Irish Interest Books

The Number One Bestseller Shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards 2021 When Dubliner Derek Scally goes to Christmas Eve Mass on a visit home from Berlin, he finds more memories than congregants in the church where he was once an alt…

Explore 100 extraordinary locations in Ireland. Sally and John McKenna, travel and food writers and authors of IRELAND THE BEST, have selected 100 extraordinary places that epitomize what is truly great about Ireland. This persona…

In the Ubari Sand Sea in 2011, during the First Libyan Civil War, a mysterious pilot falls from the sky – a sky devil – and is forever changed by the little boy who rescues him.One year later, in the town of Roseville, Louisiana, …

Eamon de Valera is the most remarkable man in the history of modern Ireland. Much as Churchill personified British resistance to Hitler and de Gaulle personified the freedom of France, de Valera personified Irish independence. Fro…

From one of our greatest living writers comes a sweeping novel of unrequited love and exile, war and family.The Magician tells the story of Thomas Mann, whose life was filled with great acclaim and contradiction. He would find him…

Louis de Paor is one of Ireland's leading Irish-language poets, and was a key figure in the Irish language poetry renaissance of the 1980s and 90s. His dual-language selection The Brindled Cat and the Nightingale's Tongue was publ…

For centuries the Celts held sway in Europe. Even after their conquest by the Romans, their culture remained vigorous, ensuring that much of it endured to feed an endless fascination with Celtic history and myths, artwork and trea…

Des Lavelle was born on Valentia Island in County Kerry in 1934, surrounded by the wild Atlantic waters.Known to the world for his passion for the nearby Skellig Islands, Des has led a fascinating and varied life, but his heart fo…

A tragic death, a murder trial and a 170-year-old mystery - but what really happened? Shortly after Maria Kirwan died in a lonely inlet on Ireland's Eye, it was decided that she had drowned accidentally during a day spent with her…

Find out what the gaeilgeoir means when he/she uses the Irish words for ‘nerdy’, ‘well-hung’, ‘effing and blinding’, ‘slimeball’ or ‘drop-dead-gorgeous’? It’s all there, with numerous entries under the letters C and F. Already a c…

As the home of the famous Blarney Stone it is perhaps not surprising that the stories of County Cork could fill many libraries. Among its vast archive of myth and legend are tales of the Goddess Cliona, The Hag of Beara and the Gi…

Cork Harbour is the second largest natural harbour in the world. It is a historical wonder, surrounded by villages, forts, towers and churches, all of which combine to tell the colourful story of Ireland's largest county. A reliab…

Each of Ireland’s pilgrim paths is an ancient tóchar (‘camino’ or causeway) into the world of Celtic spirituality. In this walking-pace travelogue, set against a backdrop of spectacular scenery in every corner of Ireland, Darach M…

As a relative newcomer to the United States, Maeve Higgins can see with gimlet eyes that our country is flawed. But that doesn't stop her from loving it. With piercing political commentary, and a perfect mix of sweetness and salti…

Longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction Annie, Francie and Archie were inseparable growing up, but in 1914 the boys are seduced by the drama of the Great War. Before leaving their small Irish village for the t…

With a week on the road together, father and daughter must restore themselves and each other, and repair a relationship that is at once fiercely loving and deeply scarred. As they journey south, down the motorways, through the ser…

A fascinating look at the lifestyle and values of ancient IrelandThousands of years ago, Celtic Ireland was a land of tribes and warriors; but a widely accepted, sophisticated and surprisingly enlightened legal system kept society…

Twins Anna and Adam live in an abandoned commune in a volatile landscape where they prepare for the world-ending event they believe is imminent. Adam keeps watch by day, Anna by night.They meet at dawn and dusk. Their only compani…

Three generations. More than a century of famine, war, violence and love. At sixteen Nancy, the only member of her family to survive the Great Famine, leaves her small island for the mainland.Finding work in a grand house on the e…

A study of the literary renaissance that swept Ireland from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. The author brings to life that visionary age and its great characters, including W.B.Yeats, Sean O'Casey, Oscar Wilde and…

Thirty-two inspiring speeches by women of Ireland from the nineteenth century to the present. Rallying cries for trade union action, denunciations of apartheid, calls for independence, unionism, peace and gender equality: Irish wo…

A special reissue from Head of Zeus's bestselling anthology collection of the very best Irish short stories, selected by Sinead Gleeson, author of Constellations, winner of the Irish Book Award Non Fiction Book of the Year 2019. T…

Turning Points is an anthology of some of Ireland's best known and successful people describing key moments in their lives when the chips were down, and they managed to turn it all around. These are uplifting, inspiring stories fo…

True crime meets local history. This book contains 39 true historical murders in West Cork. From Clonakilty in the east to the Beara Peninsula and the Kerry border, murder is never more than a few miles away. Each crime is complet…

Former ombudsman, Emily O Reilly, characterised contemporary Ireland in terms of a ‘vulgar fest’ of ‘rampant, unrestrained drunkenness’ and ‘brutal, random violence’. Requiem for a City is a sometimes outrageous and sometimes hila…

Sport and sporting pastimes have always been an important part of life in Cork. What is remarkable about Cork sports men and women is their success across the entire range of sporting disciplines. There can be no true criteria for…

A mystical battle between foreign gods and local saints is unleashed as idols are mistaken for garden ornaments; an ambiguous wizard spies on his neighbours from an invisible tower; a cursed duelling pistol influences its owners t…

From medieval monks to recent renaissance, From Barley to Blarney: A Whiskey Lover's Guide to Ireland includes everything you need to understand, appreciate, and mix one of the world's fastest-growing (and most delicious!) spirits…

Concern. Compassion. Doubt. Despair. Anger. Hope. Imagine juggling these feelings every day in a situation where your ability to manage them could be the difference between life and death. For Dr Chris Luke, a consultant in emerge…

On the morning of 11 October 1921, the world’s media watched as Michael Collins, leader of the ‘Irish murder gang’, bounded through the door of 10 Downing Street. Moments later, he shook hands with the British Prime Minister. So b…