It is an interesting selection of titles this month. September should see a rush and October a flood. Hopefully you will see something interesting in that too.

About The Book
Lansdowne Road has long been renowned as a sacred place for international rugby and soccer. In this affectionate history, the authors lift the lid on its greatest days and nights.
From the birth of the stadium in 1873 till it closed for rebuilding in 2006, they bring to life fascinating stories such as that of the Native American lacrosse team, the brilliant athletic stars of the 1940s and 1950s, and the American Football experiment.

The triple crowns, stirring victories and memorable goals and tries that brought the crowd worldwide fame as ‘The Lansdowne Roar’ are all here, as well as the moments of comedy and tragedy that marked the life of Ireland’s oldest stadium.

If I Trust In You
Deidre Eustace
9780956016355
€ 8.99 | PB | 364pp
Hawk Hill Publishing
Fiction | August 2010

About The Book
Addy O’Driscoll has it all. Life on the south east coast of Ireland with loving husband Barry couldn’t be more idyllic. For Addy’s best friend Louise, still recovering from the loss of her first love Tom, life has been very different but will a new job and the attentions of local teacher Jim Ryan bring her happiness once again?

About The Book
In 1828, the Mary Russell sailed into Cork Harbour from the West Indies. Seven crewmen lay in the main salon, brutally murdered by the captain. The trial was a sensation as survivors revealed a tale of danger and delusion. But what really happened? This bizarre tragedy and the dramatic court case are unravelled in this gripping account.

Green & Gold Ireland a Clean Energy World Leader?
John Travers
9781848890435
€ 14.99 | PB | 264pp
The Collins Press
Current Affairs | August 2010

About The Book
While many agree that Ireland can become a world leader in clean energy, there is little agreement on how. John Travers examines the challenge and opportunity facing Ireland. He assesses how alternatives will enable us to meet our needs, achieve energy independence, and provide an opportunity for Ireland to become a world leader and global beacon of clean energy.

The Wild Garden A new illustrated edition with photographs & notes by Charles Nelson
William Robinson
9781848890350
€ 29.99 | HB | 236pp
The Collins Press
Gardening/History | August 2010

About The Book
The Wild Garden, one of the most influential books published in the history of gardening, was first published in 1870. It challenged the prevailing formal bedding style, advocating the use of hardy perennials and annuals to provide long-lasting, self-perpetuating displays. The book has a special resonance for Irish gardens and gardeners, as Robinson is Irish and trained as a gardener in Ireland. This edition, the first published in Ireland, is augmented with captivating photographs and notes by Charles Nelson, whose introductory essay sets Robinson and his book in context.

Privilege & Poverty The Life and Times of Irish Painter & Naturalist Alexander Williams RHA 1846–1930
Gordon T. Ledbetter
9781848890343
€ 40.00 | hb | 376pp
The Collins Press
Art/Biography | August  2010

About The Book
Alexander Williams was the first artist to open the West of Ireland to a broad audience. His life was extraordinarily wide-ranging. A landscape painter, he was also an apprentice hatter, a taxidermist and a professional singer. Illustrated with a wide selection of his work, this biography illuminates the diversity of his life and times with material found nowhere else.

Missing in Action: The 50 Year Search for Ireland’s Missing Soldier
Ralph/John Riegel/O’Mahony
9781856356947
€ 14.99 | PB | 256pp
Mercier Press
Irish Military History  | August 2010

About The Book
On 15 September 1961, Trooper Patrick Mullins (18) was posted missing after a bloody ambush of an Irish UN convoy in a suburb of Elizabethville in the Katanga province of the Congo. Injured, out-gunned and out-numbered, Tpr Mullins fought with astonishing courage as he desperately tried to save his dying comrade and reach friendly lines. But after a fierce gun-fight from his crippled armoured car, Patrick Mullins was killed and his body taken as spoils of war by the tribal militia supporting the Katangan rebels. When Ireland finally ended its UN mission in the Congo and the last battalion shipped home, Tpr Mullins’ body remained buried in an unknown Congolese grave. With the 50th anniversary of his death fast approaching, the Mullins family remain caught in the terrible nightmare of maintaining an empty grave for him at the foothills of the Galtee Mountains.This fascinating book describes Tpr Mullins’ story, the struggle to find his body and the difficulties in bringing it home.

Renegades Irish Republican Women 1900-1922
Ann Matthews
9781856356848
€ 19.99 | PB | 352pp
Mercier Press
History  | August 2010

About The Book
Renegades details the tragedies, triumphs, politics and conflicts experienced by Irish women during the country’s War of Independence and Civil War. It will shock and possibly disturb any romanticised views of their role in this period of Irish history because the reality of the abuse of women within the general population by both sides in both Wars is absent in most histories of the period. But this ‘war on women’, which manifested itself in the form of physical and sexual assaults meant that many women suffered a terror that was not confined to armed conflict. The book also explores the separation of republican women during the Irish War of Independence and Civil War, into two distinct groups. Cumann na mBan members perceived their role to be purely military and so they did not engage in politics. On the other hand the political women, who by this time perceived themselves as the female political elite, were proactive in pursuit of a significant position in Irish politics, especially when the Sinn Fe?in party was reformed in October 1917.

IRA Jailbreaks 1918-1921
9781856356893
€19.99 | PB | 320pp
Mercier Press
Irish History  | August 2010

About The Book
IRA Jailbreaks 1918—1921 features the factual accounts of 25 daring rescues, rescue attempts and jailbreaks which raised the morale of nationalist Ireland and brought world-wide ridicule and discredit on the prison and internment camp systems in Britain and Ireland.  With stories of their resistence to the degrading criminal code by the political prisoners, the hunger strikes and jail riots, the savage beatings and punishments the prisoners suffered during their incarceration, their accounts offer a window on the world of the men who fought and were imprisoned during the struggle for Ireland’s independence. Here is history documented by the men who made it.

