Books

  • Moonflower Murders

    Moonflower Murders

    11.95

    Retired publisher Susan Ryeland is running a small hotel on a Greek island with her long-term boyfriend. But life isn’t as idyllic as it should be: exhausted by the responsibility of making everything work on an island where nothing ever does, Susan is beginning to miss her literary life in London – even though her publishing career once entangled her in a lethal literary murder plot. So when an English couple come to visit with tales of a murder that took place in a hotel the same day their daughter Cecily was married there, Susan can’t help but find herself fascinated.

    And when they tell her that Cecily has gone missing a few short hours after reading Atticus Pund Takes The Case, a crime novel Susan edited some years previously, Susan knows she must return to London to find out what has happened. The clues to the murder and to Cecily’s disappearance must lie within the pages of this novel. But to save Cecily, Susan must place her own life in mortal danger…

  • This Is It

    This Is It

    15.95

    This is it. The key to happiness is recognising that, yes, this is it. You’re all you have to work with and this moment is the only one you have any control over.

    It took a while for Conor Creighton to understand this powerful concept. But once he did, his life changed forever. Conor Creighton came out of the womb chewing his fingernails.

    A chaotic childhood saw his default mode set to ‘generally miserable’, so he left home at 17, vowing never to return. The ensuing decades of disorder resulted in chronic anxiety. At rock bottom, he signed up for a ten-day silent meditation retreat.

    It was hell. His legs ached. His butt felt like it was on fire.

    His mind threw at him a never-ending collage of regrets, wants and realisations. Then, suddenly, for the first time in nearly twenty years, he felt calm as relief and, eventually, joy washed over him. He learned that meditation has just one goal: to recognise that this is it.

    There is nothing else. No desire to get anywhere or change or improve anything. When Conor stopped trying to get somewhere or ‘be someone’ and realised that this, and this alone, is it, his anxiety abated, he learned to like himself and he discovered that he might even be happy.

    By remembering that ‘this is it’ in uncomfortable times and in comfortable times, your life can become a lot like meditation. In this highly entertaining, refreshingly honest memoir and meditation guide, you’ll discover how. ‘Conor is Ireland’s answer to Sam Harris.

    This book will you teach you truly life-altering wisdom that has stood the test of both time and science in the most hilarious, relatable and heart-warmingly welcoming way.’ Daniella Moyles ‘I love Conor’s way of sharing the magic of contemplation and meditation. In a world filled with distraction and noise Conor reminds us to slow down and come back to ourselves. This Is It takes a practical approach to meditation and contemplation in what can feel like an overwhelming world.’ Pat Divilly ‘Other worldly and painfully, beautifully Irish all at one.

    Like poetry and philosophy read by your brother’s best friend who has been around the world and come back to serve you everything you’ve forgotten you already know. I adore this book and Conor.’ Angela Scanlon

  • Exciting Times

    Exciting Times

    10.95

    Description
    ‘The book of the summer … Kept me rapt until the final page’ THE TIMES’A sharp, smart, witty modern love story. I loved it’ David Nicholls, author of ONE DAY’More than lives up to the hype …

    Likely to fill the Sally-Rooney-shaped hole in many readers’ lives’ IRISH TIMES’Droll, shrewd and unafraid – a winning debut’ Hilary Mantel, author of WOLF HALL’I’ve been pushing Exciting Times on everyone I know. Some of Dolan’s pithy observations of her characters are the best I’ve read since Edward St Aubyn’ OBSERVER’A frankly sensational book’ Pandora Sykes on THE HIGH LOW’In the tradition of Dorothy Parker, Joan Rivers and Nora Ephron … I found myself purring with pleasure.

  • Gordon's Game Blue Thunder

    Gordon’s Game Blue Thunder

    9.95

    Description
    Gordon is back for more mayhem and mischief in the second book in the laugh-out-loud Gordon’s Game series!__________Gordon D’Arcy – the only kid at school with a Six Nations medal hidden under his pillow! Though helping Ireland to win the Grand Slam feels like it was just a dream. Now, he’s been given a brand new challenge – the chance to play for Leinster. After learning so many lessons playing for Ireland – including how to make a complete eejit of himself in front of millions of people – fitting in at Leinster should be a breeze.

  • ISLANDS OF CONNAUGHT

    ISLANDS OF CONNAUGHT

    21.95

    CLARK, WALLACE

  • Night Waking

    Night Waking

    10.50

    Historian Anna Bennett has a book to write. She also has an insomniac toddler, a precocious, death-obsessed seven-year-old, and a frequently absent ecologist husband who has brought them all to Colsay, a desolate island in the Hebrides, so he can count the puffins. Ferociously sleep-deprived, torn between mothering and her desire for the pleasures of work and solitude, Anna becomes haunted by the discovery of a baby’s skeleton in the garden of their house.

