When maverick police sergeant Jolly Macken is banished to the sleepy 1950s Irish border village of Blackwatertown, he vows to find the killer of his brother - even if the murderer is inside the police. But a lot can happen in a week. Over seven days Macken falls in love, uncovers dark family secrets, accidentally starts a war and is hailed a hero and branded a traitor. When Blackwatertown explodes into violence, who can he trust? And is betrayal the only way to survive?'Beguiling w...

From Bronze Age bardic priests to the 21st century’s ‘Celtic Tiger’, this audiobook vividly recounts the full sweep of Irish history. Take a whirlwind journey through two millennia of political turmoil, social upheaval and cultural achievement and experience the full flavour of Ireland’s rich history. Experience the highs and lows of Ireland’s past, including invasions, battles, executions, religious divides, uprisings, emigration, music, poetry and prose—and hurling! Ireland’s story is in...

Charles O’Brien, Irish bard and giant. The cynical are moved by his flights of romance; the craven stirred by his tales of epic deeds. The Surprising Irish Giant may be the sensation of the season but only his compatriots seem to attend to his mythic powers of invention. John Hunter, celebrated surgeon and anatomist, buys dead men from the gallows and babies’ corpses by the inch. Where is a man as unique as The Giant to hide his bones when he is yet alive?

The untold story of an IRA unit, and a killing that has echoed across the decade.On the morning of Saturday 22nd April 1978, members of an Active Service Unit of the IRA hijacked a car and crossed the countryside to the town of Lisburn. Within an hour, they had killed an off-duty policeman in front of his young son.In Anatomy of a Killing, award-winning journalist Ian Cobain documents the hours leading up to the killing, and the months and years of violence, attrition and r...

Three years in the troubled British Isles from the bestselling author of Heroic Failure.Three Years in Hell is a mordantly funny and perceptive account of three years in our troubled islands, leading up to the aftermath of Brexit (or not, as it may prove). It includes scathing portraits of the leading characters, including Johnson, and of the strange twists and turns that British politics has taken and the effects on our friends and neighbours.

John Chambers was brought up on Belfast's notorious Loyalist Glencairn estate, during the height of the Troubles. From an early age he witnessed violence, hatred and horror as Northern Ireland tore itself apart in civil strife. Kneecapping, brutal murders, and even public tarring-and-feathering were simply a fact of life for the children on the estate. He thought he knew which side he was on, but although raised as a Loyalist, he was hiding a troubling secret: that his disappeared mother -...

The collection begins in the 1950s in an insular northern village 'scoured by bitter winds and rough gossip tongues.' For the child narrator, the only way to survive is to get up, get on, get out. The title story sees our narrator ironing out her northern vowels with the help of an ex-actress with one lung and a Manchester accent. In Third Floor Rising, she watches, dazzled, as her mother carves out a stylish new identity.With a deceptively light touch, Mantel locates the transform...

An erotic nightmare and classic of modern Irish literature.Wealthy and devout, Michael and Julia Glynn are the envy of their neighbors and the model Irish Catholic couple, bearing Michael's increasingly painful and crippling arthritis with stoicism. In hope of a miracle, their priest suggests a family pilgrimage to Lourdes. Yet these pious holiday plans are thrown into doubt when anonymous, obscene letters begin to arrive, full of terrible accusations.Banne...

‘Truly terrific' Richard Ford'Dickens for the twenty-first century' Roddy Doyle'A powerful, gripping tale' Sunday TimesA man hanging on by a thread.A city about to snap.From the acclaimed author of The North Water comes an epic story of revenge and obsession.Manchester, 1867Two men...

Meet Jud Lester: Star agent with CRYPT, the Covert Response Youth Paranormal Team.When a crime is committed and the police are at a loss, CRYPT is called in to figure out whether something paranormal is at work. Jud is their star agent.Jud, unwillingly paired with new recruit Bex, has just landed his biggest case yet ... people have been disappearing in mysterious circumstances while others are viciously attacked - yet there are no suspects and a complete lack of hard evidenc...

Earphones Award Winner 2025The past has never left Billy. It's just been waiting for him to come and find it...It's been over thirty years since Billy last called Northern Ireland home. Back then, his secret love for schoolfriend Conor was the only shining light that kept him going during troubled times. That is, until their romance was tragically cut short when Conor disappeared without a trace.Now a phone call draws Billy back hom...

She thinks the island will keep her safe—she is wrong.Traumatised by the death of a child in her care, top London paediatrician Claire seeks refuge on remote Selkie Island in the wilds of the Irish Sea with her husband Daniel and their baby daughter Kitty. Hidden away in Daniel’s old family home, Claire hopes to be as cut off from her guilt as she is from the mainland, but can she find peace in a place so full of its own secrets?Twenty years earlier, Daniel...