Joking Apart: My Autobiography

by Donncha O'Callaghan

Donncha O'Callaghan is one of Ireland's leading international rugby players, and a stalwart of the Munster side. He was a key figure in the Irish team which won the IRB 6 Nations Grand Slam in 2009, and has won two Heineken Cup medals and two Magners League titles with Munster.

But that success did not come easy. For such a well known player with a larger-than-life reputation, his long battle to make a breakthrough at the highest level is largely unknown. In this honest and revealing autobiography, Donncha talks in detail about the personal setbacks and disappointments at Munster and the unconventional ways he dealt with the frustration of not making the team for four of five years in his early 20s.

He had a parallel experience with Ireland where it took him nearly six years to get from fringe squad member to established first choice player. Here he talks candidly about how he brought discipline to his game, and about his relationships with the coaches who had overlooked him and the second row rivals who had kept him on the bench.

Donncha talks also with great warmth about a hectic childhood that was shaped by the death of his father when he was only six years old. One of the heroes of his story is his mother Marie who showed incredible strength and resourcefulness to rear a family of five on her own.

Often deservedly regarded as 'the joker in the pack', what is often less well known is the serious attitude and intensely professional approach Donncha brings to his rugby. Joking Apart gives the full picture, showing sides of the man that will be unfamiliar to followers of Irish rugby and will surprise the reader.

Just Joe: My Autobiography

by Joe Duffy

Joe Duffy takes the pulse of the Irish nation every day on Liveline. Whenever somebody wants to get something off their chest, the advice is often: “Talk to Joe”.
Just Joe reveals the private man behind the public voice. Joe writes with raw honesty about his difficult upbringing in working-class Ballyfermot, with a hard-drinking father and hard-working mother, and about his younger brother Brendan, who has drink and drug problems and has spent time in prison.
For Joe, education was key to a fresh start. He was one of the first from his area to attend university at Trinity College Dublin. His social justice campaigning led to him becoming President of the Union of Students in Ireland. He spent two weeks in Mountjoy Jail following a protest against government cutbacks.
Joe eventually moved into a career in RTÉ Radio, where he first became known as a roving reporter on The Gay Byrne Show, before finally finding his niche on Liveline. Just Joe highlights the major stories and controversies raised by the programme; it also deals with the shocking death in 2010 of Joe’s friend and fellow broadcaster Gerry Ryan.
This is a riveting, deeply felt and fascinating memoir of a complex, passionate man.

Liberty Silk

by Kate Beaufoy

One beautiful dress is the key to three brave women’s destinies…
France 1919: Jessie is celebrating the last heady days of her honeymoon. But when her husband suddenly disappears she finds herself bereft. Until a chance encounter thrusts her into the centre of the intoxicating world of Parisian high life.
Hollywood 1945: Lisa has come a long way from her quiet, unassuming life in London and is taking Hollywood by storm. But all that glitters is not gold, and as the smoke and mirrors of the lifestyle she so longed for shatter around her there are some secrets she can never escape.
London 1965: Cat, headstrong and independent, drawn to danger and passionately opposed to injustice, has no idea of the legacy that precedes her. Once past secrets are unveiled, she has the chance to find out what liberty really means...
An evocative story of survival, betrayal and the invincibility of love.

Little Beauty

by Alison Jameson

Laura Quinn has lived on the same remote yet beautiful island off the West Coast of Ireland since she was born, and leaving it behind seems the only way for her life to really begin.
A year later, Laura is back, and this time she is not alone; the company of her new baby, Matthew, is all she needs. But the consequences of her return are astonishing, and soon Laura has courageous decisions to make – decisions that could last a lifetime and break her heart for ever.
Stylish and captivating, Little Beauty tells a powerful story of love, motherhood and one woman’s courage to survive.

London Boulevard

by Ken Bruen

When Mitchell is released from prison after serving three years for a vicious attack he doesn't remember, he reluctantly finds himself caught up with Robert Gant, a ruthless lowlife with violent plans.

Attempting to stay out of Gant's way, Mitchell finds work as a handyman at the mansion of a faded movie actress. When she eagerly plies him with cash, cars and sex, Mitch starts to wonder if even this job comes with a catch.

But it isn't long before Mitchell's violent past catches up with him. When people close to him start getting hurt, Mitchell is forced to act, and take brutal on revenge on those who've stolen his life...