About Joseph O'Connor / Joseph OConnor: Joseph O’Connor’s fiction has been published in forty languages. His twenty books include eleven novels, among them the million-selling Star of the Sea, Ghost Light, Shadowplay and My Father’s House, a Washington Post Book of the Year. His work has been shortlisted for the LA Times Book Award, twice for the Whitbread/Costa and twice for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction and has won the Nielsen Bookscan Golden Book Award, France’s Prix Millepages, Italy’s Premio Acerbi and Premio Napoli, an American Library Association Award, the American Ireland Fund Literary Award, the Hennessy Writer of the Year and Hall of Fame Awards, the Eason/An Post Novel of the Year Award, a Cullman Fellowship at the New York Public Library, the Irish Pen Award for Outstanding Achievement and the Prix Madeleine Zepter for European Novel of the Year. He is Frank McCourt Chair of Creative Writing at the University of Limerick. 
 
www.josephoconnorauthor.com

Joseph O'Connor

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The first novel by Joseph O'Connor, bestselling author of Star of the Sea and Shadowplay. 
 
Eddie Virago, proud owner of the last mohican haircut in Dublin, leaves his home town to find the fame and fortune he's convinced awaits in the wild world of the London rock scene. 
 
Things don't quite go as planned, however. He finds himself living in a ramshackle hotel with a girl he met on the ferry over, while a bewildering array of acid-house ravers, saloon-bar revolutionaries, music-business wideboys and media primadonnas all seem very anxious to help Eddie on his way... 
 
'Very funny... An immensely readable and entertaining book, full of truth about the world we live in' Sunday Independent 
 
'Clever, wry and often hilarious...with sardonic, very knowing digs at youthful pretension' Time Out

Cowboys and Indians

The Irish Male at Home and Abroad is the hilarious sequel to Joe O'Connor's bestseller The Secret World of the Irish Male. From flirting lessons in downtown Manhattan to being offered a good ride in Disneyland by the now legendary Wanda, it was a long, strange and hilarious trip. Now, in The Irish Male at Home and Abroad, O'Connor returns faster, funnier and filthier than ever before. 
 
Impersonating Santa Claus in a busy Dublin store on Christmas Eve, spending a penny in Lord Jeffrey Archer's penthouse loo, traipsing the local-radio publicity circuit in 100-degree Australian heat, on the run in revolutionary Nicaragua, contemplating the Shroud of Turin, or making a deposit in a grotty sperm bank - here are tall tales and short stories: absurd, anarchic and unforgettably side-splitting adventures from home and abroad. 
 
Laugh-out-loud funny, yet always affectionate and sometimes poignant, O'Connor roams through an Ireland of wife-swapping sodomites and late-night sodalities, when not getting lost in the restless new Europe of beach holidays, terrible beauties and Baywatch lookalikes. It's going to be another weird and uproarious trip. But like Wanda once said: Hitch a ride, sweetheart, and hang on real tight!

Irish Male At Home And Abroad

Discover the enthralling Richard & Judy Book Club pick from international bestseller Joseph O'Connor. 
 
'The best novel that I've read in the last twenty years... It's fantastic' RICHARD MADELEY 
 
'Breathtaking... A hugely entertaining book about the grand scope of friendship and love' Sadie Jones, Guardian 
__________ 
 
London, 1878. Three extraordinary people begin their life together - and the idea for Dracula is born. 
 
Fresh from life in Dublin, Bram Stoker - now manager of the Lyceum Theatre - is wrestling with dark demons in a new city, in a new marriage, and with his own literary aspirations. As he walks the streets at night, streets haunted by the Ripper and the gossip which swirls around his friend Oscar Wilde, he finds new inspiration. Soon, the eerie tale of Dracula begins to emerge. 
 
But Henry Irving, volcanic leading man and impresario, is determined that nothing will get in the way of Bram's dedication to the Lyceum. And both men are growing ever more enchanted by the beauty and boldness of Ellen Terry, the most celebrated actress of her generation. 
__________ 
 
Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award 2019 
Winner of the Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year 
 
'A colourful tale of secret love and public performance...in a romantic, lost London' The Times 
 
'Hugely entertaining and atmospheric' DEBORAH MOGGACH 
 
'Extraordinary' SEBASTIAN BARRY 
 
'A novel I'd recommend to anyone: a rollicking and moving story' James Naughtie, Radio Times 
 
'Fabulous... A truly great book you simply cannot put down' JUDY FINNIGAN 
 
'Rich, sad, funny, and a beautiful read. You'll LOVE it' RICHARD MADELEY 
 
'Ingenious...hugely impressive and utterly haunting' Sunday Mirror

Shadowplay

* Over a million copies sold * 
 
Rediscover Joseph O'Connor's monumental #1 international bestseller. 
 
In the bitter winter of 1847, from an Ireland torn by injustice and natural disaster, the Star of the Sea sets sail for New York. 
 