Oral and print cultures in Ireland, 1600-1900
Marc Caball/Andrew Carpenter, eds
9781846821950
€55.00 | HB | 160pp
Four Courts Press
Social History | August 2010

About The Book
In charting previously unexplored patterns of communicative practice, these essays by leading experts examine the interchange between written and verbal cultures in Ireland from the 17th century to the beginning of the 19th century.

An English-Irish lexicon of scientific and technological space-related terminology
Susan McKenna Lawlor/Damien Ó Muirí
9781846822698
€24.95 | HB | 152pp
Four Courts Press
Reference | August 2010

About The Book
This unique lexicon features over 3,500 astronautical terms, listed alphabetically in English, with their Irish translation. It is a stand-alone edition based on a twenty-language lexicon prepared by the International Academy of Astronautics on the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary in 2010. This book contains a comprehensive introductory essay, providing background information on the International Academy of Astronautics and its work to develop a multi-lingual lexicon of space-related terminology. The preface also discusses the astronomical heritage of Ireland; the Irish language; the method of translation adopted in preparing the present English-Irish lexicon; and some of the practical problems encountered in translating scientific and technical terms into Irish.

From the Viking word-hoard A dictionary of Scandinavian words in the languages of Britain and Ireland
Diarmaid Ó Muirithe
9781846821738
€50.00 | HB | 352pp
Four Courts Press
Reference | August 2010

About The Book
At the beginning of the 9th century the growing population of the three great branches of the Scandinavian race who people the countries abutting the Baltic – the Norsemen or Northmen, the Swedes and Danes – began a great outward movement which was caused both by political changes and their enterprising nature. Thus the 9th century came to be known as the Age of the Vikings, Víkinga-Öld. The Danish emigration directed its course to the north-east of England. The second migration was Norse, whose settlers gradually peopled the coasts of Ireland, northern Scotland and the Isle of Man. They left a lasting linguistic heritage. This book is a glossary of words in the various language of Britain and Ireland which owe their origin to the intrepid raiders and merchants of Scandinavia.

The Dublin region in the Middle Ages Settlement, land-use and economy
Margaret/Michael Murphy/Potterton
9781846822667
€50.00 | HB | 608pp
Four Courts Press
Geography | August 2010

About The Book
This is the first major publication of the Discovery Programme’s Medieval Rural Settlement Project. The book is a study of the medieval region that contained and was defined by the presence of Ireland’s largest nucleated settlement. Combining documentary and archaeological data this volume explores the primary settlement features of the hinterland area (all of Co. Dublin and large parts of Kildare, Meath and Wicklow), including defensive monuments, manors, the church and the Pale. It examines the way s in which resources of the region were managed and exploited to produce food, fuel and raw materials for both town and country, and investigates the processing of the raw materials for human consumption. Then as now, the city profoundly affected its surrounding area through its demands for resources and through the ownership of land by Dubliners and the control of trade by city merchants. In addition to presenting a timely examination of urban-rural interaction, the volume contributes to wider debates on topics such as settlement landscapes, the role of lordship and the productivity of agriculture.

Pieces of My Heart
Sinéad Moriarty
9781844881512
€ 15.99 | TPB | 448pp
Penguin Ireland
Fiction | August 2010

About The Book
Ava is a wife, lover, mother, daughter, friend, fixer, boss … so many different people, in fact, she no longer knows what it means to be herself …

http://www.penguin.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9781844881512,00.html?strSrchSql=Pieces+of+My+Heart%2A/Pieces_of_My_Heart_Sinead_Moriarty

Mini Scientist in the Garden
Lisa Burke
9781405356190
€ 9.99 | HB | 24pp
DK
Children’s Non-Fiction | August 2010

About The Book
Fun experiments in the garden for mini scientists

Mini Scientist in the Kitchen
Lisa Burke
9781405356183
€ 9.99 | HB | 24pp
DK
Children’s Non-Fiction | August 2010

About The Book
Fun experiments in the kitchen for mini scientists

Collusion
Stuart Neville
9781846552809
£12.99 | TPB | 368pp
Harvil Secker
Fiction | August 2010

About The Book
A fast-paced thriller about duty and revenge, Collusion is the blistering sequel to The Twelve, one of the most highly acclaimed debuts of recent years.

Lansdowne Through The Years
Edward Newman
9781444711370
£13.99 | TPB | 320pp
Hachette Ireland
Sport | August 2010

About The Book
Accompanied by evocative photographs, these recollections provide the perfect record of Irish rugby’s greatest days and greatest deeds to commemorate the opening of the new Aviva Stadium.

Kicking On
Dave Hannigan
9781847171894
€ 7.99 | PB | 192pp
The O’Brien Press
Children’s Fiction | August 2010

About The Book
Latest in the hugely popular sports fiction series from O’Brien Press, with authentic GAA match action and adventures on and off the field, the first children’s book by well-known sports journalist Dave Hannigan, Age 9+

Vet among the Pigeons
Gillian Hick
9781847172082
€ 11.99 | PB | 256pp
The O’Brien Press
Memoir | August 2010

About The Book
More hilarious true-life tales from Wicklow vet Gillian Hick, following on from the success of Vet  the Loose.

It is a much smaller list of books published in June than previous months, not an enormous surprise given the time of year but also a number of publishers did not submit titles. Hopefully that will be address for July.

