Featured titles
Katriona O'Sullivan (Author)
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Katriona O'Sullivan (Author)
As the middle of five kids growing up in dire poverty, the odds were low on Katriona O'Sullivan making anything of her life. When she became a mother at 15 and ended up homeless, what followed were five years of barely coping.
This is the extraordinary story - moving, funny, brave, and sometimes startling - of how Katriona turned her life around. How the seeds of self-belief planted by teachers in childhood stayed with her. How she found mentors whose encouragement revitalised those seeds in adulthood, leading her to become an award-winning academic whose work challenges barriers to education.
Poor is not only Katriona's story, but is also her impassioned argument for the importance of looking out for our kids' futures. Of giving them hope, practical support and meaningful opportunities.
Liz Nugent (Author)
Sally Diamond cannot understand why what she did was so strange. She was only doing what her father told her to do, to put him out with the rubbish when he died.
Now Sally is the centre of attention, not only from the hungry media and worried police, but also a sinister voice from a past she has no memory of. As she begins to discover the horrors of her childhood, recluse Sally steps into the world for the first time, making new friends, finding independence, and learning that people don't always mean what they say.
But when messages start arriving from a stranger who knows far more about her past than she knows herself, Sally's life will be thrown into chaos once again . . .
Conor Niland (Author)
When Conor Niland was 16, he got the chance to hit with Serena Williams at Nick Bollettieri's famed tennis academy. Conor, the Irish junior number one, was feeling a bit homesick. Serena, also 16, already owned her own house beside the academy.
Conor Niland knows what it's like when Roger Federer walks into the dressing room ('Ciao, bonjour, hello!'), and he has had the exquisitely terrible experience of facing Novak Djokovic in the world's biggest tennis stadium - while suffering from food poisoning. But he never reached the very top.
The Racket is the story of pro tennis's 99%: the players who roam the globe in hope of climbing the rankings and squeaking into the Grand Slam tournaments. It brings us into a world where a few dozen super-rich players - travelling with coaches and physios - share a stage with lonely touring pros whose earnings barely cover their expenses. Painting a vivid picture of the social dynamics on tour, the economics of the game, and the shadows cast by gambling and doping, The Racket is a witty and revealing underdog's memoir and a unique look inside a fascinating hidden world.
Vicki Notaro (Author)
Portia Daniels’ life is sorted. She has a perfect man (Jason, a hot Irish TV producer) a perfect apartment (in lower Manhattan), a perfect job (writing for TV). Best of all, unlike the rest of her family, she lives in perfect peace and obscurity.Because it’s all about the drama for her mother – Kerry-born reality TV queen, Dessie – and sisters – Insta-guru, Vinnie, and TikTok teen sensation, Ariel.But then Jason blows up their idyllic life, and Portia flees to LA to take refuge with her family. As she recovers amidst the chaos, Portia must face an awkward truth – unlike her, the other Daniels women aren’t fooling themselves about who they are and what they want.Getting the biggest reality check of her life is the last thing Portia expected, but sometimes truth is stranger than fiction – even in La La Land.
Brendan O'Leary (Author)
A century ago the resolution to Ireland’s long struggle for independence was a settlement that saw six of its northern counties remain in the United Kingdom while the other twenty-six formed the new Republic of Ireland. Since partition the unification of the two parts of the island has seemed impossible, particularly because of the bloody legacy of past conflict.
However, by 2030, if not sooner, the demographic and electoral advantages of Ulster Unionists – who identify as British – will be over. Political developments on both sides of the Irish border, and within Great Britain, make calls for unification referendums increasingly likely. Yet even those who want these to happen are not prepared.
Making Sense of a United Ireland is a remarkable exploration of this most contentious of issues by Professor Brendan O'Leary, a global expert on divided places, who has worked on the Irish question for nearly forty years.
Mary Ann Kenny (Author)
One fine April day, Mary Ann Kenny’s husband died suddenly while jogging near their family home. In the months that followed, Mary Ann – who had no history of mental illness – began suffering from depression, and then from a terrifying succession of physical and psychological symptoms, including the delusion that her young children had been harmed by her medications.
In this gripping memoir, Mary Ann details her descent into psychosis, her hospitalization, and her inspiring journey back to health and happiness. Drawing on her detailed medical files and on her own recollections, she has created a day-by-day account of what it is like to lose touch with reality while dealing with grief and living in the dreadful knowledge that everything you care about in life is under threat. And The Episode tells the inspiring story of how Mary Ann recovered from her illness, came to terms with her trauma, and spoke truth to the health service about the limitations of medical psychiatry. It reminds us that anyone could end up in Mary Ann’s situation, while also showing that recovery and happiness are possible even after severe mental illness.
Written with the pace of a thriller and the insight of a great psychological novel, The Episode is a brilliant act of personal reclamation and an essential read for anyone who is interested in the workings of the mind.
Sinéad Moriarty (Author)
After losing their beloved mother, the Devlin sisters need each other more than ever.
Single parent Louise is trying to help her fragile young daughter to navigate life. So, when the nine-year-old insists on finding out who her father is, Louise organizes a sisters’ outing to track down her Italian one-night stand.
Meanwhile, due to her teenage sons’ sporting success, mother-of-four Julie is anointed Cook-Bottlewasher-and-Cheerleader-in-Chief for the rugby parents’ WhatsApp group. Worst. Job. Ever
Finally, glamorous Sophie is determined that her daughter Jess won’t be boy-crazy and image-obsessed like she was. But when things go horribly wrong at a teen party, Sophie and her sisters are forced to take drastic measures to protect Jess’s future.
Squeezed from every side, Louise, Julie and Sophie want to be good sisters – but sometimes that’s easier said than done . . .
