Jonathan along with it as he descends further into darkness after leaving Sophia. Although his close friend David succeeds to some extent in saving him from his demons, Jonathan remains a lost and lonely soul, until his apparent chance meeting with the enigmatic Maolíosa in a Dublin bar. Maolíosa and Jonathan form a unique bond, and she challenges his vision of life and the world around him. Fate intervenes, but it ultimately leads Jonathan to redemption, and a final resolution to the aftermath and consequences of the 1947 tragedy. Inspired by the timeless film, It’s a Wonderful Life, Dublin in the Rain provides a sweeping narrative of love, desire and misfortune, spanning the thirty years of Jonathan Melton’s life. Andrew Critchley’s witty and complex characters reveal how a painful familial legacy can haunt our present and distort our future. Moving and magical, Dublin in the Rain reminds us that while tragedy can blight our journey, life is still very much what we choose to make it.Dublin in the Rain is the first of a trilogy of contrasting stories around the theme of redemption by Andrew Critchley.

    His life on earth has been more than satisfactory. He is an icon in Tralee, a “typical Kerryman,” an easy-going, life-of-the-party jokester, a man’s man, a decent, although unexceptional provider who took for granted the faithfulness of his wife, the love of his children, Kerry football, and a few pints with the lads in Betty’s Pub on Rock Street. Convinced there has been a mistake, he demands another chance at mortality. St. Peter, with an agenda of his own, sends Mickey back to Tralee as a stranger. Meanwhile, Hannie, Mickey’s widow, has begun to resurface from her loss and celebrate her freedom. She has also learned a thing or two about her late husband, enough to convince her that life after marriage might be more satisfying than it was during. Mickey, his original purpose to win back a few more years of his former life, finds himself in the unique position of attempting to court his wife, a woman he believed held no surprises for him and, in so doing, learns a thing or two about Hannie as well as playing directly into the hands of St. Peter.

    He explains why, a decade and a half after the peace process ended in political agreement in 1998, sectarian attitudes and violence continue to plague Northern Ireland today. Former members of the IRA now sit alongside their unionist adversaries in the Northern Ireland Assembly, but the region’s attitudes have been slow to change and recent years have even seen an upsurge in violence on both sides. In this book, Cochrane, who grew up a Catholic in Belfast in the ’70s and ’80s, explores how divisions between Catholics and Protestants became so entrenched, and reviews the thirty years of political violence in Northern Ireland—which killed over 3,500 people—leading up to the peace agreement. The book asks whether the peace process has actually delivered for the citizens of Northern Ireland, and what more needs to be done to enhance the current reluctant peace.

    This is an alternate Cover Edition for ASIN: B00DW2Z1GQ.When another potato crop fails and starvation hits Ireland in 1846, Joseph McLaughlin knows they all face certain death - unless he divides his family and sends his two daughters to America.

    The death of her banshee aunt forces Clíona into a world she barely recognises, a world she’s dreaded since the night her aunt came to take her father away. Her mother hates banshees, but the only possibility of escape is remote and involves a love more powerful than a banshee’s calling.Except Clíona’s already in love with somebody who could never love her back, somebody who has a good reason to hate a banshee, and her responsibilities ring loud and clear, no matter how hard her loved ones try to pull her back to her old life.Going against the banshee code can have tragic consequences, but it’s hard for an eighteen-year-old to say goodbye to all of her hopes and dreams. The biggest lesson left to learn is which is more powerful – love or death?

    An important tool of a birdwatcher is a good identification guide. Most cover the birds of Europe and few deal exclusively with Ireland. This first photographic identification guide to the birds of Ireland has over 1,600 photos of more than 260 species, in an easy, quick-reference format. With eight to fifteen images per species, the key identification features of each bird are shown, with concise descriptions and pointers to indicate important features. This guide is produced in association with BirdWatch Ireland, Ireland's leading bird conservation organisation. The purchase of this guide contributes funds to BirdWatch Ireland's conservation and education initiatives to help protect and promote Ireland's wild birds and habitats.

    But her real reason for the trip will change all of their lives forever.

    So join in the "craic," forget the Blarney Stone and wrap your tongue around English the way the Irish reinvented it. Features a special section on Irish Gaelic. Lonely Planet s Language & Culture series goes behind the scenes of languages you through you knew. Get into the culture and humour behind common and not so common English expressions and learn about the local languages that inspired them.

