Books

  • Listen to the Land Speak

    Listen to the Land Speak

    22.95
    Description

    Our ancestors developed a uniquely nature-focused society, centred on esteemed poets, seers, monks, healers and wise women who were deeply connected to the land. They used this connection to the cycles of the natural world – from which we are increasingly dissociated – as an animating force in their lives. In this illuminating new book, Manchan Magan sets out on a journey, through bogs, across rivers and over mountains, to trace these ancestor’s footsteps.

    He uncovers the ancient myths that have shaped our national identity and are embedded in the strata of land that have endured through millennia – from ice ages through to famines and floods. Here, the River Shannon is a goddess, and trees and their life-sustaining root systems are hallowed. See the world in a new light in this magical exploration into the life-sustaining wisdom of what lies beneath us.

  • Local Heroes

    Local Heroes

    22.95

    Infused with the authors’ abiding love of their native Sligo and their lifelong infatuation with the world of sport, Local Heroes: A Celebration of Sligo Sport offers a fascinating and vivid insight into what it takes to be a bona fide local hero. Featuring the most comprehensive collection of Sligo sports stars ever assembled between the covers of a book, award-winning journalists Jim and Leo Gray tell the gripping stories of more than 60 sportsmen and sportswomen whose exploits have earned them an exalted place in any pantheon of all-time greats.

    Unlikely as it may seem, Sligo’s fingerprints are to be found at some of the world’s iconic sporting events, from the Olympic Games to the Aintree Grand National; the FA Cup final to the Tour de France; major golf tournaments to the Premier League. Those stories are related here with deep insights from the participants, history-makers who proudly put Sligo on the sporting map. But the pages are laced, too, with heroic endeavours of sportsmen and sportswomen who may not be so well known outside their native county, but whose achievements have marked them as immortal local legends.

    In more than 70 essays across a vast range of sports, the veteran reporters cast a new spotlight on the county’s big occasions at venues such as Croke Park, the Aviva Stadium, Cheltenham and Olympic Games stadia, as well as taking a deep dive into the local cauldron of sporting activity, highlighting events and characters who have illuminated the county’s rich sporting heritage.

    Local Heroes is intended as a permanent monument to those whose sporting greatness has enriched the lives of generations of Sligonians.

  • What Makes Us Human

    What Makes Us Human

    22.95

    What makes us human? Ireland’s favorite scientist is here to tell you! What do you have in common with the 7.75 billion other people on the planet? This is the question that Professor Luke O’Neill attempts to answer in this exciting new book for young readers, adapted from his bestselling book for adults, Humanology: A Scientist’s Guide to our Amazing Existence.

    Starting with the origin of life and how we as a species evolved on the plains of Africa some 200,000 years ago, Professor Luke explores what makes us interesting as a species, why we sleep, laugh and enjoy music, and our efforts to stop disease. He also ponders whether we will create superhumans, how and why we age, if we can escape death and whether our eventual extinction is inevitable. With Luke’s trademark infectious enthusiasm – and plenty of laughs along the way – What Makes Us Human is the perfect book for curious minds.

  • Irish Myths and Legends Vol.2

    Irish Myths and Legends Vol.2

    22.95

    Lady Augusta Gregory’s collection and translation of Irish folk legends brings, as Yeats observed, ‘Ireland’s gift of imagination to the world’.

    Following on from the bestselling Irish Myths and Legends: Gods and Fighting Men, this second volume, originally titled Cuchulain of Muirthemne, tells of the brave exploits of Ireland’s answer to Achilles, the fearless Cuchulain and the Red Branch of Ulster, as well as the overpowering love of his wife Emer.

    Forming part of the bedrock of Gaelic legend, and translated faithfully from the idiom of Irish oral storytellers, this new volume is essential reading for anyone with an interest in Gaelic culture.

  • Cures of Ireland

    Cures of Ireland

    22.95

    A fascinating new book celebrating Ireland’s rich tradition of folk cures, medicines and charms.

