Showing results by narrator "Patrick Moy" in All Categories

Following the critically acclaimed success of Dublin, this riveting sequel takes the story of Ireland from the 17th century onwards, picking up at the Reformation, and with it the devastating arrival of Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell heralds the inauguration of 200 years of Protestant dominance, throughout which many of the Irish people were impoverished and dispossessed. Dublin is made a Protestant capital, and Catholics become an underclass. Set against the dramatic backdrop of Irish political history, this powerful saga is brought to its conclusion.

In the courtyards of Trinity College, Dublin, in 1978, aspiring actress Maeve meets pottery student Murtagh Moone. As their relationship progresses, marriage and motherhood come in quick succession, but for Maeve, with the joy of children also comes the struggle to hold on to the truest parts of herself. Decades later, on a small Irish island, the Moone family is poised for celebration but instead is struck by tragedy. Each family member must find solace in their own separate way, until one dazzling truth brings them back together.

In a memoir of rare power, John explores the dark heart of Northern Irish sectarianism in the '70s and '80s. With searing honesty and native Belfast wit, he describes the light and darkness of his unique childhood, and his teenage journey through mod culture and ultra-Loyalism, before an escape from Belfast to London - where, still haunted by the shadow of his fractured family history - he began a turbulent and hedonistic adulthood.

Cormac is a photographer. Approaching 40 and still single, he suddenly finds himself 'the leftover man'. Through talent and charm, he has escaped small-town life and a haunted family. But now his peers are all getting divorced, dying, or buying trampolines in the suburbs. Cormac is dating former students, staying out all night and receiving boilerplate rejection emails for his work, propped up by a constellation of the women and ex-lovers in his life.

In the thrilling conclusion to the acclaimed Storm Keeper's Island series, evil sorceress Morrigan rises, and Fionn and his friends must use their wits to save Arranmore Island's future. Fionn Boyle, Storm Keeper of Arranmore, is facing the fight of his life. The terrifying, all-powerful sorceress Morrigan has risen from the dead and has sealed off the island from all outside help.

This sharp, funny collection of stories begins in the 1950s in an insular northern village 'scoured by bitter winds and rough gossip tongues.' The title story sees our narrator ironing out her northern vowels with the help of an ex-actress with one lung and a Manchester accent. In Third Floor Rising' she watches, dazzled, as her mother carves out a stylish new identity. With a deceptively light touch, Mantel locates the transforming moments of a haunted childhood.

Charles O’Brien, Irish bard and giant: The cynical are moved by his flights of romance; the craven stirred by his tales of epic deeds. The Surprising Irish Giant may be the sensation of the season but only his compatriots seem to attend to his mythic powers of invention. John Hunter, celebrated surgeon and anatomist, buys dead men from the gallows and babies’ corpses by the inch. Where is a man as unique as The Giant to hide his bones when he is yet alive?

Once I have hair I'll be happy.' At least that's what Irish ex-army sergeant Daniel McEvoy tells himself.As a doorman at a seedy New Jersey casino, dealing with unpleasant customers, a neighbour and a receeding hairline are all part of Dan's daily grind. Then he has a particularly bad day. Not only does his one friend, dodgy doctor Zeb Kronski, mysteriously disappear, but Dan's sometime-girlfriend, casino hostess Connie, is found with a hole in her head.

Stephen Doyle arrives in Manchester from New York. He is an Irish-American veteran of the Civil War and a member of the Fenians, a secret society intent on ending British rule in Ireland, by any means necessary. Now he has come to seek vengeance. James O'Connor has fled grief and drink in Dublin for a sober start in Manchester as Head Constable.

A shipload of migrant workers flees the pandemic-stricken UK, seeking a fresh start in Australia. For nine-year-old Cleary the journey promises adventure, for former nurse Billie it’s a chance to put a shameful mistake behind her, while struggling schoolteacher Tom hopes for a brighter future. But when a crew member is murdered and people start falling gravely ill, the Steadfast descends into chaos. Trapped on the ship, the trio must join forces to survive the journey and its aftermath.

A space-obsessed child conjures up a vortex in his mother's airing cupboard. A musician finds her friendship with a flock of birds opens up unexpected possibilities. A rat catcher, summoned to a decaying royal palace, is plunged into a battle for the throne of a ruined kingdom. Two newlyweds find themselves inhibited by the arrival in their lives of an outsized and watchful stuffed bear.

On the morning of Saturday 22nd April 1978, members of an Active Service Unit of the IRA hijacked a car and crossed the countryside to the town of Lisburn. Within an hour, they had killed an off-duty policeman in front of his young son. In The Anatomy of a Killing, award-winning journalist Ian Cobain documents the hours leading up to the killing and the months and years of violence, attrition and rebellion surrounding it.

Prepare to discover a fascinating country; a land buffeted for centuries by power-struggles and revolts, lorded over by Turks, carved up by its neighbours, and subsumed into the Soviet Union. Yet also a land of proud and resilient people, of crawfish hunters and bagpipe makers, shepherds and gypsies, in which daily life goes on.

On Every Tide is a wide-ranging and challenging reassessment of the Irish diaspora. Drawing on the latest groundbreaking research, and his own career-long engagement with the complexities of Irish identity, Sean Connolly reveals the forces that compelled millions of Irish men and women to abandon their homeland, and explores their new lives in America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere.

Jimmy Diaz is born a twin, and while he doesn't know it, his nearest sibling has stayed with him forever, overseeing the drama of his life played out and acting as a narrative voice. When young, Jimmy loses a lower limb to a starving attack dog - this is the first of many disasters and one that shapes him to become a chancer, a wilful man unafraid to stand up to a notorious Dublin gangster, but also a young man with heart and belief: a loyal son, a good friend, a courageous brother and a sweet and passionate lover.

When maverick Police Sergeant Jolly Macken is banished to the sleepy 1950s Irish border village of Blackwatertown, he vows to find the killer of his brother - even if the murderer is inside the police. But a lot can happen in a week. Over seven days Macken falls in love, uncovers dark family secrets, accidentally starts a war and is hailed a hero and branded a traitor. When Blackwatertown explodes into violence, who can he trust? And is betrayal the only way to survive?

We're coming. The martyrs are awakening. Spirits are gathering. This will be our time...'In York and London, strange shapes are taking form, emerging from the shadows. And who is the man who lies in a pitch-black room, listening to a voice that seems to speak from the darkness itself? Jud Lester knows that something evil is afoot.

Meet Jud Lester: Star agent with CRYPT, the Covert Response Youth Paranormal Team. When a crime is committed and the police are at a loss, CRYPT is called in to figure out whether something paranormal is at work. Jud is their star agent. Jud, unwillingly paired with new recruit Bex, has just landed his biggest case yet ... people have been disappearing in mysterious circumstances while others are viciously attacked - yet there are no suspects and a complete lack of hard evidence.