    But will she succeed? This charming little book tells the tale! This story contains a touch of cultural diversity in design and content so that little children everywhere will gain some appreciation that there really is a big wide world out there, so much grander than they ever imagined!

    Joyce is best known for Ulysses (1922), a landmark novel which perfected his stream of consciousness technique and combined nearly every literary device available in a modern re-telling of The Odyssey. Other major works are the short-story collection Dubliners (1914), and the novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916).

    This was the decade of the cataclysmic Great War, of an officers' mutiny in an elite cavalry regiment of the British Army and of Irish armed rebellion. It was a time, argues Ronan Fanning, when violence and the threat of violence trumped democratic politics. This is a contentious view. Historians have wished to see the events of that decade as an aberration, as an eruption of irrational bloodletting. And they have have been reluctant to write about the triumph of physical force. Fanning argues that in fact violence worked, however much this offends our contemporary moral instincts. Without resistance from the Ulster Unionists and its very real threat of violence the state of Northern Ireland would never have come into being. The Home Rule party of constitutionalist nationalists failed, and were pushed aside by the revolutionary nationalists, Sinn Fein. Bleakly realistic, ruthlessly analytical of the vacillation and indecision displayed by democratic politicians at Westminster faced with such revolutionary intransigence, Fatal Path is history as it was, not as we would wish it to be.

    The book unearths this story for the first time and analyses the rejuvenating impact it had on the cultural revival in the nationalist community beyond the prison walls.Based on unprecedented interviews, Feargal Mac Ionnrachtaigh explores a key period in Irish history through the original and 'insider' accounts of key protagonists in the contemporary Irish language revival.

    The protracted, terrible fight for independence pitted the Irish against the British and the Irish against other Irish. It was both a physical battle of shocking violence against a regime increasingly seen as alien and unacceptable and an intellectual battle for a new sort of country. The damage done, the betrayals and grim compromises put the new nation into a state of trauma for at least a generation, but at a nearly unacceptable cost the struggle ended: a new republic was born. Charles Townshend's Easter 1916 opened up the astonishing events around the Rising for a new generation and in The Republic he deals, with the same unflinchingly wish to get to the truth behind the legend, with the most critical years in Ireland's history. There has been a great temptation to view these years through the prisms of martyrology and good-and-evil. The picture painted by Townshend is far more nuanced and sceptical - but also never loses sight of the ordinary forms of heroism performed by Irish men and women trapped in extraordinary times.

    It is this precision, the beautifully executed detail, that makes Eden Halt a deeply moving memoir.' - Roddy Doyle Eden Halt describes a childhood spent on a remote coast of Northern Ireland, in the shadow of the Second World War. With his father absent in the African campaign, a yound Ross Skelton's constant companion is his taciturn grandfather, a UVF veteran and caretaker of the local big house. His father, Tom Skelton, returns, troubled by malaria and nightmares. An aspiring writer, with connections to Louis MacNeice in nearby Carrickfergus, and to the artist Raymond Piper, he deserts the civil service for the life of a navvy, given to sudden absences, tramping the roads and sleeping rough, as the family falls from comfort to extreme poverty. They live off fishing and beachcombing in a tiny community of wooden bungalows on the wild Antrim coast, inhabiting a 'land that God forgot'. Despite primitive surroundings, the family is highly literate, with Ross's mother an avid reader, while his father writes at night. The memoir sensitively evokes a boyhood spent in a ceaseless quest for driftwood by a sea in its restless and violent moods, escaping to the hills on his home-made bicycle and raising racing pigeons in a make-shift loft. Reconstructing a time and place long gone, its sounds, smells and echoes, Ross Skelton pieces together the fragments that constitute a life, and gave rise to his career as a psychoanalyst and writer.

