BrigitI'd like it to be perfect . . . Beautiful . . . The statue . . . Unbeatable? . . . I'd like it to be what I feel . . . And I don't know what that is.Set in the 1950s, Brigit, a prequel to Murphy's critically-acclaimed Bailegangaire (1985), tells the story of Mommo and Séamus, grandparents living on the breadline, who are raising three grandchildren: Mary, Dolly and Tom, when Séamus is offered a job to carve a statue of St Br...

"The most distinctive, the most restless, the most obsessive imagination at work in the Irish theatre today" Brian FrielModelled on Oliver Goldsmith's classic novel The Vicar of Wakefield, Murphy builds a comedy peopled with thieves, pimps, bawds, lechers and imposters who will prey on innocence unless God - or the ruling class - takes a hand. It centres around the downfall of Dr Primrose, who relates the misadventures that have caused his downfall and brought disintegration and ru...

"The most distinctive, the most restless, the most obsessive imagination at work in the Irish theatre today" Brian FrielThe Wake recounts the story of a woman, returning from the USA to her home town in Ireland. As her family learn of her years as a prostitute, she learns their attitudes and Irish society in general. A homecoming play, haunting yet fiercely comic.

As tragedy strikes, life for one London family is never the same again...Harry Bowling's When the Pedlar Called is a touching story of a family struggling to survive in war-time East End London. Perfect for fans of Cathy Sharp and Annie Murray.When Nell Bailey is wounded in a Flying Bomb attack, it is up to her daughter, Josie, to hold the family together. But Josie's new responsibilities don't stop her imagining a brighter future ...

Mystery and excitement abound in this lively collection of fairy tales, folklore and legends, which celebrate Scotland's enormously rich oral tradition and offers a carefully chosen combination of old favourites such as Tam Lin, Thomas Rymer and Adam Bell, as well as more modern stories by master story-tellers like Andrew Lang, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and John Buchan.

They'll all be crow bait by the time I'm finished...Jail was hell for Davie McCall. Ten years down the line, freedom's no picnic either. It's 1990, there are new kings in the West of Scotland underworld, and Glasgow is awash with drugs. Davie can handle himself. What he can't handle is the memory of his mother's death at the hand of his sadistic father. Or the darkness his father implanted deep in his own psyche. Or the nightmares…Now his father is back in town and after blood, ready to wa...

When Martha accepts a place at university, her decision is met with a mixture of hostility and pride by her uncomprehending family. This is the story of a young woman's journey to maturity and independence, struggling to cope with the intellectual and emotional challenges that surround her, at a time when such space was rarely given freely to women.In The Quarry Wood, Nan Shepherd's subtle prose is matched with intense and memorable descriptions of the natural world, and a...

This educational edition, with the full play text and an introduction to the playwright, features a detailed analysis of the language, structure and characters of the play, and textual notes explaining difficult words and references. It contains:- The full playtext- An introduction to the playwright, his background and his work- A detailed analysis of language, structure and characters in the play- Features of performance- Textual notes explaining diffic...

The first of a series of stories featuring the character of Ben, a former merchant sailor now down-on-his-luck, who continually gets involved in adventures. Taking shelter in an abandoned old house, he stumbles across a dead body – and scarpers. Running into a detective, Gilbert Fordyce, the reluctant Ben is persuaded to return to the house and investigate the mystery of the corpse – which promptly disappears! The vacant No.17 is the rendezvous for a gang of villains, and the cowardly Ben ...

'She's like no one I've ever met... She's like fire and water all at once.'Warwickshire, 1582. Agnes Hathaway, a natural healer, meets the Latin tutor, William Shakespeare. Drawn together by powerful but hidden impulses, they create a life together and make a family.As William moves to London to discover his place in the world of theatre, Agnes stays at home to raise their three children but she is the constant presence and purpose of his life.When the plag...

A powerful expressionist drama from the 1920s about the dependent status of women in an increasingly mechanised society, based on the true story of Ruth Snyder.Sophie Treadwell was a campaigning journalist in America between the wars. Among her assignments was the sensational murder involving Snyder, who with her lover, Judd Gray, had murdered her husband and gone to the electric chair.'This is a play written in anger. In the dead wasteland of male society – it seems to...

1945.After the Second World War, Ellen and her daughter Netta make the journey from Germany back to Scotland. Nestled in the hills of the Southern Uplands is the farm where Ellen grew up – the home she left to be with the only man she's ever loved. She is still haunted by her memories... and the secrets she dare not share with anyone.Having grown up in Freiburg, farm life is new and exciting to Netta. Determined to be useful, she offers to help new shepherd...