    It’s said that almost everyone in Ireland, particularly in rural communities, will know of someone with a ‘cure’. It might be for the mumps, a stye in the eye, or a sprain. Indeed the author of Cures of Ireland, Cecily Gilligan was herself cured of jaundice and ringworm by a ‘seventh son’ in her local Sligo during her childhood.

    Cecily Gilligan has been researching the rich world of Irish folk cures for almost forty years and, given the tradition has largely been an oral one, has been interviewing a broad range of people from around the country who possess these mystical cures, and those who have benefited from their gifts. One has a cure for eczema that comprises herbal butter balls, another ‘buys’ warts from the sufferer with safety pins. There are stories of clay from graves with precious healing properties and pieces of cords from potato bags being sent across the world to treat asthma.

    While the Ireland of the twenty-first century continues to develop at lightning speed, there is something deeply comforting and reassuring in the fact that these ancient healing traditions, while fewer in number, do survive to this day.

    Cures of Ireland is an exquisite book that will be treasured by many generations to come.

  • The Late Night Writers Club

    The Late Night Writers Club

    22.95

    A Graphic Novel

    A talented but annoying Debut Author, suffering from writer’s block and mysterious headaches, ghosted by his girlfriend and on his last chance with his bartender job, takes refuge in the National Library of Ireland, hoping for some last-minute inspiration within those hallowed walls.

    Tortured by literary inadequacy and disappointed love, can he somehow absorb the famous modesty of Yeats, the wit of Edgeworth, the charm of Binchy, the wisdom of Heaney? But a weird twist of fate or perhaps a guiding hand reveals all is not what it seems in the library after dark, and The Author soon discovers: be careful what you wish for. In rich and abundant illustrations, Annie West tells a rowdy story of artistic struggle, ego and unexpected kindness. You will never look at the Irish Literary Canon in the same way again.

  • From Malin Head to Mizen Head

    From Malin Head to Mizen Head

    22.95

    The Sea Area Forecast is broadcast daily on RTE radio at 6 a.m. and midnight. Foretelling fair days or fierce storms coming in across our seas, it has become a national institution – its hypnotic, rhythmic language as reassuring as the Angelus.

    Acting as a gentle morning wake-up call and a soothing bedtime lullaby, it transports us to faraway places and describes weather patterns we can’t comprehend. From Mizen Head to Malin, Valentia to Loop Head, and Carlingford Lough to Hook Head – rising or falling slowly, backing south-east to north-east or veering south-to-south-west – it has a unique language all of its own, but what does it all mean? Here, meteorologist Joanna Donnelly takes readers on a journey around Ireland’s Sea Area Forecast, visiting the places that are a familiar part of the daily broadcast and explaining its unique history, language and science.

  • Dirty Linen

    Dirty Linen

    22.95

    Martin Doyle, Books Editor of The Irish Times, offers a personal, intimate history of the Troubles seen through the microcosm of a single rural parish, his own, part of both the Linen Triangle – heartland of the North’s defining industry – and the Murder Triangle – the Badlands devastated by paramilitary violence. He lifts the veil of silence drawn over the horrors of the past, recording in heartrending detail the terrible toll the conflict took – more than twenty violent deaths in a few square miles – and the long trail of trauma it has left behind.

    Neighbours and classmates who lost loved ones in the conflict, survivors maimed in bomb attacks and victims of sectarianism, both Catholic and Protestant, entrust Doyle with their stories. Writing with a literary sensibility, he skillfully shows how the once dominant local linen industry serves as a metaphor for communal division but also for the solidarity that transcended the sectarian divide. To those who might ask why you would want to reopen old wounds, the answer might be that some wounds have never been allowed to heal.