‘A terrific read, unsettling at times; filled with suspense, the intensity of teen relationships and soul music – at last teenagers can experience one of Ireland’s best writers’ - John Boyne, author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

This Ain’t No Video Game, Kid!
Kevin Stevens
9781848409477
€ 9.00 | Paperback | 190pp
Little Island
Children’s fiction | June 2010

About The Book
Jack Klements lives in Seattle with his parents and is doing just fine. But when his swaggering Irish cousin Finn turns up, Jack can tell this is not going to be a good summer. Finn is obsessed with a violent computer game, and when he meets a Latino gang in the inner city, he thinks he can have a slice of the action.
How can Jack reconcile the demands of his straight-laced parents, the pressure to be loyal to his wayward cousin, and his growing attraction to Carina, who hangs out with the gang? If only Finn would disappear! But then he does just that, and Jack is more torn than ever …
This Ain’t No Video Game, Kid! is Kevin Stevens’s debut as a writer for young adults. It is a tense and gritty story Set in Seattle, and tells of home values threatened by street culture, with the menace of gang violence never far away.

Mr Bawman Wants to Tango
Mogue Doyle
9781905483419
€12.99 | Paperback | 214 pp
Liberties Press
Fiction | June 2010

About The Book
Mr Bawman Wants to Tango intertwines the pleasures of adolescence with the overly regulated and sometimes even menacing environment of a Catholic boarding school, which one can face either by showing Hank Chinaski-like indifference or keeping a stiff upper lip. Sure to reverberate given the current scandals in the media in relation to the Catholic Church.

Dangerous Pity
Elizabeth Wassell
9781905483983
€12.99 | Hardback | 192pp
Liberties Press
Fiction | June 2010

About The Book
Dangerous Pity is an instantly engaging novel; the central characters mix desire, regret, grief and obsession in a heady cocktail, and the descriptions of Nice and its cultural landscape are beautifully intriguing.

Gardening With Peter Dowdall
Peter Dowdall
9781855942158
€ 25.00 | Hardback | 200pp
Cork University Press
Gardening | June 2010

About The Book
This book aims to share with readers the basic tools, techniques and principles of how to create and maintain a beautiful garden through Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Straightforward, no-nonsense language and advice, along with simple photography showing the practicalities of gardening will advise budding gardeners on how to build their garden from a naked skeleton through to a beautifully garbed wonderland. The book will give people a greater understanding of the part that gardening and nature plays in their lives, in their health and in their general wellbeing.

Out of the Earth Ecocritical Readings of Irish Texts
Christine Cusick
9781859184547
€ 39.00 | Paperback | 200pp
Cork University Press
Literature | June 2010

About The Book
Within the current climate of both literary and environmental studies “Out of the Earth”:  Ecocritical Readings of Irish Texts is an unprecedented integration of Irish Studies and Ecocriticism that is both timely and necessary. The essays offer ecocritical readings of Irish literary and cultural texts of various genres, including fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, drama and the visual image.

Penny on Safari
Eileen O’Hely
9781856355728
€ 8.99 | Paperback | 224pp
Mercier Press
Children’s Fiction 8-12 | June 2010

About The Book
Ralph, Sarah and the rest of their class visit the zoo. Despite the fabulous attractions on offer they learn that the zookeeper may be forced to close his business and make way for a factory that creates TEXTA pens. With Black Texta doing everything in his power to make sure the zoo does close, Penny and her friends are forced to take action to try and stop him, but will they succeed and save the zoo? Find out in this wonderful new addition to the Penny the Pencil Series.

Blood & Thunder Inside an Ulster Protestant Band
Darach MacDonald
9781856356725
€ 14.99 | Paperback | 352pp
Mercier Press
History | June 2010

About The Book
There are 584 marching bands in Northern Ireland, yet their existence and activities are unreported apart from newsof flashpoint tensions and riots. This book reveals the inside story on the most dynamic Irish cultural phenomenon of the early twenty-first century. It argues that in many respects the ‘Blood and Thunder’ bands fulfil a role in northern Ireland similar to the GAA in the Republic, by espousing their culture, passing on traditional skills and instilling local pride in young participants who compete against each other over a season that extends from Marchto October.Woven around the diary of an outside observer with an ‘insider’s viewpoint’ during the 2009 Blood and Thunder and season, the book focuses on the prize-winning Castlederg Young Loyalist Flute Band and examines thecultural, historical, social and political nature of Blood and Thunder bands.

With the IRA in the Fight for Freedom 1919 to the Truce The Red Path of Glory
The Kerryman
9781856356879
£ 19.99 | Paperback | 480pp
Mercier Press
Irish History | June 2010

About The Book
With the IRA in the Fight for Freedom offers eyewitness and first hand accounts of Ireland’s struggle for independence in various parts of the country. It presents a representative picture of the fight by the IRA for
independence and of the reign of terror endured by the civilian population. Only idealism and courage on the part of the freedom fighters and the steadfast support of the Irish people could have carried such an unequal struggle through to the end.With barracks attacks, ambushes and shootings, it brings to life a conflict that is fading from the collective memory of county and country and offers a fascinating perspective on the struggle for independence, directly from the men who took part in the actions themselves.

Rules for a Perfect Life
Niamh Greene
9781844882014
€ 14.99 | Trade Paperback | 336pp
Penguin Ireland
Fiction | June 2010

About The Book
Rules for a perfect life . . .
Rule One: Do not ditch the man everyone says is perfect for you because he eats the last yellow jelly-baby in the bag.
Rule Two: Do not move to a shack in the country to ‘find yourself’ and inadvertently become an object of ridicule for the locals.
Rule Three: Do not fall for a man who has two children who hate you, a saintly dead wife you can never live up to and a mother who thinks you are the hired help.
Maggie wants the perfect life – but if she keeps breaking the rules can she ever have it?