    For centuries dragons have protected Ireland, their existence kept secret with the help of earth magic and their human riders. Now that secret is threatened as the bodies of four riders are found at sacred Irish sites. Christian Riley, a man with secrets of his own, is haunted by vivid dreams of each slaying. An American searching for her Irish heritage and the meaning of an inherited dragon ring, Devan Fraser, stumbles into the mystery of the murders. Christian's only memento from the mother who gave him up for adoption is a dragon pendant that matches Devan's ring. Together they discover their destinies, the truth of dragons, and the depth of honor and loyalty to which people will go to protect the ones they love."The Keepers of Eire is a wonderfully, intricately layered journey through the streets of Ireland and the many sacred sites which pepper its green fields. The characters are rich, multi-faceted, and believable, their strengths and weaknesses weaving into a tapestry to bring this story into vibrant life. The layers of history, the relationships in the families, and the decades-old histories between characters make this an immersive epic in the tradition of Dragonriders of Pern."--Bella Online

    It is a period full of bloodthirsty battles, both between armies and individuals. With colorful personalities and sharp political twists, Strongbow's story is a fascinating one. Combining the writing style of an award-winning novelist with expert scholarship, historian Conor Kostick has written a powerful and absorbing account of the stormy affairs of an extraordinary era.

    Even if coming home means leaving her husband - and waking old ghosts.Meanwhile, Francine Hennessy, queen of the coffee mornings, was born and raised in Bakers Valley. She takes pride in juggling her children, her beautiful home and her high-powered career. But behind closed doors, Francine's life is crumbling around her.As Jodi struggles to keep her secrets to herself, and Francine comes to terms with some life-changing news, the two become unlikely friends. When they do, they quickly discover that there's no such thing as the perfect wife, or the perfect life - but sometimes it's better to be happy than to be perfect.

    It might seem to be a humorous gift-book: a light-hearted distraction with a grounding of good sense; but this book contains a much richer story than you might initially expect. A realistic and humourous look at the farming life.

    He kept careful records and discovered that no matter where he was or what the terrain was like, he always averaged two miles an hour! Follow him as he begins his adventure on the Appalachian Trail hiking alone through Connecticut and Massachusetts to Vermont. Next he walks 190 miles across England on the famous Coast-To-Coast trail: from St. Bees on the Irish Sea to Robin Hood Bay on the North Sea. This is followed by an even longer walk from one side of Ireland to the other, from Wicklow to the Cliffs of Moher, and through the village where his grandmother was born and raised. A friend joins him on his fourth walk: the West Highland Way in Scotland, 110 miles of breathtaking scenery and wacky adventures as they hike from Glasgow north to Fort William. Finally, during the week of his 70th birthday, walk with him as he hikes the scenic Pembrokeshire Coastal Path in Wales. Along the way, relax with him as he enjoys a pint or two in an eclectic collection of pubs, country inns and hostels chatting with colorful locals. Five walks and a thousand episodes of humorous, heart warming and just plain fun.

    

    The short life of the DeLorean DMC-12 sports car – a vision of the future with its gullwing doors and stainless steel body – began after John DeLorean secured financial backing from the British government for his car-making venture in Northern Ireland. Four years and nearly 9,000 cars later the company went bust and DeLorean faced questions about fraud against the British taxpayer, and his big ally, Colin Chapman of Lotus, also drew scrutiny. As an insider’s account, this book contains a great deal of new information about the DeLorean scandal.

    The Saint Patrick of his own writings and the early records of his life are not known to many. While Saint Patrick also represents shamrocks, Irish pride, and even the occasional green beer there is much of his life that is often forgotten. For instance, the original color associated with Saint Patrick's Day was blue, and although Saint Patrick dedicated his life to spreading Christianity in Ireland, he might not have celebrated the nation, as we do on his feast day today, in his own lifetime. Ireland, for Patrick, was in many ways bittersweet. On the other hand, it was also the nation of his spiritual awakening, which is probably a large part of why Patrick decided to make the conversion of Ireland his calling. In the English-speaking world, few saints are as well known, yet so misunderstood, as Saint Patrick. The saint himself, as he was in life, sometimes gets lost in his holiday. The seekers who want to know the real Patrick have to dig much deeper, but they will also find Patrick a more complex and rewarding acquaintance.

    EU elites and neoliberal commentators claim that the country’s ability to suffer economic pain will attract investors and generate a recovery.In Austerity Ireland, Kieran Allen challenges this official image and argues that the Irish state's response to the crash has primarily been designed to protect economic privilege. The resulting austerity has been a failure and is likely to produce a decade of hardship.The book offers a deeply informed and penetrating diagnosis of Ireland's current socio-economic and political malaise, suggesting that a political earthquake is underway which may benefit the left. Austerity Ireland is essential reading for all students of Irish politics and economics, as well as those interested in the politics of austerity and the eurozone crisis.

