Life is harsh in close-knit community of Dirrabeg, a community on the Dingle Peninsula facing extinction in the mid-1950's. Many of the young have left for England or America, where there are opportunities and chances for secure lives. Those remaining behind love their land and their independence but fear for the future as the bogs get thin, the yields are poor, and the children have little hope of success. 'We never died a winter yet.' A wickedly funny and insightful novel from the author of Sive, The Field, The Year of the Hiker, and many other classic works. In the Kerry village of Dirrabeg in the 1950s, the annual wren dance is a moment of light within the dark winter, especially for bodhrán player Donal Hallapy, whose skills are in high demand. But this paganism, and the singing, dancing and drinking that take place, are anathema to Canon Tett, who resolves to crush the old customs. Donal Hallapy, devoted father of a large family, is a bodhran player. He is always in great demand whenever the once-a-year wrendances take place, a day long festival on St Stephen's Day, which can be traced back to pagan times. This paganism, the secret nature of the celebrations, the singing, dancing and drinking that takes place, and the fact that the church has no control over them has made them anathema to "the clan of the round collar," in the person of Canon Tett, an ultraconservative and downright sadistic priest determined to bring the free spirits of Dirrabeg to bay by ending the fun of the wrendances. Wickedly funny and full of insight into age-old conflicts and a lifestyle long passed into memory.

"Colin F. Harte traces the bodhrán from its early origins in Irish traditional music to its present-day resurgence in Irish American folk music. Harte includes chapters on the instrument's historical and organological development, experimentation and innovation in playing styles over time, and a study of the instrument's performative practices. The central academic focus of the text is the recent, rapid developments in bodhrán design, performance practices, and teaching the bodhrán to a new generation of musicians"--

Belfast, 1944: American soldier James McCann meets the beautiful and impetuous Rose Rafferty. They fall in love, but their romance is forbidden – and war separates them. Boston, present day: James's children are celebrating his life when they find a wartime letter that changes everything. They have a half-sister, born in an Irish mother and baby home, stolen by the nuns and exported to the US. Their search for justice will cross oceans and generations. It will uncover secrets and lies, revealing the abuse of the most innocent in society by the most powerful. It will pit them against Church and State and shine a light into the darkest corners of Irish history.

Adventure story about life in rural Ireland during the Second World War.

Steven Brust's Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grille is a time-traveling, science fiction thriller and a rollicking, fun read. Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grille serves the best matzoh ball soup in the Galaxy, and hires some of the best musicians you'll ever hear. It's a great place to visit, but it tends to move around—just one step ahead of whatever mysterious conspiracy is reducing whole worlds to radioactive ash. And Cowboy Feng's may be humanity's last hope for survival. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

An Irish family stays together with the help of Fiona’s talent for making one-of-a-kind lace in this heartwarming immigration story from the New York Times bestselling creator of The Keeping Quilt. Many years ago, times were hard in all of Ireland, so when passage to America becomes available, Fiona and her family travel to Chicago. They find work in domestic service to pay back their passage, and at night Fiona turns tangles of thread into a fine, glorious lace. Then when the family is separated, it is the lace that Fiona’s parents follow to find her and her sister and bring the family back together. And it is the lace that will always provide Fiona with memories of Ireland and of her mother’s words: “In your heart your true home resides, and it will always be with you as long as you remember those you love.” This generational story from the family of Patricia Polacco’s Irish father brims with the same warmth and heart as the classic The Keeping Quilt and The Blessing Cup, which Kirkus Reviews called “deeply affecting” in a starred review, and embraces the comfort of family commitment and togetherness that Patricia Polacco’s books are known for.

This is the story of Dan Murray, who emigrated to England in 1952. He finds work as a building labourer and in time he becomes a building contractor.John B. Keane captures the turbulent, bawdy, anarchic life of Irish contractors and labourers as they try to make it big in England. Told in his usual hilarious and bulls-eye accurate style.