On board are hundreds of fleeing refugees. Among them are a maidservant with a devastating secret, bankrupt Lord Merridith and his family, an aspiring novelist and a maker of revolutionary ballads, all braving the Atlantic in search of a new home. Each is connected more deeply than they can possibly know. 
 
But a camouflaged killer is stalking the decks, hungry for the vengeance that will bring absolution. 
 
A NEW YORK TIMES BEST BOOK SINCE 2000 
 
'A triumph...A spectacular breakthrough' Sunday Times 
 
'Ireland's most brilliant storyteller' Independent on Sunday 
 
JOSEPH O'CONNOR'S STUNNING NEW NOVEL, MY FATHER'S HOUSE, IS AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER NOW

Star of the Sea

Ranging from urgently contemporary London and Dublin to New York's Lower East Side in the nineteenth century, from dark comedy to poignancy, from the wryly provocative to the quietly beautiful, these stories - Joseph O'Connor's first collection in more than twenty years - offer a gathering of dreamers and lost souls who contend with the confusions of living. 
 
Here are men without women, children parenting parents, residents of the uncertain country that is post-boom Ireland, emigrants, travellers, cheats and lovers, families, friends and foes.

Where Have You Been?

Joseph O'Connor's love affair with all things American led to an extraordinary tour of the United States to visit the nine different towns called Dublin, as well as some of the great cities and tiny hamlets in between. Along the way he wittily deconstructs the legends of a whole pantheon of Irish American heroes, from John F. Kennedy to Billy the Kid, and takes a quick detour to finally answer that most important question: was Elvis really Irish? 
 
The result is a hilarious, poignant and unforgettable book that celebrates the breathtaking diversity of the Irish influence on America and actually manages to find a town called Dublin, somewhere on the planet, that doesn't have one single pub within its limits...

Sweet Liberty

Travels in Irish America

In a city under siege, no one can be trusted. The acclaimed wartime thriller from the internationally bestselling author of My Father's House. 
 
'Thrilling, terrifying and entertaining in equal measure' Liz Nugent, Number One Bestselling author of Strange Sally Diamond 
 
February 1944. Six months since Nazi forces occupied Rome. 
 
Inside the beleaguered city, the Contessa Giovanna Landini is a member of the band of Escape Line activists known as ‘The Choir’. Their mission is to smuggle refugees to safety and help Allied soldiers, all under the nose of Gestapo boss Paul Hauptmann. 
 
During a ferocious morning air raid a mysterious parachutist lands in Rome and disappears into the backstreets. Is he an ally or an imposter? His fate will come to put the whole Escape Line at risk. 
 
Meanwhile, Hauptmann’s attention has landed on the Contessa. As his fascination grows, she is pulled into a dangerous game with him – one where the consequences could be lethal. 
 
 
'As thrilling, beautiful and sensational a novel as you'll read this year or any year' Donal Ryan, Sunday Times 
 
'Nail-bitingly tense...Vivid and moving' Guardian 
 
‘A stellar piece of storytelling’ Daily Mail 
 
'Not just a wartime thriller, but a meditation on how we remember, how we resist and how, even in the darkest times, humanity endures' New York Times 
 
'Excellent...rings so emotionally true and clear... The writing has the energy and tension of a thriller, yet the language is rich, visual and beautiful' Sunday Independent

The Ghosts Of Rome

**THE NUMBER ONE IRISH BESTSELLER** 
 
When the Nazis take Rome, thousands go into hiding. One priest will risk everything to save them. 
 
September 1943: German forces occupy Rome. SS officer Paul Hauptmann rules with terror. 
 
An Irish priest, Hugh O'Flaherty, dedicates himself to helping those escaping from the Nazis. His home is Vatican City, a neutral, independent country within Rome where the occupiers hold no sway. He gathers a team to set up an Escape Line. 
 
But Hauptmann's net begins closing in and the need for a terrifyingly audacious mission grows critical. By Christmas, it's too late to turn back. 
 
Based on a true story, My Father's House is a powerful thriller from a master of historical fiction. It is an unforgettable novel of love, sacrifice and what it means to be human in the most extreme circumstances. 
 
'A spectacular, thrilling novel' Sunday Times 
 
'So urgent, so incredibly alive... A searing and beautiful example of storytelling's infinite importance' Donal Ryan 
 
'Impressive and pleasurable...evokes a city in peril with wonderful vitality' Financial Times 
 
LONGLISTED FOR THE DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD 2024 
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR FICTION 2024 
 
*The second book in the Rome Escape Line Trilogy, THE GHOSTS OF ROME, is available now.*

My Father's House

From the bestselling author of Star of the Sea and Shadowplay, 'a powerful, moving adventure of raw fate and betrayed love' (Independent on Sunday). 
 
Inspector Martin Aitken's life is a mess. He's divorced, his career's in chaos, and the last thing he needs this Christmas Eve is a strange woman collapsed on a Dublin street. Ellen Donnelly is a woman on a mission, coming to Ireland to find her mother and escape her marriage. Dr Milton Amery, a New York plastic surgeon, is her unfaithful husband. The three are beginning new journeys, each of which lead to Inishowen. 
 