    The book narrates the story of Ireland's emergence into history, using anthropological, archaeological, historical, and literary evidence. The subjects covered include the king, the kingdom and the royal household, religion and customs, free and unfree classes in society, exiles, and foreigners. The rural, urban, ecclesiastical, ceremonial, and mythological landscapes of early medieval Ireland anchor the history of early Irish society in the rich tapestry of archaeological sites, monuments, and place-names that have survived to the present day. A historiography of medieval Irish studies presents the commentaries of a variety of scholars, from the 17th-century Franciscan Micheal O Cleirigh to Eoin Mac Neill, the founding father of modern scholarship.

    Set against the backdrop of spectacular scenery in every corner of Ireland, the book recounts the trials and tribulations of a modern-day pilgrim, who follows in the footsteps of the ancients along prescribed paths, which range from hikes of a few hours' duration to day-long treks, and the three-day ordeal in St. Patrick's Purgatory. This is a guide to the magical soul of Celtic Christianity, written from the perspective of a struggling 'a la carte' Irish Catholic, who could best be described as 'a healthy skeptic in matters of belief.' The result is a narrative that is at times uplifting and at times uncomfortable, but which is always engaging and honest. While there are pilgrimage prayers along the Tochar, as well as historical background on the places once revered throughout Christendom, there are also pints in pleasant pubs, a rich diversity of literary references, anecdotes, and personal reflections on faith, morality, and religious practice, which are offered in a spontaneous and unselfconscious spirit.

    Presenting the best of their hugely popular blog, Sam MacGrath, Donal O Faolain and Ciaran O'Muircheartaigh celebrate and explore Dublin's hidden history."

    Once, we were told that Brian, the great Christian king, gave his life in a battle on Good Friday against pagan Viking enemies whose defeat banished them from Ireland forever. More recent interpretations of the Battle of Clontarf have played down the role of the Vikings and portrayed it as merely the final act in a rebellion against Brian, the king of Munster, by his enemies in Leinster and Dublin.This book proposes a far-reaching reassessment of Brian Boru and Clontarf. By examining Brian's family history and tracing his career from its earliest days, it uncovers the origins of Brian's greatness and explains precisely how he changed Irish political life forever.Brian Boru and the Battle of Clontarf offers a new interpretation of the role of the Vikings in Irish affairs and explains how Brian emerged from obscurity to attain the high-kingship of Ireland because of his exploitation of the Viking presence. And it concludes that Clontarf was deemed a triumph, despite Brian's death, because of what he averted--a major new Viking offensive in Ireland--on that fateful day.Reviews:'I cannot recommend enough Sean Duffy's book for its readability and the enormity of backbreaking historical scholarship lightly borne and compellingly presented.'Dr Pat Wallace, Director Emeritus of the National Museum of Ireland'This scholarly, sympathetic book expertly unpicks legend and propaganda to uncover the real figure, offering an important reassessment of his place in Irish history.' Donnchadh O Corrain, Irish Times Weekend Review

    But, as Fate would have it, it’s Philip, the useless one, who ends up leading a group of misfits across Medieval England to mount rescues, battle Hobgoblins and generally save the World(s).James Philips meanwhile is stuck on dull, magicless, Earth in his old college, Botolf-almost-Oxford, which he discovers is staffed solely by men dedicated to the protection of our Earth from the paranormal. His old mentor, now living in a video recording, introduces him to an array of strange allies, as London, England and the World face an ‘alien’ invasion of swords and sorcery.Others are caught up in the events of the inter-cosmic connection between two Earths; Vortigern the King has been bred for conquest and now his eyes are on our world. He brings with his armies many wizards, who themselves have gained an eye for the throne.Sam, a young boy from West London has been sent through the gateway to the dark world of magic where he meets Snodrod and the children of an enslaved village, their only wish to get back to their homes; but they face enormous challenges … not least, Dragon-shaped ones.The story, as told here in the first Chronicle of Botolf, takes place simultaneously in both Earths, where the connection between worlds has a strange echoing effect on every character.Will the world be saved? Can the Wrong man do the job? Is this a rhetorical question?All will be answered in this comedy/fantasy/mock-u-history tale.Steve Downesp.s. There’s also a sarcastic Oak Tree in there somewhere.

