The history of Ireland is mired in centuries of oppressive rule, struggles and poverty. Against this its landscape and people are a bright beacon of nature and humanity showing the very best of themselves.Ireland’s long rich history of literature is readily lauded all over the world. In its ranks of its women authors are the gloried and the famed but also many who shone but for a moment and others who found no attention from others but had the self-knowledge that their talents were...

In the final months of World War II, a clandestine group known as The Choir smuggles thousands of escapees out of Nazi-occupied Rome via a secret route known as the Rome Escape Line. When an unidentified airman falls from the sky, The Choir is plunged into lethal danger, and the survival of the Escape Line itself is threatened.The Choir is riven with internal tensions and infighting. The organization is in danger of falling apart, which would leave thousands of esc...

FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF REBECCA'I tell you your mine will be in ruins and your home destroyed and your children forgotten . . . but this hill will be standing still to confound you.'So curses Morty Donovan when 'Cooper John' Brodrick builds his mine at Hungry Hill.The Brodricks of Clonmere gain great wealth by harnessing the power of Hungry Hill and extracting the treasure it holds. The Donovans, the original owners of Clonmere Castle, resent the Brodricks' succ...

A revelatory new history of the Irish Great Famine, showing how the British Empire caused Ireland’s most infamous disaster.“Vigorous and engaging.” —Fintan O’Toole, The New YorkerIn 1845, European potato fields were attacked by a novel pathogen. But it was only in Ireland that the blight’s devastation reached apocalyptic levels, leaving more than a million dead and forcing millions more to emigrate. In Rot...

The cat. Independent when it wants and making us dependent on its whims when it deems. Cats are first thought of as being domesticated in the Near East in about 7500 BC. A few thousand years later in Ancient Egypt they are worshipped as gods. From a domestic cat’s point of view this is pretty much the life they want and that some cats lead right now.Their larger cousins whether in forest, savannah, mountains or desert were fated for their speed, strength, beauty, feline powers and ...

From the two-time Booker Prize finalist author, a dazzlingly written novel exploring memory, grief, and long-buried secretsRetired policeman Tom Kettle is enjoying the quiet of his new home, a lean-to annexed to a white Victorian Castle in Dalkey overlooking the sea. For months he has barely seen a soul, but his peace is interrupted when two former colleagues turn up at his door to ask questions about a decades-old case. A traumatic case which Tom never quite came ...

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Michael O'Leary by Matt Cooper, read by Stephen Hogan.September 2017. Ryanair cancels over 700,000 bookings and its powerful PR juggernaut comes shuddering to a halt. For once, the airline's aggressive and flamboyant CEO, Michael O'Leary, is contrite and apologetic.A month later Ryanair announces increased passenger traffic for October, year-on-year growth and increased profits. Its share price soars. For t...

Published in 1820 and written by the Protestant curate Charles Maturin, Melmoth the Wanderer is considered one of the greatest works of Gothic literature. Consisting of a series of stories within stories, the narrative features the scholar John Melmoth, condemned to wander the earth in search of a victim to take his place and free him from his eternal torment. His journey takes us from the late 17th to the early 19th centuries, as he attempts to lure those who are in the most perilous of c...

Nobody knows Bangkok like Royal Thai Police Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep, and there is no one quite like Sonchai: a police officer who has kept his Buddhist soul intact—more or less—despite the fact that his job shoves him face-to-face with some of the most vile and outrageous crimes and criminals in Bangkok. But for his newest assignment, everything he knows about his city—and himself—will be a mere starting point.He’s put in charge of the highest-profile criminal case in Thaila...

Shortlisted for the 2026 Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award'I feel changed by this novel' Donal Ryan'An epic story' Anne Enright'Truly a book for our time' Paul Lynch'Near-perfect beauty' Irish TimesFROM THE A...

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere.In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?The theme ...

It is the summer of 1979. An English painter travels to a small island off the west coast of Ireland. Mr. Lloyd takes the last leg by curragh, though boats with engines are available and he doesn't much like the sea. He wants the authentic experience, to be changed by this place, to let its quiet and light fill him, give him room to create. He doesn't know that a Frenchman follows close behind. Masson has visited the island for many years, studying their language. He is fiercely protective...