Deep Deception, Ireland’s Swimming Scandals (New Updated Edition)
Justine McCarthy
9781847172044
€11.99 | Paperback |
The O’Brien Press
Current Affairs | June 2010

About The Book
A new and updated edition of the widely-praised examination of Ireland’s swimming scandals. In candid interviews, survivors outline the effects of the abuse – psychiatric illnesses, broken marriages, financial hardship, and alcohol and drug addiction. This book examines the structures of Irish swimming, looks at the reasons these men escaped justice for so long and assesses the measures that have been taken to protect children in the aftermath of the scandals.

The Bankers: How the Banks Brought Ireland to Its Knees
Shane Ross
9780141044446
€ 11.99 | Mass Market Paperback | 312pp
Penguin
Non-Fiction | June 2010

About The Book
Two years ago, the Irish economy was still booming and the state coffers overflowing; now, the country faces an unprecedented crisis. The story of how we got from there to here is a tawdry tale of collusion, back-scratching and denial among bankers, developers, regulators and politicians.

Rhino What You Did Last Summer
Ross O’Carroll-Kelly
9781844881772
€ 10.99 | Mass Market Paperback | 416pp
Penguin
Non-Fiction | June 2010

About The Book
Fame. Fortune. Screaming girls. The adoration of strangers. I’ve had it all before, yet nothing could have prepared this Horny Little Devil for his new life in the City of Angels. Sacked as the coach of the Andorra rugby team and on the run from the sister I never knew I had, I decided to head west, vowing to win back my wife and daughter from a risk assessor predicting economic doom for the world. Imagine my shock when I discovered that my old dear, on a nationwide book tour, was already busy charming America out of its collective elasticated pants.

We Need to Talk About Ross
Ross O’Carroll-Kelly
9781844881796
€ 10.99 | Mass Market Paperback | 264pp
Penguin
Non-Fiction | June 2010

About The Book
Now, for the first time, the lid is lifted on the enigma that is South Dublin’s most eligible married man. In more than a hundred interviews with his family and friends – those who’ve loved him, hated him and slept with him – the first ever composite portrait of the Celtic Tiger’s most famous cub emerges.

Showtime
Pat Leahy
9781844882250
€ 11.99 | Mass Market Paperback | 384pp
Penguin
Non-Fiction | June 2010

About The Book
In boom and in bust, Ireland has been led by Fianna Fáil. Showtime gets behind the party’s remarkable dominance of the political landscape and leading political writer Pat Leahy, tells the gripping story of how it won, kept and has used power since the mid-1990s.
Showtime is politics in the raw: the exciting, enlightening and sometimes disturbing story of a remarkable era that changed the face of modern Ireland.

Remembering Rachel A True Story of Betrayal and Murder
Rose Callaly
9781844882199
€ 11.99 | Mass Market Paperback | 336pp
Penguin
Non-Fiction | June 2010

About The Book
The day Rose Callaly found her daughter Rachel’s battered body was only the start of her nightmares.
Shortly afterwards Rose became certain that the person who had killed her beautiful daughter was Rachel’s husband, Joe O’Reilly. After what seemed like an eternity, O’Reilly was charged. But that was the start of another ordeal – the revelation of just how much he despised his wife and the unfolding of his ingenious plan to kill her, a plan that set Rose up to discover the murder scene.
Remembering Rachel is the shocking and heart-breaking story of Rachel Callaly’s short life and brutal death. It is also a remarkable account of what it is like to be at the heart of a sensational and tragic murder case. And finally, it is a touching portrait of motherly love and the bond that survives death.

The Annals of the Four Masters Irish history, kingship and society in the early seventeenth century
Bernadette Cunningham
9781846822032
€50.00 | Hardback | 384pp
Four Courts Press
Irish History | June 2010

About The Book
There was something about the form and substance of the Annals of the Four Masters, compiled in the 1630s, that allowed them to become accepted as an authentic, reliable and comprehensive record of Gaelic society. This study surveys the scholarly and political context, both Irish and European, that inspired the annalists, reconstructing the networks of professional expertise and patronage that contributed to the pursuit of scholarship about the Irish past. The original manuscripts of these annals are used to illuminate how the annalists collaborated in the production and revision of their magnum opus, while comparison with the extant source texts consulted by the annalists reveals their priorities and their understanding of the world in which they lived.

The Irish Church and the Tudor Reformations
Henry A. Jefferies
9781846820502
€55.00 | Hardback | 352pp
Four Courts Press
Irish History | June 2010

About The Book
This book presents a new interpretation of the state of the Irish Church before the Tudor reformations. Part I shows that the Irish Church, far from being in decline, enjoyed an upsurge in lay support before Henry VIII’s reformation. Part II shows how the Tudor reformations failed to address the pre-existing weaknesses of the Irish Church, and how the problems of the Irish Church were exacerbated as Tudor policy in Ireland became increasingly militarist and expansionist. In the face of the widespread continued attachment to Catholicism and the increasing political alienation from the Elizabethan regime, the established Church found its congregations haemorrhaging until by the early 17th century, the Church of Ireland was the custodian of ruined church buildings staffed by a skeleton-crew of mainly British-born pluralists.