    No one knows this better than 12-year-old Catholic schoolboy, Brian Scanlon. He’s on a quest, not only to save his own soul, but that of his younger brother Michael. However, there is just one thing that lies between them and eternal salvation – their evil, older brother, Patrick. It’s 1985 in small town Catholic Ireland where religion is deeply rooted into the psyche of the people. Confession is a weekly event, statues of the Virgin Mary are moving or crying up and down the country and Dallas is almost as popular as Sunday Mass. For The Love of God follows the darkly humourous twists and turns in the life of the three brothers. In the end, as the age-old question goes – can good really overcome evil?

    With The Volunteers, he held the Mendicity Institute on the River Liffey for over two days. He was executed by firing squad on May 8 in Kilmainham Jail. This book, part of the ‘16 lives’ series, is a fascinating and moving account of his life leading up to and during these events.It follows his life, from his birth in Dublin, to his time as a railway clerk in Limerick. Finally it outlines his move back to Dublin, his joining The Volunteers, the Easter Rising, his imprisonment and execution. This book is a fascinating and moving insight into a man who sacrificed his life for his country.

    Until recently the idea that Atlantic Europe was a wholly pre-Indo-European world throughout the Bronze Age remained plausible. Rapidly expanding evidence for the later prehistory and the pre-Roman languages of the West increasingly exclude that possibility. It is therefore time to refocus on a narrowing list of 'suspects' as possible archaeological proxies for the arrival of this great language family and emergence of its Celtic branch. This reconsideration inevitably throws penetrating new light on the formation of later prehistoric Atlantic Europe and the implications of new evidence for interregional connections.Celtic from the West 2 continues the series launched with Celtic from the West: Alternative Perspectives from Archaeology, Genetics, Language and Literature (2010; 2012) in exploring the new idea that the Celtic languages emerged in the Atlantic Zone during the Bronze Age. This Celtic Atlantic hypothesis represents a major departure from the long-established, but increasingly problematical scenario in which the Ancient Celtic languages and peoples called Keltoi (Celts) are closely bound up with the archaeology of the Hallstatt and La T�ne cultures of Iron Age west-central Europe.

    There is little written about the lives of majority of men, who held no title or land, and even less about women ... Indeed, so neglected are these people in history that many of the stories and people recounted ... haven’t been heard of in centuries.”In a society born of conquest, beset with famines and plagues, and where the staples of life were everything from spies and corruption to witch trials and warfare, life in medieval Ireland was seldom dull.In Witches, Spies and Stockholm Syndrome, Finbar Dwyer offers a unique portrait of life as it was lived in medieval Ireland. Against the backdrop of what was often a violent and chaotic period of history, Dwyer explores the personal stories of those whose recollections have been preserved, finding in them continual relevance and human interest.Finbar Dwyer is a Dublin-based historian, archaeologist and blogger. He is the founder of the successful irishhistorypodcast.ie, which focuses primarily on medieval Irish history. He organises specialist tours of medieval Dublin and Ireland, while continuing to research and write about our medieval past.

    Due to an almost crippling shyness, the only type of romance she experiences comes from the characters in her books. Wanting to write a story steeped in myth and magic, she lets her agent talk her into visiting the small village of Ballybree in County Meath, Ireland. Despite her agreement, though, the thought of all the attention she is bound to get terrifies her. She plans to spend as much time as possible alone in her rented cottage, but the residents of Ballybree have other ideas. First, there is Ronan O’Meara, the gorgeous, gray-eyed Irishman who is determined to court her. Then there is Fáelán, a magical being who treats her like a sister and swears they share a common ancestry. Finally, there are Kate and Zoe who break through her barriers to become her first friends and confidants. But even with all the extra support, will she be able to overcome her problems and find her own happy ending?

    Brian Goodchild, marrying weeks before her 30th birthday. But when he abandons her at the altar, she does the only thing she knows how to do, run away. Crashing the honeymoon camper van, she finds herself in the middle of nowhere on the west coast of Ireland with only the clothes she’s stood up in. So, if she’s not Mrs. Brian Goodchild anymore, who is she? One thing she does know, she can’t go home. What Fi wants is to hide away, and where better? She takes a job on an oyster farm despite being terrified of water and her new boss, the wild and unpredictable Sean Thornton and his oyster broker partner Nancy Dubois. There, she battles oyster pirates, pearl queens and circling sharks before finally coming out of her shell and finding love amongst the oyster beds of Galway Bay.