    Her narrative is punctuated by letters home, written 200 years before, by May, a young, middle-class midwife desperately trying to introduce modern medicine to the suspicious, insular islanders. The lives of these two characters intersect unexpectedly in this deeply moving but also at times blackly funny story about maternal ambivalence, the way we try to control children, and about women’s vexed and passionate relationship with work. Moss’s second novel displays an exciting expansion of her range – showing her to be both an excellent comic writer and a novelist of great emotional depth.

  • Clean and Green

    Clean and Green

    14.95

    Simple swaps and innovative ideas for cleaning and maintaining your home that won’t cost the Earth. Learn how easy it is to make simple swaps in your cleaning and tidying methods for a more eco-friendly home. This beautifully illustrated black and white guide with 101 hints and sustainable, natural cleaning tips and hacks will help you take small steps that have a massive positive environmental impact.

    In Clean & Green, Nancy Birtwhistle shares the simple recipes and methods she has developed since making a conscious effort to live more sustainably, many of which are faster and easier than the go-to products and methods most of us use now. From everyday cleaning and laundry tips to zero-effort oven cleaner and guidance on removing tricky stains from clothing and furniture, these economical, practical methods are perfect for anyone looking to reduce their use of plastic and throwaway products. Nancy shares her tried-and-tested recipes for all-purpose cleaners, replacements for harmful chemicals that will keep both your home and the planet clean and green for future generations.

  • Sophie's World

    Sophie’s World

    10.95

    The international bestseller about life, the universe and everything. When 14-year-old Sophie encounters a mysterious mentor who introduces her to philosophy, mysteries deepen in her own life. Why does she keep getting postcards addressed to another girl? Who is the other girl? And who, for that matter, is Sophie herself? To solve the riddle, she uses her new knowledge of philosophy, but the truth is far stranger than she could have imagined.

    An addictive blend of mystery, philosophy and fantasy, Sophie’s World is an international phenomenon which has been translated into 60 languages and sold more than 40 million copies.

  • The Biography John Le Carre

    The Biography John Le Carre

    19.50

    Long after The Spy Who came in from the Cold made John le Carre a worldwide, bestselling sensation, David Cornwell, the man behind the pseudonym, remained an enigma. In this definitive biography, written with unprecedented access to the man himself, Adam Sisman offers an illuminating portrait of a fascinating and enigmatic writer. In Cornwell’s lonely childhood Adam Sisman uncovers the origins of the themes of love and abandonment which dominated le Carre’s fiction: the departure of his mother when he was five, followed by ‘sixteen hugless years’ in the dubious care of his father, a man of energy and charm, a serial seducer and conman who hid the Bentleys in the trees when the bailiffs came calling – a ‘totally incomprehensible father’ who could ‘put a hand on your shoulder and the other in your pocket, both gestures equally sincere’.

    And in Cornwell’s adult life – from recruitment by both MI5 and MI6, through marriage and family life, to his emergence as the master of the spy novel – Sisman explores the idea of espionage and its significance in human terms; the extent to which betrayal is acceptable in exchange for love; and the endless need for forgiveness, especially from oneself. Written with exclusive access to David Cornwell, to his private archive and to the most important people in his life – family, friends, enemies, intelligence ex-colleagues and ex-lovers – and featuring a wealth of previously unseen photographic material, Adam Sisman’s extraordinarily insightful and constantly revealing biography brings in from the cold a man whose own life was as complex and confounding and filled with treachery as any of his novels.

    ‘I’m a liar,’ Cornwell once wrote. ‘Born to lying, bred to it, trained to it by an industry that lies for a living, practised in it as a novelist.

    ‘This is the definitive biography of a major writer, described by Richard Osman as ‘just the finest, wisest storyteller we had.’

  • The Viscount Who Loved Me

    The Viscount Who Loved Me

    12.50
    Description
    The second book in the globally bestselling Bridgerton Family series, the inspiration behind the Netflix series Bridgerton. Welcome to Anthony’s story . .
  • Irish Birds

    Irish Birds

    18.95

    An easy-to-use, fully illustrated guide to the birds of Ireland This easy-to-use, full-colour guide describes and illustrates 178 of the most commonly spotted birds in Ireland. Specially designed for people with a general interest in birds,the species have been carefully selected to include those that the non-specialist birdwatcher is most likely to see. Usefully, birds are grouped together according to where they are most likely to be seen: in gardens, parks and buildings; farmland and hedgerows; woodland and scrubland; moorland and uplands; and freshwater or coastal areas, with background information given about each of these habitats.

    Essential identification characteristics are given for each species, along with clear illustrations. There are also notes on distribution, numbers and migration for each species, and general pages for groups like thrushes, sparrows and finches will help you to distinguish between similar species. With definitive text, up-to-date distribution maps and superb illustrations, this book is the ultimate field guide to Irish birds, essential on every bookshelf and birdwatching trip.

  • The Irish Diaspora

    The Irish Diaspora

    12.00
    Description
    The Irish have always been a travelling people. In the centuries after the fall of Rome, Irish missionaries carried the word of Christianity throughout Europe, while soldiers and mariners from across the land ventured overseas in all directions. Since 1800 an estimated 10 million people have left the Irish shores and today more than 80 million people worldwide claim Irish descent.