The Irish Annals Their genesis, evolution and history
D.P. Mc Carthy
9781846820489
€60.00 | Hardback | 464pp
Four Courts Press
Irish History | June 2010

About The Book
This ambitious and wide-ranging book surveys the extant manuscripts of all the major annals known from medieval Ireland and offers challenging new interpretations of the methodologies of the chroniclers …. this is a book to be reckoned with. It is an exhilarating read for its entirely fresh approach to the evidence; for the way it debunks and revises so much of the pre-existing scholarship on the Irish annals; for the penetrating light it shines on the shortcomings of the methodologies of Irish manuscript scholarship over the past 200 years and not least for the courteous but devastating way in which it exposes the perils of past failures to re-examine at first hand the primary manuscript evidence, a practice which we all know must form the raw material of worthwhile scholarly research’, Dr Bernadette Cunningham, Irish Archives

Age of Atrocity violence and political conflict in early modern Ireland
David Edwards, Padraig Lenihan & Clodagh Tait, eds
9781846822674
€24.95 | Paperback | 320pp
Four Courts Press
Irish History | June 2010

About The Book
This book examines one of the bloodiest epochs in Irish history. Part one covers the 16th century, revealing how efforts by the Tudor monarchy to curb the powers of the autonomous Irish lords degenerated into a bitter cultural and sectarian conflict characterized by summary killings and massacres. The second part pays particular attention to the 1641 rebellion and the Confederate Wars.

Michael Davitt Freelance radical and frondeur
Laurence Marley
9781846822650
€29.95 | Paperback | 328pp
Four Courts Press
Irish Biography | June 2010

About The Book
This book certainly adds to our knowledge of this intriguing Irish historical figure … The book is in fact an Aladdin’s cave of information. From the very beginning, the author throws new light on Davitt and his family …  Laurence Marley’s Michael Davitt breaks extraordinary ground in our knowledge of Ireland’s first modern truly international statesman.’ Des Kenny, Verbal

Medieval Lough Cé History, archaeology, and landscape
Thomas Finan, ed.
9781846821042
€45.00 | Hardback | 192pp
Four Courts Press
Archeaology | June 2010

About The Book
The role of Lough Cé and its relationship to the various lordships of north Roscommon in the later Middle Ages is examined in this collection of essays. Lough Cé was a vital geographic feature in relation to the MacDermot and O’Conor dynasties of the 13th and 14th century, and was the scene of a number of military incursions on the part of English lordships in the mid-13th century. Yet, this lake, and the history and archaeology of the region surrounding the lake, has rarely been examined as a landscape feature in, and of, itself.

Joe Holmes – Here I Am Amongst You songs, music and traditions of an Ulsterman
Len Graham
9781846822513
€55.00 | Hardback | 328pp
€25.00 | Paperback | 328pp
Four Courts Press
Music | June 2010

About The Book
An account of the folklore and repertoire of one of the most influential singers and traditional fiddlers in Ireland – Joe Holmes (1906–78) of County Antrim. It journeys into the heart of a diverse traditional life in Ulster giving a detailed and comprehensive account of the world of a singer musician in the 20th century.

Visual, material & print culture in nineteenth-century Ireland
Ciara Breathnach & Catherine Lawless, eds
9781846822135
€55.00 | Hardback | 320pp
Four Courts Press
Art | June 2010

About The Book
Proceedings of the latest Conference on the study of Nineteenth-Century Ireland.

Rules of the Road, Official Edition
Road Safety Authority
9781847172228
€5.00 | Paperback | 232pp
The O’Brien Press
Reference | June 2010

About The Book
Following the rules of the road saves lives and prevents injury.
Written in straightforward language and aimed at all road users – drivers, pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and horse-riders – the Rules of the Road sets out the laws, and details best driving practice.official edition of the Rules of the Road from the Road Safety Authority, published by The O’Brien Press, June 2010

Flagging the Problem: A new approach to mental health
Dr Harry Barry
9781905483976
€14.99 | Paperback | 356pp
Liberties Press
Health | June 2010

About The Book
Paperback edition of bestselling book by Dr Harry Barry. Flagging the Problem uses a completely new way of identifying and dealing with mental-health problems. The system, which uses colour-coded flags for various mental states and problems, was developed a medical doctor following years of treating people with mental-health problems.

The OPW has named Conor Kostick as the Farmleigh Writer in Residence for 2010. He is the fourth writer to be chosen for the residency. He will live on the estate in the Clocktower lodge from July to October.

Kostick has a guest post about the program of events planned during his tenure on The O’Brien Press blog:

When I was shown around the building the librarian, Julia Cummins, introduced me to the book collection that Benjamin Guinness (1937-1992) gathered. It is incredible. First editions abound, including Ulysses and collections of poems by Yates, with annotations in his own hand. But what excited me most of all was a thirteenth century manuscript by Gerald of Wales.

The highlights of the residency will include author talks, school visits and children’s writing workshops that will have an open application call.

The O’Brien Press has confirmed that those who have vouchers for their Kellogg’s Storytime books can redeem the books in the re-opened Hughes & Hughes bookstores.

The promotion had been endangered when Hughes & Hughes went into receivership in February 2010. However, five stores have re-opened under the Hughes & Hughes branding but under the ownership of Sivota, a new company backed by Bus Stop newsagents owner, Pierce Moloney.

Writing on the company blog O’Brien Press MD, Ivan O’Brien said:

we are delighted that the Hughes & Hughes shops in Santry, Ennis, Dundrum and Swords have re-opened, and they they will redeem your vouchers for books — or you can send the form, tokens and €1.50 per book to Kellogg’s Storytime Promotion, PO Box 9922, Dublin 15.

Eason now operate the former Hughes & Hughes Dublin and Cork airport stores as well as their Marine Road, Dun Laoghaire location.