     Rash, proud, and headstrong, she has carved her way through life in turbulent seventeenth-century Ireland with a bold determination that often places her at odds with those around her. Orphaned when her parents were murdered by English soldiers, and ostracized for marrying a foreign Protestant landlord, Molly feels as if she is a stranger in her own land. When a band of Irish Travellers come to her small town, Molly finds herself trapped between her desire to help the wayfaring strangers, and the cruel prejudices of her neighbors. Will she find the courage to defend these, the least of all people?

    This book takes you inside the walls of the Industrial School - run by a Catholic Religious Order - and describes in detail the daily routine of the harsh regime which the boys had to submit to on a day to day basis.Over the years, more than 35,000 Irish children were detained in a network of Industrial Schools where they had little chance of developing a normal childhood this leaves an appalling legacy on the social history of Ireland. It is more than an autobiography (the facts of which are in no dispute) but is a shocking indictment of the collusion of the Irish State and the Catholic Church to remove vulnerable children from society on a whim and leave them to their fate.

    The main argument the book makes is that the Irish gothic should be read in the context of the split in Irish Anglican public opinion that opened in the 1750s, and seen as a fictional instrument of liberal Anglican opinion in a changing political landscape. By providing a fully historicized account of the beginnings of the genre in Ireland, the book also addresses the theoretical controversies that have bedevilled discussion of the Irish gothic in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. The book gives ample space to the critical debate, and rigorously defends a reading of the Irish gothic as an Anglican, Patriot tradition. This reading demonstrates the connections between little-known Irish gothic fictions of the mid-eighteenth century (The Adventures of Miss Sophia Berkley and Longsword), and the Irish gothic tradition more generally, and also the gothic as a genre of global significance.Key Features * Examines gothic texts including Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Charles Robert Maturin's Melmoth the Wanderer, (Anon), The Adventures of Miss Sophia Berkley and Thomas Leland's Longsword * Provides a rigorous and robust theory of the Irish Gothic* Reads early Irish gothic fully into the political context of mid-eighteenth century Ireland

    Ó Ríordáin’s work has stood the test of time well, and he continues to engage today’s Irish readers and writers. This well-rounded selection of poems brings most of Ó Ríordáin’s works to English-language readers for the first time. The poems appear in their original Irish alongside English translations by some of Ireland's leading poets. Also included for the first time in English is Ó Ríordáin’s essay What Is Poetry?, considered an extraordinary touchstone of critical insight for poets and literary commentators.The volume reflects Ó Ríordáin’s seven main concerns: poetry and its place in the artist’s life; the plural self; the relationship between the individual and society; gender relations; the nature of animals; Ireland, its language and culture; and mortality.

    Ned's father, Edward, an ardent Fenian, died before his son was born, but Ned's Uncle John, also a radical Fenian, was a formative influence. John Daly was prepared to use physical force to win Ireland's freedom and was imprisoned for twelve years for his activities. Ned's sister Kathleen married Tom Clarke, a key figure of the Easter Rising. Nationalism was in the Daly blood.Yet young Ned was seen as frivolous and unmotivated, interested only in his appearance and his social life. How Edward Daly became a professional Volunteer soldier, dedicated to freeing his country from foreign rule, forms the core of this biography.Drawing on family memories and archives, Edward Daly's grandniece Helen Litton uncovers the untold story of Edward Daly, providing an insight into one of the more enigmatic figures of the Easter Rising.As commandant during the Rising, Ned controlled the Four Courts area. On 4 May 1916, Commandant Edward Daly was executed for his part in the Easter Rising. Ned was twenty-five years old. His body was consigned to a mass grave.

    From Elizabeth Bowen to Colm Toibin, from Flann O'Brien to Maeve Binchy, some of Ireland's greatest writers have produced first-rate journalism. And from R.M. Smyllie and Conor Cruise O'Brien to Eamon Dunphy and Olivia O'Leary, Ireland has also produced a remarkable number of journalists who can really write. Now, for the first time, the best of Irish reportage - some of it legendary, some of it unjustly forgotten - is gathered into a single volume. Whether it's Kate O'Brien on the reinterment of W.B. Yeats or Emily O'Reilly on the election to Westminster of Gerry Adams, whether it's Hubert Butler on the Fetherd-on-Sea boycott or Joseph O'Connor at the 1994 World Cup, the pieces in Great Irish Reportage illuminate Irish life in a way that no other form of writing can.'There is so much to admire and digest between the covers ... All of them put you right there, right on the frontline, right in the moment' RTE Guide 'You'll learn much about this great little nation of ours, and what makes it tick, from this incredibly well chosen collection' Hot Press 'There are superb examples of reportage here that combine hard fact and descriptive narrative' Irish Times'Excellent ... In such time, the need for brave individuals to believe in the power of the words they write is essential. Despite changes in the media landscape in recent years ... it appears as if that hunger from journalists, to question, inspire, and hold those who we democratically elect to accountability, is as strong as ever' Sunday Independent

