John G. O'Dwyer's comprehensive guide to the best walks in Tipperary and Waterford has now been updated and expanded to include Laois and Offaly. From the rugged Comeragh coums to the stately peaks of the Galtees, and from myth-laden Slievenamon to the sequestered glens of the popular Slieve Bloom Mountains, there are walks to suit all tastes in these uplands. The most captivating outings the region has to offer are shared here, along with all the necessary practical information such as maps, directions, the degree of difficulty and estimated duration. But this is more than just a walking guide. Each route gets beneath the skin of this ancient landscape littered with historic artifacts. A booley on a hillside tells how the uplands contributed to human survival; a working farmstead demonstrates the continuation of this tradition; a ruined cottage confirms a battle lost. This guidebook will appeal to committed hillwalkers and casual ramblers alike, as well as containing much of interest to anyone who wishes to better understand the age-old interaction between humans and hills.

Boulevard Wren and Other Stories is the stunning follow-up to the bestselling Gospel According to Blindboy, and a warped mirror held up to the Irish psyche. Provocative and unsettling, the stories rove through the centuries, from the barren fields of Famine-struck Meath to the chaotic landscape of the near future, where social media has colonised the deepest recesses of the human subconscious. This is a world populated by characters lost and at odds with the demands of contemporary life, for whom the line separating redemption and madness has grown impossibly fine. Razor-sharp social satire, it is an era-defining work from one of Ireland's most anarchic satirists and a quietly devastating portrait of a society in disarray.