Irish Biography

To the outside world, Father Cleary was a charismatic cleric, staunchly devoted to the Catholic Church and its doctrines, and remembered as the warm-up man before Pope John Paul's historic...

"Dignity was our most valuable possession". Joe Duffy is a household name in Ireland. As the presenter of RTE Radio One's "Liveline" programme, he takes the pulse of the Irish...

I warn society against the child who has been hurt Peter Tyrrell A tormented childhood in Letterfrack industrial school with the Christian Brothers left an enduring mark on Peter Tyrrell....

Not another memoir of childhood? Well, yes actually. Not another regressive desire to capture a golden weren't-we-poor-but-happy age? Well, no. Nor a pursuit of misery and repression either. This is...

A fascinating story of love and campaigning for equality and social justice.When Katherine Zappone and Ann Louise Gilligan met it was love. It has been love through twenty-seven years together....

Aged just 12, Patrick Sheedy placed his first bet for 10p and devised his first scam, marking the beginning of his life as a compulsive gambler and one of Ireland's...

The shocking true story of a young boy hidden away from his family and the world in a Catholic home for unmarried mothers in 1950s Dublin. Born an 'unfortunate' onto...

A third memoir from the author of the huge international bestsellers Angela's Ashes and 'Tis. In Teacher Man, Frank McCourt details his illustrious, amusing, and sometimes rather bumpy long years...

Malachy McCourt, actor, gadfly and raconteur follows up his international best sellerA Monk Swimming with this, the second instalment of his hilarious memoirs. Malachy McCourt grew up in Limerick amid...

From the author of the million-selling Angela's Ashes -- the most keenly anticipated sequel of the decade. Angela's Ashes was a publishing phenomenon. Frank McCourt's critically acclaimed, lyrical memoir of...

Special edition of the bestselling classic, to tie-in with the release of Alan Parker's major new film of Angela's Ashes Angela's Ashes is Frank McCourt's sad, funny, bittersweet memoir of...

From patriots to pirates, warriors to writers, and mistresses to male impersonators, this book looks at the unorthodox lives of inspiring Irish women.In times when women were expected to marry...

Tales in a Rearview Mirror is a collection of true stories as told from the driver's seat of a Dublin taxi. Some are funny, some are sad, some are foolish...

David Norris is one of Ireland's most popular, colourful and charismatic public figures. Not a man to shy away from controversy, he has spent most of his adult life challenging...

Brian Keenan went to Beirut in 1985 for a change of scene from his native Belfast. He became headline news when he was kidnapped by fundamentalist Shi'ite militiamen and held...

In late 2018, Michael Harding was in a hotel room in Blanchardstown experiencing severe pains in his chest. He eventually phoned an ambulance and was admitted to hospital, suffering from...

The intensely moving memoir of Patrick Maguire, one of the 'Maguire Seven' wrongly imprisoned as a teenager for making bombs for the IRA. On the night of October 5 1974,...

'A compelling memoir. Absorbing and graced with a deceptive lightness of touch, [Hanging with the Elephant] is clever and brilliantly pieced together. Harding writes like an angel' Sunday TimesFrom the...

In The Kick, poet Richard Murphy has constructed, from astonishingly detailed diaries kept over the course of five decades, a unique memoir of his life and times. The book is...

In 1993, aged twenty, Carmel Mc Mahon left Ireland for New York, carrying two suitcases and a ton of unseen baggage. It took years, and a bitter struggle with alcohol...

This is the story of a boy from a small Irish village who became an adventurer, a humanitarian and a doctor to the stars. Part travelogue, part thriller, part celebrity...

Reclaiming is a brilliantly written and thought-provoking book. Through amazing story telling, Yewande highlights the richness in her culture that so many other black women can relate to. It was...

In Running from the Shadows Stephanie Hickey tells, in her own words, how she survived abuse at the hands of a trusted family member and of how running, a simple...

Fr Tony Coote was just fifty-three years old in February 2018 when he was diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease. Just a few short months later, he found himself confined to...

*A mesmeric, harrowing and uplifting childhood memoir that will open up much-needed conversations about identity and mental health*'This will blow you away'- Stylist'Joly's prose is sensitive and heartbreaking...darkly compelling' -...

Molly Keane (1904 - 96) was an Irish novelist and playwright (born in County Kildare) most famous for Good Behaviour which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Hailed as...

LONGLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITINGA WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2023: NATURE AND TRAVELWhen Kerri and her partner M moved to a small, remote railway cottage in the...

THE UPDATED BESTSELLERSergeant Maurice McCabe never set out to be a whistleblower. When, in 2008, he complained of shoddy investigations into serious crime in County Cavan, nothing could have prepared...

Molly Keane (1904 - 96) was an Irish novelist and playwright (born in County Kildare) most famous for Good Behaviour which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Hailed as...

A GARDA, A FORCED ADOPTION, A FIGHT FOR JUSTICEIn 1984, Majella Moynihan was a fresh-faced young garda recruit when she gave birth to a baby boy. Charged with breaching An...

For years acclaimed comedian Des Bishop wanted to write a show about his father. Mike Bishop was a model and actor who gave up that life to become a hard-working...

In April 2001, Trevis Gleason was a chef on the rise. Then one day he suffered a stroke-like episode and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. He lost everything - his...

'One of Ireland's most powerful campaigners' The Kavanagh SistersI look back now and see that I never stood a chance. It's hard when you realise your whole childhood was taken...

Her mother, who wrote vivid versions of old Irish folk tales, once said of the Irish Civil War: 'In those days... fear kept you from sleeping, but also from getting...

Death is a whisper in the Anglo-Saxon world. But on a remote island, off the coast of County Mayo, death has a louder voice. Along with reports of incoming Atlantic...

Soon, the lockdown would start. People would die alone, without any proper ceremony. Charlotte's death would be washed away, the first drop in a downpour. Nobody knew it then but...