    Fairies living beneath the lake on the King of Ireland's country estate? Janet Gleason isn't surprised. The American teen and her royal friend, Prince Liam Boru, have met the Good People before. Just before Halloween, three of the fairies, Blinn, Mell, and Lewy, leave their watery home to fill a magical bag with the flowers their queen requires to keep a hungry monster asleep. Blinn decides she'd like to see the mortal king's house. Lewy wants to taste oatcakes again, and Mell goes along on a tragic ride that leaves poor Lewy lost and alone. Can Liam and Janet help him find the flower bag before the monster awakens? Or will Lewy's misguided glimmer trap the young mortals forever in the palace beneath the lake?

    His schizophrenic wife turns violent, his daughter is growing up too fast, and the new District Inspector wants him demoted and transferred. To top it all off he has fallen in love with another woman.The Station Sergeant - One man, one mission: to protect those he loves and find the killer in his community.

    In the century that followed, Ireland was to know tragedy and triumph, bitter struggle and agonized compromise. The Great Famine killed over a million Irish poor between 1846 and 1851, and forced an even greater number to flee the horrors of their homeland. In the following decades, Irish political life was dominated by the struggle for land rights, for Home Rule, and ultimately for independence.These images do more than tell a gripping political story. They give an insight into a people, a landscape, and a lost way of life. They evoke the grandeur of life in the Big House, home and symbol of the Anglo-Irish elite. They reveal the hard labor of rural survival: cutting peat for fuel, fishing, and tilling the soil against an often harsh landscape. And they show the transforming impact of modernity, as industry, railways, and urban expansion slowly brought Ireland into a new era.

    The Outnumbered Poet, an extensive selection of Dennis O’ Driscoll’s prose writings — critical, biographical and autobiographical — succeeds his much-praised Troubled Thoughts, Majestic Dreams (The Gallery Press, 2001). Opening on a personal note, it includes astute and incisive essays and reviews, encompassing poets as diverse as Anna Kamienska and Billy Collins, and surveying the work of major practitioners such as R S Thomas, Czeslaw Milosz and Yehuda Amichai. There are perceptive readings of the poetry with vivid and telling accounts of meetings with the poets themselves.Drawing on his encyclopaedic knowledge of the Nobel laureate’s oeuvre, the book also offers in-depth considerations of Seamus Heaney’s writings, and — among several previously unpublished essays — a ground-breaking overview of the life and poetry of Ireland’s poète maudit, Michael Hartnett.Immensely readable, eloquent and often witty, this treasure trove demonstrates the broad church of an indispensable advocate’s thinking.

    This is the memoir of one of Ireland's most radical revolutionaries and key literary figure of the 20th century, dealing with his Civil War experience and his time in jail and on hunger strike.

    Influenced by the author's Irish heritage and growing up in New England.

    Here we see the rugged landscape of the countryside juxtaposed with the darkness of urban poverty in the city's underside. We are shown a way of life that no longer exists, but is forever captured in these unsentimental images of the Irish way, its people and their struggles, and their small and hard-wrought joys.

    Set in Northern Ireland, between two world wars, and amidst violent religious tension, the family deals with personal tragedy, death, betrayal, lust and forbidden love. Their hard-won triumph remains not only a testimony to their love, sacrifice, loyalty, and courageous defiance in the face of religious persecution-the story is above all a testimony of the indestructible Irish will to survive.

    But the mist-shrouded streets hold many memories from the carefree summer she spent as a student in the city, and she cannot shake off the feeling that something is unfinished. The past grows stronger when Lizzy receives a message from an old friend, the annoying and glamorous Alice, who has gone from one dazzling (and surprising) success to another since college. But perfect Alice has a guilty secret - on their last night in Dublin seven years ago, Alice swapped destinies with Lizzy. The deal ends at midnight that very night. Lizzy has no choice but to join Alice as they race across the city, unravelling the past and confronting their supernatural pursuers. Their fates entwined, the girls have one night to put things right and restore destiny to its proper path. If they fail, not only is their destiny and happiness at stake, but Lizzy’s very soul. Will what was meant to be, finally be? As the hour draws near, anything can happen at midnight in Dublin.