Osprey launches military game for iPhone
Innovative!
Read more…

The medicine of the mind
Bon Iver are a very fine band!
Read more…

The Making of A Bestseller
You know, it is moments like this one that make publishing so magi I think. most people in the industry never have them of course, but every now and then ….
Read more…

Spooks Apprentice | FREE!
The spooks apprentice is an incredible book and the rest of the series is pretty damn good too!
Read more…

What Fowl Beast, His Hour Come Round At Last …
This should be fun! Colfer is a man of many talents it seems!
Read more…

Sales and audiences rise at ‘inspiring’ Hay
Numbers at the Hay Festival topped 200,000…
Read more…

Orange prize winners outstrip Booker sales
I’m not sure this is a huge surprise, The Orange prize has trended a little more mainstream in terms of winners. Read more…

Guest blog from Conor Kostick
I have to say, I like author guest post such as this, they are full of information
Read more…

New podcasts featuring Pádraig J Daly and Mary Montague
I love that Dedalus is now podcasting! I really do.

Read more…

Carina Press Launch with First Ten e-Book Titles
I like what Harlequin are doing and Angela James is very talented, the best of luck to Carina!
Read more…

Competition: Ross O’Carroll-Kelly, Midnight Poe and The Happy Prince at Dalkey Book Festival
A great line up this!
Read more…

The first edition of Published This Month, for April 2010, is below.

I’ve added the Number One Children’s title for April, Derek Landy’s Skulduggery Pleasant: Dark Days (HarperCollins | £ 10.99 | PB | Children’s Fiction | April 2010) because, the post needed a brighter header. There is a wonderful audio extract on the HarperCollins UK site.

The list is woefully incomplete but I’m hoping we can improve that as the service progresses. Publishers, send any additional titles direct to monthlybooks{AT}irishpublishingnews.com

Or you can download this excel file, fill it in and send it back by e-mail (it would sure make my life easier).

The Boys of St Columb’s: From the 1947 Education Act to the 1968 Civil Rights Movement – Profiles of Eight Remarkable Men from Derry
Maurice Fitzpatrick
9781905785773
€17.95 | PB | pp
The Liffey Press
Biography | April 2010

About The Book
The Boys of St. Columb’s tells the story of the first generation of children to receive free secondary education as a result of the ground-breaking 1947 Education Act in Northern Ireland.

About The Book
A martyr and a hero to his countrymen, Denis Barry is overlooked today. This book seeks to rescue this hugely respected Cork man from relative anonymity. Denis Barry toiled in the shadows of McSwiney and MacCurtain in the tumultuous period of the Irish War of Independence.

About The Book
Perry the Polar Bear is a brave cub who goes on a mission to save the polar bears and their home. This eco-friendly book teaches children about the effects of global warming and reminds us that anyone can make a difference

About The Book
A career book without the waffle for post-Celtic Tiger times, The Career Book has not been written to help you – it aims to help you to help yourself.

About The Book
Some of the most famous lines in Irish poetry come from the pen of William Butler Yeats, poet, patriot, dramatist and senator. This illustrated collection of forty of his best-loved works, on Love, Politics, Old Age, Myth and Legend includes people, places and events that were important to him.

About The Book
Danny, Mario and Me is a story of friendship between three teenage boys in an Irish border town in the 80s. Taidg, Danny and Mario are best friends, thick as thieves, untouchable, until one Friday night, when Danny hangs himself in a field at the back of his family home.

About The Book
When Desmond Doyle finds his girlfriend dead in the bath, having cut her wrists, he is devastated. But there are inconsistencies with how suicide wounds would be inflicted and he quickly comes under suspicion and is arrested for murder. Though soon released, Detective Inspector Harry Kneebone is convinced of Doyle’s involvement.

Family Life, An Inspector Starran Mystery

About The Book
In ones and twos the Sweeney clan and their partners, wives and children gather at Liam Sweeney’s farm on the outskirts of Ramelton, County Donegal to celebrate Liam’s birthday. The banter and storytelling is great as they await the arrival of the single missing family member. But when Inspector Starrett arrives unexpectedly at the farm it becomes clear that all is not well.

If I Never See You Again
NIamh O’Connor
9781848270916
£ 12.99 | PB | pp
Transworld Ireland
Fiction | April 2010

About The Book
In trouble at work and at home, Detective Inspector Jo Bermingham  soon discovers that someone has been playing the gangland at its own game – one in which there are no rules, and in which she – and her family – are in terrible danger …

About The Book
King of Country is Howard Wright’s first, much-anticipated, full-length poetry collection. Wright’s keen, painters eye never fails to see the irony in the mundane, rendering found art out of theeveryday in this wry and wily collection.

About The Book
Louisa is fed up with every aspect of her life. Boyfriend, job, flat – all these need an instant and radical makeover. And so she decides to change it all in favour of a carefree existence, exchanging her house for a trailer, her car for a motorbike, and her smart clothes for leisure wear.

About The Book
In Dublin, a newspaper editor called Cartwright is found dead. One of his colleagues, Owen Simmons, discovers a dossier on Cartwright’s desk. And in the dossier Owen finds a photograph, which brings him back, once again, to a dusty road in Africa and to the woman he once loved

About The Book
Beth Prendergast has fallen hook, line and sinker for her boss. But when Beth discovers she is pregnant he makes it clear that a baby was never part of his plan. Is Beth really ready to take on motherhood all on her own?

About The Book
Though she doesn’t know it, the day Aoife spots a neglected walled garden is the day her life begins again …

About The Book
The Ballymun Trilogy is a unique attempt by a leading Irish playwright to capture the birth, demolition and regeneration of a satellite town. From These Green Heights was previously published on its own by New Island, while The Townlands of Brazil and The Consequences of Lightning are previously unpublished.