  • The Irish Words You Should Know

    The Irish Words You Should Know

    22.95
    Description
    ‘The best book on the Irish language I have ever read – so funny, so soulful’ Tommy Tiernan Loinnir: The sunlight sparkling on the waves, or the merriness you feel after early pints of stout in the morning.  When you speak in Irish, every word is a tiny poem that reveals a new perspective. The Irish language is our inheritance.
  • This Boy's Heart

    This Boy’s Heart

    22.95
    Description
    John Creedon is a renowned storyteller. Following on from the sensational success of An Irish Folklore Treasury, here he seeks to capture the folklore of his own childhood. This Boy’s Heart is set in a city-centre household bursting with humanity, with a cast of a dozen children and another dozen adults, including beloved aunts, an American writer, an African doctor and a Scottish bookie.
  • We Do Not Part

    We Do Not Part

    22.95
    Description
    WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE 2024Like a long winter’s dream, this haunting and visionary new novel from 2024 Nobel Prize winner Han Kang takes us on a journey from contemporary South Korea into its painful history‘One of the most profound and skilled writers working on the contemporary world stage’ Deborah LevyBeginning one morning in December, We Do Not Part traces the path of Kyungha as she travels from the city of Seoul into the forests of Jeju Island, to the home of her old friend Inseon. Hospitalized following an accident, Inseon has begged Kyungha to hasten there to feed her beloved pet bird, who will otherwise die. Kyungha takes the first plane to Jeju, but a snowstorm hits the island the moment she arrives, plunging her into a world of white.
  • Frog Routes, Polka-Dot Newts

    Frog Routes, Polka-Dot Newts

    22.95

    Description
    Beneath our feet, in our hedgerows, trees and under our seas lies a complex community of beings that goes unseen and unheard by us humans. Soil is the stuff of life itself, bustling with microbes, fungi, beetles and earthworms that soften seeds, nurture saplings and provide all the potential for spring’s bounty. Ferns, primroses, wild violet and canopy leaves of overhead trees are the framework for the hidden power behind a butterfly wing or the singing of a wren.

    Here, Anja Murray fills us with wonder for the wonderful world of Ireland’s wild plants and animals through the seasons. From fungi to the origins of feral pigeons, primroses to sea turtles, each piece contains elements of science, history and folklore. Witness the extraordinary mating rituals of frogs and hares.

    Discover the incredible secret language of mice in their epic daily battle to survive and avoid capture with the swoop of the sparrowhawk.

  • Sophie's Swaps

    Sophie’s Swaps

    22.95

    Sophie Morris takes the guesswork out of shopping, replacing ultra-processed foods with cleaner alternatives that don’t compromise flavour. Along the way, she shares 50 tried-and-true recipes that make cooking from scratch easy, delicious and budget-friendly.

  • To Boldly go where no book has gone before

    To Boldly go where no book has gone before

    23.00

    Science is a serious business, right? Wrong. Scientists have been participants in the best reality show of all time, with all the highs, lows, bust-ups, and strange personalities of any show on telly today. From Luke O’Neill – the science teacher you wish you’d had – this hugely accessible history of science reveals the human stories behind the biggest discoveries.

    For example, we meet Charles Darwin as he weighs up the pros and cons of marrying his cousin: ‘constant companion’ vs ‘less money for books’. Tough call. To Boldly Go Where No Book Has Gone Before covers everything from space travel and evolution to alchemy and AI.

    Written by one of our leading scientists, this is an insider’s account that celebrates the joy of science. It is filled with all the juicy bits that other histories leave out. ‘If science and medicine were a theme park, Luke O’Neill is the best company on the wildest rides . . . serious and fun . . . expansive and detailed .

  • OPENED GROUND

    OPENED GROUND

    23.50

    HEANEY, SEAMUS

  • Half Hour Hero

    Half Hour Hero

    23.50

    Want to eat well but feel you don’t have the time?Roz Purcell will show you how tasty and healthy whole foods can be – and how easy it is to fit them into a busy lifestyle. Using readily available ingredients and store cupboard essentials, Roz’s whole foods recipes are quick, simple, nutritious and most of all, delicious. In less than thirty minutes, you can prepare, cook, and enjoy natural food that helps you look and feel healthier and happier.

    With over 100 easy to follow recipes, Half Hour Hero will prove that healthy eating can be fuss-free. From tasty breakfasts, hearty dinners, indulgent desserts, to snacks and tonics to enjoy on the go, Roz will show you how to cook quick dishes that will put natural whole foods at the heart of any life, no matter how hectic. Eating well has never been so simple.