    The advent of the British Empire ignited a slow but extraordinary exodus from Ireland. The pioneering explorers of the Tudor Age were soon overtaken in number by religious refugees, the ‘Wild Geese’ who opted to live outside of the Protestant state and to take their chances in the Spanish or French empires, or in America. The Irish played a pivotal role in the foundation of the United States of America, just as they would in the Civil War that followed eighty-five years later.

    The lives of Irish emigrants wove in and out of the major events of global history, including the Abbe Edgeworth, confessor to King Louis XVI at his execution during the French Revolution; Margaretta Eagar, governess to the daughters of Nicholas II, the last Tsar of Russia; and William Lamport, who travelled from County Wexford to Central America, and became Don Guillen, a martyr for Mexican independence. Turtle Bunbury explores the lives of those men and women, great and otherwise, whose journeys – whether driven by faith, a desire for riches and adventure, or purely for survival – have left their mark on the world.

  • Above Water

    Above Water

    9.95
    Description
    “When my parents signed me up to Trojan Swimming Club, they had no idea of the evil behind Gibney’s interest in me. As a thirteen-year-old, who knew nothing but kindness and love, I was ill-equipped to understand what was happening as he insidiously dominated my thinking and isolated me from anyone who might come between us. The process of entrapment was quick, and in full view of my family and team-mates I became a prisoner – bullied, manipulated and abused, unnoticed by those close to me.
  • A Thousand Moons

    A Thousand Moons

    11.95
    Description
    From the Costa Book of the Year-winning author of Days Without EndEven when you come out of bloodshed and disaster in the end you have got to learn to live. Winona is a young Lakota orphan adopted by former soldiers Thomas McNulty and John Cole. Living with Thomas and John on the farm they work in 1870s Tennessee, she is educated and loved, forging a life for herself beyond the violence and dispossession of her past.

    But the fragile harmony of her unlikely family unit, in the aftermath of the Civil War, is soon threatened by a further traumatic event, one which Winona struggles to confront, let alone understand. Told in Sebastian Barry’s rare and masterly prose, A Thousand Moons is a powerful, moving study of one woman’s journey, of her determination to write her own future, and of the enduring human capacity for love. ‘Nobody writes like, nobody takes lyrical risks like, nobody pushes the language, and the heart, and the two together, quite like Sebastian Barry does.’ ALI SMITH

  • Thin Places

    Thin Places

    16.50
    Description
    A breathtaking mix of memoir, nature writing and history: this is Kerri ni Dochartaigh’s story of a wild Ireland, an invisible border, an old conflict and the healing power of the natural world’A special, beautiful, many-faceted book’ Amy Liptrot’A remarkable piece of writing . . .

    Luminous’ Robert Macfarlane’Eloquent . . .

    moving’ Sinead GleesonKerri ni Dochartaigh was born in Derry, on the border of the North and South of Ireland, at the very height of the Troubles. She was brought up on a council estate on the wrong side of town. But for her family, and many others, there was no right side.

    One parent was Catholic, the other was Protestant. In the space of one year they were forced out of two homes and when she was eleven a homemade petrol bomb was thrown through her bedroom window. Terror was in the very fabric of the city, and for families like Kerri’s, the ones who fell between the cracks of identity, it seemed there was no escape.

    In Thin Places, a mixture of memoir, history and nature writing, Kerri explores how nature kept her sane and helped her heal, how violence and poverty are never more than a stone’s throw from beauty and hope, and how we are, once again, allowing our borders to become hard, and terror to creep back in. Kerri asks us to reclaim our landscape through language and study, and remember that the land we fight over is much more than lines on a map. It will always be ours but, at the same time, it never really was.

  • Irish Customs and Rituals

    Irish Customs and Rituals

    12.50

    Do you know what a Brideóg is? Why are lone hawthorns unlucky? What does it mean to ‘drown the shamrock’? From the author of The Irish Cottage comes a new book, exploring old Irish customs and beliefs. Chapters focus on the quarter-day festivities that marked the commencement of each season: ‘Spring: Imbolc’; ‘Summer: Bealtaine’; ‘Autumn: Lughnasa’ and ‘Winter: Samhain’, and also major life events — ‘Births, Marriages and Death Customs’ — and general beliefs in ‘Spirituality and Well-Being’ and ‘The Supernatural’. Focusing on the period from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries, Irish Customs and Rituals discusses a time during which many of the practices and beliefs in question went into decline. Many of these customs were rooted in residual pre-Christian beliefs that ran parallel to, and in spite of, conventional religion practised in the country. Some customs were so deep-rooted that despite continued disapproval from the Roman Catholic Church they remain with us today. It is wonderful to see so many traditions still with us, as many are worthwhile remembering, commemorating, or even reviving today. Irish Customs and Rituals will appeal to all those with an interest in Irish history, folklore, culture and social history.