    In a period of only five years, Ireland lost approximately 25% of its population through a combination of death and emigration. How could such a tragedy have occurred at the heart of the vast, and resource-rich, British Empire?Charity and the Great Hunger in Ireland explores this question by focusing on a particular, and lesser-known, aspect of the Famine: that being the extent to which people throughout the world mobilized to provide money, food and clothing to assist the starving Irish. This book considers how, helped by developments in transport and communications, newspapers throughout the world reported on the suffering in Ireland, prompting funds to be raised globally on an unprecedented scale. Donations came from as far away as Australia, China, India and South America and contributors emerged from across the various religious, ethnic, social and gender divides. Charity and the Great Hunger in Ireland traces the story of this international aid effort and uses it to reveal previously unconsidered elements in the history of the Famine in Ireland.

    Distinctive, deeply informed and provocative, Northern Ireland's Lost Opportunity is the first study to focus not on the violent actions of the UVF/RHC but on their political vision and programme which, Novosel argues, included the potential for a viable peace based on compromise with all groups, including the Irish Republican Army.

    He has been murdered. His unexpected death brings relationship difficulties within the family to a head. Simmering resentments explode, allowing shocking personal and family histories to seep out of the chaos. At times dark and emotional, the novel is full of humour, and it paints a colourful picture of life in a small community, and the interactions of the people within it. First to arrive on the scene following Breffni's discovery of the body is Garda Malone, a sarcastic bully who finds it impossible to behave either well or objectively. Hidden behind his harassment of the family is the memory of an unrequited love for Breffni's mother, awakened when he sees Breffni for the first time. Relations and friends gather: Breffni's sister Corry and her brother Henry, who is one of the few calm members of the family; the Bish, Charles's brother and a retired bishop, arrives before Breffni and her sister Corry break the news to him and his anger is almost explosive; Breffni's sanctimonious Aunt Edith sides with him; Aloysius, Aunt Edith’s adopted son plays a greater part as the story develops. Mikey Farraher, Charles’s ancient neighbour is sure it was tinkers. Hadn't there been a spate of cow-stealing lately? Who else but a wicked, thieving robber could have done such a thing to his old friend? All are subjected to questioning by Garda Malone, whose inefficient investigation weaves in and out of the story, stirring up anger and strong passions as he conducts his enquiries. The story gathers momentum, weaving a path through a series of events which finally lead to the murderer. Siobhán Carew’s prose is full of poetry and strong emotions. Her characters are drawn vividly and they move the story forwards, often humorously. This is an unforgettable novel.

    Waterford during the turbulent and extraordinary years of the Irish Revolution. He reveals what life was like for the ordinary men, women and children of city and county during a period that witnessed world war and domestic political and social strife. As the home constituency of John Redmond, leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, Waterford city shared in his apparent triumph between 1912 and 1914 when he was on the cusp of achieving home rule. The city faithfully supported his wartime policies and benefitted from the consequent economic boom. On Redmond's death, that loyalty was transferred to his son amid bitter political violence. After the general election of 1918, Captain William Redmond described his Waterford city constituency, the only one outside Ulster to return an Irish Party MP, as 'an oasis in the political desert that is Ireland'. Waterford city's allegiance to the Redmonds, its support for the British war effort and a strong labour movement combined to make the city a social and political battleground. By contrast, Waterford county reflected the nationwide trend and was swept along by the rising Sinn F in tide. It also participated actively in the War of Independence. In 1922 and 1923, both city and county were convulsed by the Civil War and bitter labour disputes. This wide-ranging study offers fascinating new perspectives on Waterford during the Irish Revolution.

    This book positions Ireland at the core of the picturesque's development and argues for a far greater degree of Irish influence on the course of European landscape theory and design.Positioned off-axis from the greater force-field, and off-shore from mainland Europe and America, where better to cultivate the oblique perspective? This book charts the creation of picturesque Ireland, while exploring in detail the role and reach of landscape painting in the planning, publishing, landscaping and design of Ireland's historic landscapes, towns, and tourist routes. Thus it is also a history of the physical shaping of Ireland as a tourist destination, one of the earliest, most calculated, and most successful in the world.