The sixth volume in our popular Very Christmas series, this collection transports readers to the Emerald Isle with stories and poems sure to bring holiday cheer. This anthology is packed with beloved classics, forgotten treasures, and modern masterpieces. You’ll find wondrous works by James Joyce, W. B. Yeats, Elizabeth Bowen, Anne Enright, William Trevor, Colm Tóibín, Bernard MacLaverty and many more. See how Christmas is done in snowy Dublin and on the mean streets of Belfast, from west coast to east, and even across sea and ocean to Irish communities in London and New York City. Put a flickering candle in the window and a steaming dinner on the table, and celebrate the Irish way—Nollaig Shona Daoibh—and Merry Christmas!

For Colleen, life is spinning out of control. She just lost her husband, and her relationship with her young adult son Jamie is crumbling. Should she confess to him the secret that has been haunting her for twenty years? Jamie has a few secrets of his own. When he announces his plans to join the military, Colleen decides it's time for the two of them to take a trip together--to Ireland. The truth they discover there could fulfill both their dreams in a way neither ever thought possible. An Irish Christmas is a captivating story of love, deception, and secret passions, from popular and prolific author Melody Carlson.

Christmas – a time for peace, joy and Mammies. While others are focusing on Santa/Santy, the school nativity play, the office party and its wild cousin the Twelve Pubs, panicked present shopping and the delicate diplomacy of in-law visiting, the Irish Mammy is mobilized in her war-room – ready for the campaign. Electric blankets have been set to maximum power; cards have been despatched; the turkey has been ordered; the decorations have been retrieved from the Place Where The Decorations Go and the fifth Big Shop (to get breadcrumbs) has been completed. There are homecomings from near and far, new arrivals, drama, bustle, tears and laughter, and Mammy at the heart of it all, directing operations. There’s bound to be something she’s forgotten – but luckily, just like a certain someone, she’s made a list.

This book is a compendium of material, in English and Irish, on the festival of Christmas from the manuscripts of the National Folklore Collection recalling how Christmas was celebrated in the nineteenth and early twentieth century in all its regional diversity. The book begins with accounts of the Christmas preparations, before moving through Christmas Eve, with its fasting, feasting and a multitude of superstitions, Christmas Day, with its focus on the home and family, and on to the accounts of the communal celebration of St Stephen's Day with Wren Boys, games and hunting. Moving towards New Year's Day, the book recalls the optimism and fear associated with a transitional time when omens for the coming year were keenly observed, and finally concludes with accounts of the Little Christmas, also known as the Women's Christmas, celebrated on 6 January, and at which point the twelve-day festival comes to a close.

Johanna Jo Mueller quits her awful job to accompany her grandmother to Ireland to visit her lifelong friend. Although money is tight, her grandmother’s friend comes up with a solution: work as a paid companion for her grandson, Ian while she’s in Ireland. Jo’s remit: get Ian out of his house and more importantly, out of his rut, without letting Ian know of the scheme. Surly on the best of days, Ian proves to be a challenge, and at first it seems like mission impossible. But somewhere along the way, Jo gradually begins to fall in love with Ian. Ian A freak accident resulting in a serious injury has curtailed Ian Twomey’s professional rugby career. He’s bitter and struggling to adjust. And he’s definitely not interested in showing the Irish sights to his grandmother’s American guest, Johanna. But it’s hard to say no to his grandmother and it’s even harder to resist Jo Mueller’s infectious smile. It doesn’t take him long to realize that life can and will go on, and he knows he has Jo to thank for that. And just as he realizes he does have future and he wants Jo in it, a secret is revealed, threatening his growing feelings for her.

This bumper collection of Irish humour covers topics such as Absenteeism and Zoos and everything in between. It would be disappointing should such a large collection not include the best of famous Irish wits such as Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw, but the emphasis is very much on contemporary Irish humour from the likes of Tommy Tiernan, Dylan Moran, Ardal O'Hanlon and Dara O'Briain, to name just a few. Lunatic, iconoclastic and, as Spike Milligan might have put it, involving 'sideways thinking', this is Irish humour at its very best.