About The Book
Building to a heart-stopping finale, with a cast of credible and colourful characters from the criminal underworld and police ranks alike, The Gathering of Souls is an authentic, dark tale of obsession, revenge and redemption.

About The Book
Enthralled by his own exquisite portrait, Dorian Gray exchanges his soul for eternal youth and beauty. Influenced by his friend Lord Henry Wotton, he is drawn into a corrupt double life; indulging his desires in secret while remaining a gentleman in the eyes of polite society.

About The Book
Dorian Gray, an extraordinarily beautiful youth, looks at his newly-painted portrait and despairs at the thought of how time will alter his looks. If only he could be beautiful forever – yes, he would give his soul for that!

About The Book
In any normal situation Fiona and Sarah would be friends. They are both smart and loving, great mothers, brilliant at life. And they both need a pal. But when Sarah arrives in Fiona’s small town on the Clare coast, it’s not a normal situation

About The Book
Debut novel from established short-story writer and poet about a 10-year-old girl who lives with her separated mother and two brothers. Set against the semi-urban backdrop of the River Liffey in 1980, the story unfolds through the narrator’s observations and interactions, and her naïve interpretations of adult conversations and behaviour. Heartbreaking at times, but also optimistic, humorous and enchanting.

About The Book
Introduction to Equity Investment Fund Accounting explains the basic principles of investment fund accounting in a jargon-free manner. This will come as good news to those with little prior exposure to this complex area of finance.

About The Book
We all have recipes that are dear to our hearts, passed on to us from our grannies, grandads, great aunts and uncles. This book is the culmination of an effort to collect, document and sample those recipes.

About The Book
The message is simple: excellent food is available at affordable prices. You just have to know what you’re looking for – and where to find it. Shrewd Food is the definitive guide. Inspired by the hugely popular website shrewdfood.ie, set up in 2009 by dedicated foodie and home-cook extraordinaire Elizabeth Carthy – who knows first-hand the challenges of feeding a family on a budget

About The Book
The Aran Islands produced writers such as Liam O’Flaherty and Tim Robinson who were inspired by their surroundings. The drystone-wall field-boundary system of the islands is one of Ireland’s richest cultural landscapes, retaining remarkable continuity with the past – Celtic occupation, Christianity, invasion, famine and evictions – a unique combination of the forces of humankind and nature.

About The Book
Combining an analysis of the major events of the year with the oral testimony of a wide range of respondents, this book tells the story of the most extraordinary year of the modern Northern conflict, as well as analysing its impact upon subsequent events.

About The Book
This book is an introductory guide for students and researchers in the history of Irish education from 1790 – 1922.

About The Book
A clear, lively, account of all the significant battles in irish history, from pre-history to the Normans to the Black and Tans in 1920-1, concluding with the Battle of the Bogside in 1969.

About The Book
This book studies the history of diplomatic and security relations between Ireland and Britain, giving context to the role of Anglo-Irish relations in the early years of the Northern Ireland Troubles. The conclusions are controversial. It is a history of a relationship, rather than any particular state, and thus contains criticism of all actors, including those in the Stormont government.

About The Book
This book illustrates the richness of the Catholic priesthood by reference to the lives of ten men who, at different stages in history, committed themselves fully to follow Christ as labourers in his vineyard.

About The Book
This collection of essays celebrates Professor Thorlac Turville-Petre for his scholarly work in late medieval English literature, in particular for his contributions to editorial scholarship and Middle English alliterative poetry.

About The Book
Portrait of one of Cork’s foremost guerrilla leaders, who fought in the War of Independence and the Civil War and was a leading politician in the Fianna Fáil Government for two decades until his untimely death in 1957.

About The Book
Follows the military course of the Civil War in Kerry in August and September 1922, focusing on specific engagements and tactics.

About The Book
Declan Lynch recalls the great moments — Packie’s save and his leap into immortality; Pavarotti’s ‘Nessun Dorma’ and U2’s ‘Put ’Em Under Pressure’; Kevin Sheedy’s sweet strike; and all that drinking. Days of Heaven is full of hilarious accounts of how the Irish abandoned reality in that glorious time called Italia 90.

About The Book
The Rise and Fall of the Irish Pub is the story the journey from dark days into glorious sunshine and back again into darkening shadows. Since the Irish pub, like Ireland itself, is remarkably resilient and has prospered for more than two millennia, the author argues that it will undoubtedly be able to reinvent itself requiring further chapters in its long and glorious history.

About The Book
This is the first volume of a two-part collection following on from O’Leary’s “Gaelic Prose in the Irish Free State 1922-1939″.

About The Book
St Columbanus is widely regarded as the first of the great Irish Christian missionaries to Europe. Unlike his predecessor and (almost) namesake, Columba of Iona, Columbanus undertook exile for life as he set off to bring the particularly Irish form of monasticism to the continent.

About The Book
The Live-Long Code reveals health expert Dermot O’Connor’s proven programme to significantly improve vitality and increase your lifespan.

About The Book
As well as offering a series of exercises in deepening your skills in breathing, this book covers the constructive use of breathing in movement, healing, stillness and general well being.

About The Book
This memoir is of particular interest because, unlike most accounts of imprisonment during this period, it was written with propagandistic intent and was first published by The Talbot Press in 1917.

About The Book
Growing up in the suburbs of Dublin, Aidan Storey was the youngest of seven, a much-loved, happy child who enjoyed family life and all the usual rough-and-tumble games he played with friends in his garden. The only difference was, when the friends left and the garden was quiet, Aidan was visited by Angels.