'A page-turner, full of compassion, laughter and zest for the human condition' Irish Times 
 
'Tremendous... A love story, a realistic thriller and an account of grief and loss' Spectator

Inishowen

'Broad and ambitious...beautifully written...at the heart of O'Connor's masterful epic lies a universal hope for something better' Observer 
 
Discover the powerful sequel to international bestseller Star of the Sea 
 
 
1865. The American Civil War is ending, but for Eliza Duane Mooney her journey across a devastated America has only just begun. 
 
Eliza is searching for her younger brother she has not seen in four years, one of the hundred thousand children drawn into the war. His fate has been mysterious and will prove extraordinary. 
 
It's a walk that will have consequences for many seemingly unconnected survivors: a love-struck cartographer, a haunted Latina poetess, rebel guerrilla Cole McLaurenson, runaway slave Elizabeth Longstreet and the mercurial revolutionary James Con O'Keeffe, who commanded a brigade of Irish immigrants in the Union Army and is now Governor of a western wilderness where nothing is as it seems.

Redemption Falls

From the bestselling author of Star of the Sea and Shadowplay, a thrilling novel about a father who takes the law into his own hands. 
 
'Gripping and moving...a taut, expertly crafted plot' Guardian 
 
Dublin, June 1995: the hottest summer since records began. But Billy Sweeney, a middle-aged salesman with a failed marriage, a faltering career and a tumbledown house, has more than weather on his mind. 
 
His youngest daughter lies in a coma in hospital following a mysterious attack on the petrol station where she worked. Devastated by the unfolding consequences of that violent night and frustrated by the system, Billy finally decides to take the law into his own hands. 
 
'A game of psychological cat and mouse is at the core of The Salesman... Gripping' Harper's Bazaar

The Salesman

'A virtuoso display of literary talent...brimming with sympathy and skill' Irish Times 
 
Dublin, 1907. A young actress begins an affair with a damaged older man, the leading playwright at the theatre where she works. 
 
Outspoken and flirtatious, Molly Allgood is a Catholic girl from the slums of Dublin, dreaming of stardom in America. Her lover, John Synge, is a troubled genius, whose life is hampered by convention and by the austere and God-fearing mother with whom he lives. Their affair, sternly opposed by friends and family, is quarrelsome, affectionate, and tender. 
 
Many years later, Molly, now a poverty-stricken old woman, makes her way through London's bomb-scarred city streets, alone but for a snowdrift of memories. Her once dazzling career has faded but her unquenchable passion for life has kept her afloat. 
 
'Masterful in its management of re-imagined lives and the time they inhabit' Financial Times

Ghost Light

At college in 1980s Luton, Robbie Goulding, an Irish-born teenager, meets the elusive Fran Mulvey, an orphaned Vietnamese refugee. Together they form a band. Joined by cellist Sarah-Thérèse Sherlock and her twin brother Seán on drums, The Ships in the Night set out to chase fame. But the story of this makeshift family is haunted by ghosts from the past. 
 
Spanning 25 years, The Thrill of it All rewinds and fast-forwards through an evocative soundtrack of struggle and laughter. Infused with blues, ska, classic showtunes, New Wave and punk, using interviews, lyrics, memoirs and diaries, the tale stretches from suburban England to Manhattan’s East Village, from Thatcher-era London to the Hollywood Bowl, from the meadows of the Glastonbury Festival to a wintry Long Island, culminating in a Dublin evening in July 2012, a night that changes everything. 
 
A story of loyalties, friendship, the call of the muse, and the beguiling shimmer of teenage dreams, this is a warm-hearted, funny and deeply moving novel for anyone that’s ever loved a song.

The Thrill of it All

True Believers introduces us to a world of characters stunning in their variety. Here are sad-hearted priests, old friends, young lovers, rockers and rebels. Here are runaway husbands and runaway wives. Here are jokers and fanatics, punks and poets, thinkers and drinkers, chancers and killers. Here are the true believers, all clinging desperately to some kind of faith in a mutable and dangerous world.

True Believers

Yeats is Dead begins with Roddy Doyle and ends with Frank McCourt.  In between, thirteen other Irish writers spin an increasingly elaborate tale of murder, mayhem and literary shenanigans in present-day Dublin.

Yeats Is Dead

James Joyce

Discover James Joyce's impressionistic portrait of a young man finding his artistic voice in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, reissued to coincide with 100 years since the first publication of his epic masterpiece, Ulysses 
 
EDITED BY HANS WALTER GABLER; WITH INTRODUCTIONS BY DR DIETER FUCHS AND JOSEPH O'CONNOR 
 
Against the backdrop of nineteenth century Dublin, a boy becomes a man: his mind testing its powers, obsessions taking hold and loosening again, the bonds of family, tradition, nation and religion transforming from supports into shackles; until the young man devotes himself to the celebration of beauty, and reaches for independence and the life of an artist.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

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