Irish Biography

10... 9... 8... 7... 6... That's about as far as you get, counting backwards, as you wait for surgery to begin - and that's all most people know about what...

A collection of personal reminiscences of James Joyce by some of his friends and contemporaries which give a deep insight into the character of the man and bring to light...

No British statesman of the nineteenth century reached the same level of international fame as Lord Castlereagh, or won as much respect from the great powers of Europe or America....

This volume, a reissue of the 1990 edition of Jeffares's biography of Yeats, with a new introduction and bibliography, is an account of Yeats's life and work. It features a...

Patrick Deeley's train journey home to rural East Galway in autumn 1978 was a pilgrimage of grief: his giant of a father had been felled, the hurley-making workshop silenced. From...

Traumatised by a terrible event in her childhood, Carla van Raay entered a convent at the age of eighteen. Expecting to find understanding and inner peace amongst her fellow nuns,...

Written in a style familiar to his millions of listeners, rich with warmth and irony, MUSTN'T GRUMBLE is Terry's definitive autobiography. Not only does he introduce the reader to post-Emergency...

We do not die alone - that's the remarkable conclusion of We'll Meet Again, an extraordinary new book by Colm Keane examining deathbed visions. The book recounts how dead parents,...

Mike Carney was born on the Great Blasket Island in 1920 in that unique, isolated Irish-speaking community. Mike left in 1937 to seek a better future in Dublin and eventually...

In her hilarious debut, Maeve Higgins smashes the brittle veneer on the creme brulee of life and hands around spoons, so we can all taste the delicious absurdity that lies...

In 1989, driven by a dream and the memory of her own past, Christina Noble travelled 6,000 miles to Vietnam, a country of great beauty where the terrible legacy of...

Uncovering the hidden love triangle between novelist Elizabeth Bowen and the author's grandparents - the critically acclaimed biography with never-before-seen letters detailing the affair.For readers who were swept up in...

The behind-the-scenes story of an innocent man, arrested and imprisoned in Iran and finally released after 222 daysBernard Phelan was working for an Iranian tour operator when he was arrested...

In fact, two places called home ...For over sixty years, Alice Taylor has lived in the village of Innishannon, the gateway to West Cork. But her childhood was spent on...

This entertaining and lively memoir describes the characters, landscapes and formative events during Ireland's remarkable late twentieth century renaissance. Starting with a nostalgic reflection on his upbringing in a historically...

When seventy-year-old Maura Murphy discovered she had cancer, she left her husband of fifty years and started writing her memoirs. Born 'chronically ugly and as cross as a briar' into...

'Those stories - even the ones that put my life in danger - had to be told. That was my job. That was what I did. It is what I...

Over forty-five years have elapsed since Derek Mahon announced his arrival at the forefront of Irish literary life with the release of Night-Crossing, but he remains an elusive figure.In the...

From the host of RTE's Primetime and author of The Reluctant Taoiseach, the widely acclaimed biography of John A. Costello, Rise 1882-1932 is the first volume of a major two-part...

`In a kind of reflex action, he turned to attack me, but I had him about the waist with one arm, and caught his wrist with the other, keeping the...

Craig, the little boy who can't speak English, isn't allowed to use his real name and hides food - afraid he'll be hungry again. His parents, the Tomescus, are trying...

Sean MacBride (1904-1988) was at different times the Chief of Staff of the IRA, a top criminal lawyer, Irish Foreign Minister, and a founder of Amnesty International, of which organisation...

The key to Brown's interpretation of Yeats is magic. Yeats had a lifelong interest in magic, spiritualism and the paranormal. Brown argues with great force that it is this preoccupation...

Cry Salty Tears is the tale of a mother's survival and eventual triumph over almost unbelievable domestic hardship. Not only did Dinah O'Dowd face the harsh and unforgiving elements of...

Joyce, June and Paula Kavanagh were three sisters born to a family of ten in Ballyfermot, Dublin in the 1960s. Their father abused all three of them in the family...

'He planted his big arms on the bed on either side of me, and I wanted him to take control - I wanted him to be the boss...'Katie Collins went...

What happens when history tries to squeeze itself into a town of ten thousand people, most of them related somewhere down the line? For Glenn Patterson's grandparents, Jack and Kate,...

In About Beckett Emeritus Professor John Fletcher has compiled a thorough and accessible volume that explains why Beckett's work is so significant and enduring. Professor Fletcher first met Beckett in...

As the eldest of The Nolan Sisters, Anne Nolan's life appeared from the outside to be one of boundless excitement and glamour - a dream come true for any young...

Exploring the complexity of identity labels through memoir with warmth, insight and signature humour, considering how we might figure out who the hell we are in a world so eager...

Martha is now in her thirties. Her daughter has left home and she is lonely and vulnerable. The hard knocks have taken their toll on her health, and as she...

When Kay O'Gorman started writing this book, every word she put down was infused with shame and guilt. How could this devoted mother, whose whole world was her family, have...