Irish Biography

Born in Dublin in 1917 to politically active parents, Maeve Brennan's childhood in Ireland was moulded by the cultural ideologies of nationalism and lit by the creative energy of the...

At the heart of Once Upon a Hill are the author's grandparents, Jack and Kate, whose sedate old age belies the turmoil of their early life together, and apart -...

This autobiography, a sequel to Nostos, concludes the story of John Moriarty's life in Connemara during the 1980s and subsequent return to his native Kerry. He writes with compelling detail...

If the past is another country - what happens when we revisit it, one day a year?Carlo Gebler has done just that. Here is the story of Ireland - from...

It was love at first taste for fifteen-year-old Tadhg Hickey when he drank a can of Scrumpy Jack on the night of his exam results. Straight away it provided a...

A funny, direct, lively and moving account of growing up in small-town Ireland. Healy lovingly coaxes his childhood into being until, one day, his elderly mother hands him the coded...

June 1849: Dr William Wilde, passing a wretched hovel in Dublin's Liberties, discovers James Clarence Mangan in a state of indescribable misery and squalor. Aged just 46, the man dubbed...

John B. Keane is one of Ireland's most popular playwrights. With his plays now reaching the cinema, his work has become known to an international audience. 30 years after John...

Leaving his abusive Irish boarding school after eight long years, Patrick Touher thought his troubles were over. But the adult world was a dangerous place for a naive adolescent. From...

This book tells the true story about a girl named Deirdre, who grew up in an unhappy and dysfunctional middle class home. Deirdre was sexually abused by her father at...

For years the author of In Time's Eye was known only to his devoted followers in The Irish Times as 'Y'. In this book 'Y' reveals himself as Douglas Gageby,...

Oliver St John Gogarty was called by Yeats 'one of the great lyric poets of the age'. Asquith thought Gogarty the wittiest man in London. His brilliant conversation was said...

'Absorbing, poignant and often shocking' Irish Times'Clear-eyed and unsentimental ... a sobering and timely testament' RTE Guide'A reporter once asked me what justice would look like for me, and I...

When Deirdre Purcell turned sixty, she cheered. Never again would she have to worry about fitting into a size ten dress, and while her dream of crossing the US on...

Read the story of Joe through his own interviews and the memories and anecdotes of his family, including his brother Ben who was by his side in showbusiness for over...

Ulick O'Connor takes us into the heart of Irish life in the 70s and 80s, evoking the streets and bars of Dublin with their now legendary characters: the world of...

For several years, Gareth O'Callaghan, one of Ireland's most popular broadcasters, suffered from severe depression. No one guessed that the moment he was off air, he would retreat to his...

Constable Jeremiah Mee is noted in the annals of Irish history for being the spokesman for a group of RIC men in Listowel, who stood up to their divisional commissioner,...

Adorable dogs,spirited horses, mischievous donkeys and cats who barely tolerate us are just some of the colourful characters you will meet in Animal Crackers. You will also encounter bright bunnies,...

As soon as they'd saved up for the three 'S's' - shoes, suitcase and a suit - they left rural Ireland. It might have been the London of the 1950s...

"...we are more than capable of transforming our own country."These are the words of an Irish Presbyterian minister who participated in some of the most important events in the recent...

Irish cottages, the pleasures of walking in autumnal woods, a hens' hatching house and a country garden: these are just some of the elements in this varied patchwork quilt of...

Eileen Battersby is the chief literature critic of The Irish Times and is, in the words of John Banville, 'the finest fiction critic we have'. But her first full-length book...

In the spring of 1895 the life of Constance Wilde changed irrevocably. Up until the conviction of her husband, Oscar, for homosexual crimes, she had held a privileged position in...

The past they tried to hide.His mother died from cancer in 1955. His father committed suicide shortly thereafter. Paddy Doyle was sentenced in an Irish district court to be detained...

As a child, writer Maggie Wadey was aware her mother was different from her father and his family, and that the difference was do with her Irishness, but she knew...

Dr RB McDowell is a legend. To graduates of Trinity College, Dublin, he is a symbol of their years at university, the enduring source of endless amusing anecdotes and memories....

'Paul, my brother, still questions whether I was born or if, in fact, I was hatched.'Eric Dempsey is mad about birds. In fact, they have changed his whole life.Having once...

'This is a beautifully written story. Of healing and love - and pain. Reading this book is like sitting in front of Kari, listening to her opening her heart to...

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'What an extraordinary story... very moving indeed' Vanessa Feltz, Radio 2The astonishing true story of a daughter's search for her own past and the desperate mother who...

A Man Sent by God is a fascinating account of the life and times of one of Ireland's most revered holy men. The reader is guided through the various stages...

'Honest, funny, heartfelt ...I loved it' Cathy Kelly Clear-eyed, touching, forthright and funny, In My Mother's Shoes is Alison Walsh's delightful account of three generations of mothers -- her Nana,...

April 5, 2017, 4.52 pm - The last time Gary wore a suit he was in Court 5 receiving a sentence to Mountjoy Prison for three and a half years....

Revealed for the first time here is the correspondence that Percy French, one of Ireland's most influential songwriters, wrote to his fiancee and second wife-to-be, Ettie Sheldon, between May 1892...

Set in 1950s rural Ireland, Rathcormick is an engaging tale of a large and happy family: a stern and domineering Papa, a warm and practical Mama, their two daughters and...

Nora Joyce is commonly portrayed by the literary world as an illiterate, coarse chambermaid and no match for her husband's genius. This biography studies Nora's life before, with, and after...