About The Book
A leading detective reveals the truth behind the headlines of some of Northern Ireland’s most violent crimes. Alan Simpson was the senior investigating officer in the case of the controversial killing of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane. As he writes here, “from the outset there was suspicion of security forces collusion in the murder.”

About The Book
Francesca faced the dawn of the new millennium debilitated by ill-health and despair, without any hope or faith in her future. This was until the loving angels and spirits that she remembered watching over her as a young girl returned to save her in adulthood.

About The Book
Where Are You Really From? is a fascinating and powerful memoir about oneman’s struggle to establish his own identity and a moving tribute to the woman who risked everything to keep her son.

About The Book
Most people who write memoirs tell about the harm that has been done to them by others. But in this book the author writes about the pain and hurt she inflicted on her family. When she started writing, every word she put down was infused with shame and guilt. How could this devoted mother, whose whole world was her family, have left her five children?

About The Book
Eddie shows how, by taking control of your response to the new world order, you can prosper in unforeseen new ways. Energise is the essential starting point for getting to grips with the imminent age of scarcity.

About The Book
This book outlines the career of one of the most distinguished figures in Irish musical life in the first half of the twentieth century — a Bavarian organist, Aloys Fleischmann senior, whose son would later become Professor of Music in UCC.  Fleischmann senior came to international attention through his work with the North Cathedral Choir in Cork, which was regarded as one of the finest of its kind.  He prolific composer who wrote nearly 400 works, and he was a highly respected teacher whose students included Séan Ó Riada.

About The Book
Taking his backdoor as a starting point, Joseph Horgan goes on a quest to explore the natural world, bringing with him the words of Patrick Kavanagh and others – writers, poets, naturalists and scientists – who roamed and wrote about the Irish countryside.

About The Book
Drifting Under the Moon will considerably advance his reputation, the new poems revealing an increased awareness of craft, a broadening and deepening of his vision.

About The Book
Encountering Zoe contains new and selected poetry from Tom MacIntyre, one of Ireland’s most respected writers. MacIntyre is a dual-language writer who has written six other books of poetry, as well as many plays for the Abbey Theatre (Peacock Stage).

About The Book
In poems laced with the blackest humour Kevin Higgins spares no-one, least of all himself.  In this his third collection of poetry,  he takes the reader through the hubris of boom time Ireland and out the other side into a strange country where everything is suddenly broken again.

About The Book
‘Gerard Smyth has a painstaking eye for the telling detail… in his hands the impact of simplicity is extraordinary’
- Philip Casey
‘He may do for Dublin in verse what Joyce did for it in prose’ – Michael Hartnett

About The Book
Bertie Ahern and the Drumcondra Mafia takes the reader inside the organisation and examines how they not only established the most efficient electoral machine in the country but put ‘their man’ in the most senior political office in the state. It also details how, in his rise to power, Ahern acquired substantial sums of money while propagating the image of a man with no interest in money.

About The Book
The story of contemporary Ireland is inseparable from the story of the official republican movement, a story told here for the first time – from the clash between Catholic nationalist and socialist republicanism in the 1960s and ’70s through the Workers’ Party’s eventual rejection of irredentism.

About The Book
Contains a wealth of savvy information on airlines, tour operators, self-catering hotels, timing and middlemen: essential advice and tips to equip people to deal with the world of travel, which has changed so much over the past decade.

Young People Ready To Breathe Life And Arts Into Derelict Buildings
Young people have vowed to transform derelict and unused buildings into vibrant cultural centres – if Nama and local authorities around the country give them the space and the opportunity.
Read more…

Bloomsbury repackages Harry Potter
An interesting decision!
Read more…

Wherever green is worn…
The Most Famous Irish People You’ve Never Heard Of by Colin Murphy gets a great review too!
Read more…

Herstories
And a great review by Sean McMahon for Mná na Héireann: Women Who Shaped Ireland by Nicola Depuis
Read more…

An interview with Colum McCann
This Readdiscovery initiative is interesting!
Read more…

Irish Tapestry
Verbal is a veritable history review treat! A History of Ireland in 250 Episodes by Jonathan Bardon
Read more…

Second City
A quick review of Freedom to Choose: Cork and Party Politics in Ireland 1918-1932 by Micheál Martin
Read more…

The round-up of the last two weeks posts!

LITERARY DEATH MATCH TRIUMPH!!!
Dublin’s first Literary Death Match reviewed, by the winner!
Read more…

A stranger in both cultures
Another review for Niall O’Dowd’s memoir
Read more…

We live in the 19th century as well as the 21st
Fintan weighs in on the Julian Gough thing!
Read more…

Is closing a bookshop akin to knocking down a unicorn?
Shane Hegarty talks bookshops!
Read more…
Turning libel into crucifixion

Excellent review for Pat Walsh’s Patrick Kavanagh & The Leader
Read more…

Cover design
Share your thoughts on the cover design for The White Gallows over at the author, Rob Kitchin’s, blog.
Read more…

Books that stay with you…
Great post from Claire Hennesy
Read more…

Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, The O’Brien Press has published a new Apple iPhone/iPod App called iPaddy.

The App costs €2.99 and features an alphabet of Irish slang quotes which are read aloud by the App and offers alternative words and phrases.

The original title, iFeck, which would have tied in with the company’s ‘Feckin‘ series was rejected by Apple’s approval process.

O’Brien are the not first Irish owned book publisher to launch an App, Eddie Stack’s company Tintaun release an App version of his book The West, as previously reported here on Irish Publishing News.